Decorating 2nd bedroom on a budget

andygb

It has got to the point where we have to redecorate our 2nd bedroom, but as cheaply and as well as possible.
We want an eggshell finish on the walls, and satin finish on the woodwork.
I also want to put some cheap skirting and coving on.
So, does anyone have any tips on the best deals/places to go for the materials?
Cheers.

Oh yes, the room is 12' x 12' with standard height ceilings.

TheCyclingProgrammer

Any particular reason you want eggshell on the walls? Its dearer and seems odd to use it on the walls outside the kitchen or bathroom. If you want a slight sheen or wipeable walls why not try a high endurance matt instead? 5L of Valspar Premium matt will do your room in 2 coats and cost about £50.

Skirting - I recommend Skirting4U for good quality MDF skirting and I highly recommend paying extra of the twice spray primed and sanded finish as all you will need to do is dust it off, fill and spot prime nail holes and topcoat it. Should cost you £80-£100 depending on thickness, height and profile for that sized room.

Polystyrene coving is cheap and supposed to be easy to fit. Any DIY shed will stock it.

andygb

Thanks for that advice, particularly on the Valspar paint.

getmore4less

I find getting the paint when end of line/discounted saves a fair amount.

Just have to be patient waiting for your color to come on sale

missbiggles1

getmore4less wrote: »

I find getting the paint when end of line/discounted saves a fair amount.

Just have to be patient waiting for your color to come on sale

Or (particularly with something like a spare room, just choose from what reduced paint is available.

DaftyDuck

Just over a year ago, Wickes changed all its own brand paints. I was able to pick up enough paint for a complete job on my five bedroom house (walls and ceilings) for well under £150 with plenty left over for the new owner to touch up. I didn't have complete choice of colour, but pretty near at first... Then stocks dried up rather.

Left me knackered!

esmy

You might have one of these projects nearby??

http://www.communityrepaint.org.uk/

Paint sold at £2 per litre locally

[Deleted User]

I tend to find vinyl silk paints are cheap, have a nice sheen and easily washable.

I'm decorating as cheaply as possible myself, so decide on a colour I like, get a small pot of it and add it to a large container of white paint, mixing as appropriate. Its a lot cheaper than buying smallish tins of expensive coloured paint. I tend to experiment using teaspoonfulls of paint first to see what I need of each colour to get the colour I want. However, make sure you make enough to paint the room as its difficult to get an exact match if you need to mix more.

You can do this with old paints too.., ones you've used before, add another colour to it and get something different that you do like.., but experiment as above first. Maybe friends and relatives have paint they won't use again. Any paint thats got a skin on it, remove it and strain it through tights to get rid of lumps (sorry but I have had to do this in the past lol, depends on how far you are prepared to go to save money).

I'm doing a kitchen as cheaply as possible.., been badly decorated in the past. I've stripped one wall, (70% prep 30% of time only spent putting wallpaper up, lots of wall filling) put a couple of rolls of very nice wallpaper up to provide a highlight (£10 a roll), and the rest will be painted with one small can of coloured added to white I already have. The whole room - a very nice finish - will cost £45 which considering the state of it, is very reasonable.

I find Wilko's own brand paints are good quality and inexpensive.

getmore4less

As above getting paint to look good is all about the preparation of the surfaces

Sofitos

Based on my experience, I don't advice to use very cheep paint. Probably, in couple of month you'll regret whta pint you've chosen. I made a decoration half year ago and use Duluxe paint in bedroom and Crown paint in other. They are like heaven and earth. If you gonna erase some dirty spot on light wall painted by Crown you do and the wouldn't find any trace. The weakest spot is between wall and skirt where dust is laying and you have to clean it from time to time. And how it will be look like afte cleaning depends on paint.