Repainting the whole interior before we move in?

PasturesNew

Go for white. Cheapest and when you do choose a colour then that white'll be a nice undercoat for it.

wrightk

I would agree with others about giving it a white coat all over. It will clean the place up, provide you with a blank canvas to work with and will cost you less in top coat when you eventually do choose a colour.

There's a price war going on at the moment over white trade emulsion (at least there is where i live). I usually buy 10 litres of leyland brilliant white trade emulsion for about £18 (which is cheap anyway) but have seen the price go down to £14 (screwfix) and now homebase is offering it for £12 which is a bargain for 10 litres, so if i were you id buy a couple and give everything a good coat, giving you a blank canvas to start with

Never underestimate the ceilings either. only spadoosh has mentioned ceilings. But you want bright white ceiling (2 coats with a decent emulsion), so you dont have to do it for a long time. Do it before your stuff comes in as deciding the ceilings need a freshen up when carpets/furniture are in situ is a nightmare

parking_question_chap

I think its worth paying another few weeks rent and getting the house done (properly though, not just a lick of paint). Beleive me, when you are in it will be much more difficult and take a lot more time.

Decorating the whole lot twice over makes no sense whatsoever.

Jamiesmum

I would only bother with hallway/living room potentially the kitchen. Basically places other people will see when they enter your house. But if you're planning on changing it shortly after I would just do it properly the first time instead of wasting time doing it twice. When you move in it's probable you will deal with the living room first anyway then hall way then kitchen then bedrooms etc, the places you spend the most time.

Better off just getting the living room / dining room nice before you move in to your taste, then once your in you've got a bit of extra cash to carry on the downstairs.

missbiggles1

parking_question_chap wrote: »

I think its worth paying another few weeks rent and getting the house done (properly though, not just a lick of paint). Beleive me, when you are in it will be much more difficult and take a lot more time.

Decorating the whole lot twice over makes no sense whatsoever.

That would certainly be easier but I think you're more likely to make costly mistakes in terms of colour if you paint an empty house you've never lived in.

Snakey

I was in the same position and I just moved in and lived with it. I'm glad I did because although I still haven't got round to doing anything yet I have definitely changed my mind about what I thought I wanted it to look like.

I'm not going to do it myself, either. I've decorated places before and it's not like the adverts which imply that it's a fun-packed job that'll take two amateurs a couple of weekends and look brilliant. Maybe if you're painting over white with white, but anything else, forget it. Personally, I don't want to go and buy all the equipment for it either (I'm in a flat so there'll be nowhere to store it afterwards), I'd rather get someone in who has all their own stuff.

parking_question_chap

missbiggles1 wrote: »

That would certainly be easier but I think you're more likely to make costly mistakes in terms of colour if you paint an empty house you've never lived in.

It depends if you are really fussy about shades etc, then you might regret rushing.

When I decorated our newplace we just got a few testers for each room and went with the best of each selection. If you are getting annoyed about your living room being a shade of cream 7% darker than you like.....I think the phrase is "first world problems".

mildredalien

We're not that fussy, we've been living in rented places for years with no choice about what's on the walls but it's not bothered us a huge amount. I can't even remember the colour of the walls in some rooms unless I go and check! The main focus is on it looking fresh and neat.

Our current plan of action is:

1) Check the ceilings and paint if necessary
2) Paint through downstairs living/dining rooms in a neutral colour
3) Lay new laminate downstairs
4) Paint main bedroom
5) Paint hallway/stairs and second bedroom
6) Get new carpets upstairs

We are looking to do some work in the kitchen in the not too distant future which might include knocking down some walls, so for now we're going to leave as is (maybe some repairs to worn kitchen doors etc.) Bathroom will be fine with a clean up - we'll want to get round to replacing that in a couple of years too.

If we're lucky we'll get all that done within the month we have access to the house before we move. That might depend on how much time off work we can take during that time and how much help we can wangle from friends and family... I'd be satisfied with checking off 1-4.