How long did it take you to do your house up?

[Newcoat]

I’m in my first ever home and beginning to feel really frustrated because it’s never quite ‘done’. I can’t afford to get it all decorated and furnished in one go and I have a chronic illness which prevents me from decorating it myself, plus it’s so hard to find the time between work and kids!

How long did it take others to get their home to an acceptable standard? I won’t have anyone round because I’m so embarrassed, but it’s been almost 2 years now and it’s feeling like it will never be done.

We've been in a year, it was a fixer upper to start with. Spent £28k so far and nowhere near done. 4 half done rooms. Probably need another 2/3 years and another £40k at least. It'll have to get done as and when we have the cash.

The flooring thing has been a right pain, a few different things going wrong there😅First the cat peed all over my bedroom carpet when we moved in so I had to change that as even several different professional carpet cleaners couldn’t get rid of the smell. I swapped rooms with DS a year in because she needed the bigger room, but her room had a pink carpet. The hallway/stairs carpet was too thick and made it really hard to open doors and they were getting damaged, DP kept walking in without taking his shoes off making the living room carpet all dirty so I had to change to laminate and I decided to get the kitchen tiles because the lino had a weird texture and just never seemed clean enough no matter how hard I scrubbed. I think we’re finally all good on that front now though thankfully.

I’m reading through all the replies and they’re making me feel a LOT better, thank you. The poster who mentioned instagram probably has it right - I’m 23 so grew up with Mrs Hinch looking homes being the norm, it’s everywhere you look.

Oh good lord is this what our young people are growing up with 😔.

I always saw my role in life as making other people feel good about their houses...

Do you care about seeing your friends, or about them being impressed by your big reveal? Newsflash; nobody cares. Well, a bit, in that I like a functioning toilet, not too smelly, some signs of cleaning.

I've been here 20 years and I would say houses are never 'done' but I've made the house structurally sounder, better insulated, better to live in. I also discovered Dulux Timeless and have used it all through the house over the years. I'm happy here.

18 years and still going.

Nurses salary , 2 DC , not enough money or time .

I repainted in LD1 as hadn't long moved in, LL gave permission prior anyway.
Had already done kids bedrooms, coat paint new curtains and carpets.
Then in Lockdown i papered our room glossed wood, painted hall top to bottom and glossed. Painted lounge and diner and glossed. Painted kichen.

Dh was furlough, i love decorating. I had a 8 week old. So juggled around baby although dh sorted baby mostly.

Dh hates decorating, i absolutely love it and its good for my mh.

Since then we've had new kitchen fitted by LL and ive painted kitchen twice more ( hated 1st color)
Painted playroom twice.. Because, well kids!
Re done lounge and diner.

Next to do is hallway again as it's getting a bit shabby with 6 of us in the house BUT the thought of all the prep puts me off. I hate sanding and remember how horrible it was to do before

I've been in my house 7 months now, and have only decorated two rooms; the living room has been freshly painted, and new mirror hung etc, as has the smallest bedroom.

I've got an architect currently putting together plans for a loft conversion and kitchen diner extension, however I currently only have funds for the cheaper project, most likely loft conversion. That'll happen this year, then it'll probably take me a year or so to save for the kitchen diner, then the rest of the house will need doing; it's never ending!

Top tip someone mentioned when I was moving is to have at least one room nicely done that you can relax in it, and not feel like it needs work. For me, that's my living room.

Oh my god, OP, at 23 you should have seen the state of the places I lived!

Seriously, your IRL friends are not Instagram likes. Hospitality is what makes a home. Just keep it acceptably clean and invite your people over.

10 years and still going 😀

So far I've had an old lean-to knocked down and replaced with an extension.
Kitchen knocked through, and new kitchen installed
All new windows and exterior doors
Rewire
New roof
New boiler and log burner
New hot water tank

Redecorated throughout

Still to do....
Tidy up the bathroom
Finish office floor and furnish
Take down a cheap conservatory and open up the old garage that it was built in front of.

I'll finish just in time to sell it and retire, but it'll add a healthy chunk to my retirement fund. And I've taken a crumbling, cold, drafty old shell of a house that no-one wanted, and turned it into a warm, safe, efficient home.

4 years into what we thought was a 5 year project, we are now calling it a 10 year project!

We did an extension on the kitchen early on and garden landscaping. The kitchen looks great and I'm proud of it so always take visitors there!

Downstairs the living room is done (ish) but the office and dining room are hideous and the same as the day we moved in.

Upstairs, only the kids rooms have been done. 3 more bedrooms haven't been touched.

The hall and landing have been painted but the thread bare carpet on the landing is still there, as are the cracked hall tiles.

We will get there. DH currently slowly working on the dining room around other time constraints.

The only part that really bothers me is our bedroom as it's hideous and we don't even have proper wardrobes. But, I tell myself that nobody sees it so it's low priority!