Decorating soon for a low maintenance future

Slinky

I thought I'd ask the Oldstylers rather than the DIY forum as you may have already thought this through for yourselves.


We're currently doing some decorating with a view to selling our home and eventually moving into what will hopefully be our final home. One thing that is very evident is that it doesn't matter what you do, white gloss paint goes yellow. So I started thinking that our new home we'll try and eliminate using white gloss. We've got some woodwork in a pale green satin and that has aged much better. So we're thinking that coloured skirting etc could be the way to go. We're also toying with the idea of replacing the architraves and doors with oak which can be varnished and hopefully won't require much maintenance.


What decorating tips can you recommend to cut down the maintenance as you get less able/willing to deal with it.

camelot1001

Stain the woodwork the colour you want it, wax and polish. That's it.

Linda32

We have got pine doors, which I imagine is cheaper than oak. They match any colour.

SmlSave

No tiles in the bathroom so no grout to clean! We've gone for panels on the walls and I'm thinking about them in the kitchen too
https://www.dbsbathrooms.co.uk/platinum-white-sparkle-5mm-bathroom-wall-cladding#.WPJtPDnTUv4

GreyQueen

camelot1001 wrote: »

Stain the woodwork the colour you want it, wax and polish. That's it.

What she said I was going to say, too.

If you have painted woodwork of whatever colour, it gets chipped and looks tatty eventually. Stained woodwork, with either wax or a matt varnish (to stop dirt penetrating the wood) doesn't show the wings and dings of life. Matt varnish is more forgiving than gloss in both varnishes and emulsions.

Something I was favourably impressed with from holidaying in self-catering places in Greece was tiled floors with no skirting boards and one layer of tile going up the wall. Say bye-bye to a dirt trap, a dust-gathering and decorating job all in one.

Oh, and eliminate any door fittings or other ojects which need cleaning, like brass. Have a nice engraved slate or ceramic plate for your house number, is a small example. HTH.

moneyistooshorttomention

One of my considerations when choosing the new kitchen that's just been finished in my home was to keep maintenance work (be it housework or DIY maintenance) to an absolute minimum.

To that end - I didn't want any visible grout or sealant - as both go manky (at least they do in any kitchen I use:rotfl:). Cue for deliberately choosing not to have laminate worktop or any tiles on the walls. It's Silestone worktop with integrated Silestone sink and the Silestone goes a bit up the wall instead of using tiles. So - one quick swipe with a washing-up cloth and it's all clean and I don't have to bother with grout/sealant.

I also worked it out that my kitchen would be time-and-motion conscious and take the minimum of effort to use to cook in. I've realised my new (built-in) cooker works much quicker than the old one too. I can't think why that is - but I'm not complaining at hotplates that heat up a sight quicker than my old ones did.

Another point was having a tap high enough to readily get anything I wanted under it to fill with water. I was struggling with two taps that were set that low that it was an effort to fill a bucket from them.

Bathroom tiles are the biggest ones on the market - to minimise grout.

Fosterdog

With the yellowing gloss it is more the oil based ones that yellow badly, I don't know if it is true but was told by a painter and decorator that the chemicals they used to use in oil based gloss is now a banned substance and the chemicals they have been replaced with do yellow very easily. A water based gloss will hold colour better.

Sayschezza

Decorate as a whole house and not room by room so keeping paint colours to a minimum means 1 or 2 cans of paint to store and makes touching up very quick and easy. Neutral colours are best keeping stronger colours to cushions/curtains. (Although I admit to everything in this house is neutral as I am too lazy to be bothered to match colours). I do miss the stripped pine woodwork I had in my last house as it was so low maintenance but am in a newish build now so everything is a bit more modern looking rather than cottage and all paintwork needs maintenance from time to time. Biggest labour saving thing we did was to get rid of the lawn. A mix of paving and large washed slate is a lot easier to cope with.

[Deleted User]

I fully second what money did with her kitchen. I have a granite worktop with upstands all around and a high enough tap to fill a bucket. Chrome not brushed steel as its so much easier to keep nice. The hob is flat and only needs a quick wipe. The oven is at waist height so I don`t need to kneel on the floor. My cupboards reach up to 3" from the ceiling, so keeping the clean uncluttered lines. I have a small kitchen but it has more storage now than a big one but walking is minimal eg dishwasher to crockery and cutlery without moving my feet

I was thinking about my own doors and architraves, would love oak but have decided not to because of expense and payback. Paint in my (eco) house is easy and all one colour, auro white, which is a nice creamy white. If anything needs a touch up then it always matches. Eco paint was used all over and my white gloss is satin (semi gloss) and still looks nice after several years

moneyistooshorttomention

I also use satinwood - rather than gloss - on woodwork and do the same colour throughout the house (adding colour with possessions).

Though it's true that part of the reason for that is that I don't like "shiny" things - so avoid them as far as possible (be it in the home or for clothing).

so_very_confused

SmlSave wrote: »

No tiles in the bathroom so no grout to clean! We've gone for panels on the walls and I'm thinking about them in the kitchen too
https://www.dbsbathrooms.co.uk/platinum-white-sparkle-5mm-bathroom-wall-cladding#.WPJtPDnTUv4

Super idea. I was looking to refresh the tiles in my bathroom but certainly looking into this.