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Home decoration

How recently redecorated / reconfigured / refurbished is your home?

15 replies

AdultHumanFemale · 15/09/2018 11:23

Just out of interest, really. I heard on the radio the other day that household luxury spending in the UK is only rivalled by that of Singapore, and that it continues to rise. This includes spending on home decorating and furnishings etc.
My house is pretty much the same as when I bought it 12 years ago, bar repainting every room once, and reclaiming one pine floor. The decor is clearly dated, to the point where people actually comment on it: "Gosh, I love what you've done with those vintage kitchen tiles!" Err, they're horrendous and original issue Grin . But not irritating enough for me to spend money replacing them. Yet most people I know do spend considerable amounts on new kitchens, bathroom suites, knock throughs etc, and more still on furniture, carpets and home textiles. This awareness has crept up on me over the last couple of years, and I am wondering whether it is time to reevaluate my "If it works, it's good enough!" somewhat student like approach, and start keeping up with the Jones'.
So briefly, how recently redecorated / reconfigured / refurbished is your home? Is this something you budget and plan for as part of essential long-term spending (as in "I'll put away an extra £200 / month and refit the bathroom this time next year.")?
I save a big percentage of my income 'for a rainy day', and will really need to change my mindset to consider, what are in my mind, unnecessary home improvements a sensible use of money. But aesthetically I can see the point, of course.
How regularly do you have some sort of home 'upgrade' going on?
How big a percentage of your income is spent on doing up / decorating / beautifying your home?
Essentially, every part of my home could 'do with' an upgrade of some kind, if I was to put it on the market it would likely be described as 'charming and characterful, but in need of refurbishment'.

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YeTalkShiteHen · 15/09/2018 11:25

We moved in December and it was all done then, new furniture throughout (bar beds) and redecorated/recarpeted (we left the wood flooring downstairs).

Before that it’d been 7 years in the old house and we only did the kids bedrooms in that time.

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AdultHumanFemale · 15/09/2018 11:38

Congratulationson your newish house, Hen. My house was slightly dated even when I moved in, but I was just so thrilled to finally own a home, that I just wrote it off as quaint. And since the DDs came along, it hasn't seemed worth it to redecorate for fear of it being ruined. It's really only now that they're both at school that I'm thinking "Right...!"

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ProfYaffle · 15/09/2018 11:41

We're similar in attitude to you but it's a balance between not being 'frivolous' but also maximising the value of the work and not letting the value of the property go down. Dh was resistant at first but is more willing now as he can see we've also made a huge difference to how pleasant our day to day lives are.

When I first moved in with dh almost 20 years ago we installed a new kitchen and bathroom, then about 12 years ago before dd2 was born we upgraded our attic conversation, then last summer we knocked down a wall downstairs to enlarge the living room and refreshed the kitchen.

Hopefully next year we'll be back to the bathroom again! Grin

We save generally rather than for specific things and have only had work done when we can pay for it upfront.

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YeTalkShiteHen · 15/09/2018 11:43

AdultHumanFemale thank you! Aye I’ve still got one to go to school and I’m looking around thinking “hmm, time for a repaint?” But I can’t be arsed Grin

What kind of style do you like? Also, what kind of house is it? Ours is a Barrett magnolia box so l had to completely rethink my style because that’s not it!

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SleepFreeZone · 15/09/2018 11:50

I would say it’s a pretty good idea to try and keep the house looking saleable. Just incase you suddenly need to sell due to a change in circumstance.

So my advice would always be to not bother with fashion as it dates. People will always drop the price for kitchen and bathroom if these things look like they need to be redone. So if you were going to spend money anywhere I would say start with those two rooms, always keep colours neutral unless you know you’ll be there forever.

I can always cope with freshening up with paint and sorting out a garden but if the layout is totally flawed and the kitchen/bathroom horribly ancient I’d probably pass.

Our home we bought five years ago. In that time we’ve slowly worked through the top of the house, then had to take a wall down in the kitchen/diner and buy a new kitchen. We’ve just done the lounge and we’ve still got to do the dining room, hall, driveway and back garden. Then I suspect upstairs will need touching up again as our kids damage the walls with their toys.

How can we afford it? Some savings and a big bonus.

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TinklyLittleLaugh · 15/09/2018 11:53

We moved into our newbuild house 12 years ago. We got to choose the fittings and went deliberately neutral/classic with kitchens and bathrooms and tiles; shaker style kitchen, large glossy white tiles in the bathrooms, real wood floors throughout, that sort of thing.

Our furniture was a mixture of hand me downs and ikea from our old house. We bough a few more bits; again tried to keep it classic. We decorated throughout 5 years ago, mostly subtle colours.

We have a certain amount of bright and quirky stuff and art sprinkled liberally about our house which changes on an ongoing basis, and I have switched around stuff like curtains and cushions and rugs.

I have had a thread about other people's crazy house spending though; I find it quite incredible all the updating people do.

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MaryBerrysChutney · 15/09/2018 14:29

We only redecorate (using a professional) once every 6 or 7 years. We do the odd painting and wall when it gets dirty (thank you DDogs).

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Bluesheep8 · 15/09/2018 14:35

We moved in 2 years ago and completely redecorated and re carpeted as soon as we got the keys. We also had to buy sofas and wardrobes. We Then replaced the 2 bathrooms after a year. Just recently we have had the kitchen redecorated and replaced the wall and floor tiles. We won't redecorate now until it needs it as the house is now done to our taste. I'm always buying bits and pieces though but don't spend a lot on them.

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KanielOutis · 15/09/2018 14:54

I bought my flat ten years ago, and did nothing at all for the first nine years. Last year we spend £12k on a new kitchen. Over the next three years we plan to spend a further £30k doing works, but I hope it will last another decade or more before anything needs doing again. We are in a debt crisis in the UK, and a lot of people spend money they don't have.

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theboxofdelights · 15/09/2018 15:13

I like my home and have no problem spending money on it but I am not frivolous. My kitchen and bathrooms are fine enough, not what I would choose but about ten years old functional and neutral so I don't imagine that I will change them while I live here (plan to be here 7 years). I might change the worktops and the kitchen tiles in a year or two.

You can make a big difference with small things, for instance I did plan on replacing the bathrooms, booked a builder in to do them who had a long waiting list. I got fed up of waiting and had people coming to stay from the US for a bit so I cleaned them both up, new flooring, emulsion, serious limescale removal, bath panel, shower, plughole, bathroom units, nice pieces of wall art, wooden blinds. They look fab and I don't feel the need to replace them now.

I think I spent about £1,200 on both of them whereas I was down to spend about £4,500.

I will be decorating everywhere (recently moved in) and replacing the carpets in three rooms, the others are fine. But I don't expect to have to do it again before I leave here in 7 years, the quote for redecorating two reception rooms is £1,750! I couldn't imagine redecorating more than every seven years at that price.

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eatyourveg · 15/09/2018 15:20

Moved in 20 years ago. All rooms have had one new wall covering abeit it took several years to get them all done (we waited until the dc were older and had passed the drawing on walls phase) and all bar the kitchen and conservatory have had new floor covering. New bathroom about 6 years ago. Hall/stairs/landing along with 2 bedrooms have had a second paint and the kitchen and bathroom are getting new walls next month. Unless the paint is peeling off - I can't see the point on wasting money.

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AdultHumanFemale · 16/09/2018 07:35

Thank you, everyone! It is clearly the sensible thing to do. Ours is an ex-council 1920s semi, cottage proportions, so quite bijou and with lots of awkward bits of plumbing etc that I would love to 'hide', although boxing things in means loss of space. Hen , I like light (which it is) and uncluttered (which it isn't -lots of funny angles, nooks and crannies which give a 'busy' impression even though there isn't much actual clutter), natural materials and neutral colours (which I have, but which are looking v tired).
I think I am going to make a plan for the next few years, and see what we could do. I have a feeling that once I start, I will keep on seeing things everywhere that ought to be done...
Good advice to keep property saleable; that'll be my mantra, I think. I am very happy here, and can't see us moving on for a long time, but as you said, you never know what a change in circumstances might bring. We could afford to put in a completely new kitchen and bathroom from floor to ceiling straight away (though I wish I could get away with just fittings, Box Blush ), so perhaps I'll start looking around.
Thanks again!

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Misty9 · 21/09/2018 21:33

I have a feeling that once I start, I will keep on seeing things everywhere that ought to be done...

This is exactly my experience! After lots of rental properties it was exciting - and daunting - to move into our own home 5 years ago. We immediately decorated ds bedroom, living room and replaced carpets and windows. That swallowed 10k on its own. We then renovated/decorated dd bedroom last year (ceiling was falling down) and the porch and our bedroom have just been done. But I'm constantly seeing more things which 'could do with' some attention. Oh, and we spent 7k on landscaping and redesigning the garden last year too.

We don't spend a lot on ourselves and I think, except holidays, spending on the house is probably our biggest expenditure or 'luxury'. I could easily spend 20k in the near future! But I think it's like an addiction because, as you say, if it ain't broke don't (spend money to) fix it Smile

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bebesequin · 23/09/2018 20:28

Moved in 20 years ago.
Complete redecoration at that time plus new kitchen changed fireplaces and tiled bathroom etc.
New floor coverings.
Redid windows.
13 years ago major extension -cost more than the house did to buy!
Added 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.
Reconfigured downstairs layout.
All woodwork changed throughout the house so that it matched new extension .
Changed original bathroom suite.
Redecorated throughout.
9 years ago new kitchen.
Try to redecorate a room per year- last year was dining room but still not complete.
House has huge windows and curtains can cost hundreds of pounds.
Bedrooms have been decorated once since extension -overdue now but second bathroom due a refit first.
However I like interiors.
My sister and her hubby don't spend much on their house at all and they go to Maldives or Barbados twice a year.
We holiday in UK.
Mortgage paid off next year so we will either look to down size or if we decide to stay we will re do everything prior to retiral.

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MissCherryCakeyBun · 23/09/2018 23:20

Got the keys 2 months and 2 days ago to our new house ( doer upper) and we will have finished the renovation and decorating in 2 weeks time I never ever want to do this again...😞
The whole house has been re-wired, new plumbing, floors, plaster some windows we now have all of the upstairs decorated and tomorrow we start the downstairs decorating.....then we can get our furniture out of storage I can't wait to see my furniture again. However I can at least say we won't be decorating for at least 5 years.....choosing paint/paper/flooring for every room has been so stressful.....next time if there is one it won't be a doer upper Confused

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