New house decor and mismatching furniture - what can I do?

[Mammamia162627]

We have just bought our first home. The modern monochrome type decor was not to our taste but there were so many boxes it ticked like space and location that other houses didn’t, and the vendors were taking most of it with them anyway.

We’ve been to visit it again ahead of moving and I’m thinking through how everything is going to look and now I’m a bit worried about our furniture not matching! Things like the downstairs floor is kind of grey wood and all our furniture is cream and light oak and country home aesthetic. The carpet is a light grey and our sofa is light and warm yellow, etc. We can cover it with throws and table cloths etc but you’ll still see the legs and bases.

There are bits in the house we might be able to change over time but we don’t have much of a budget to replace things. The dining table
is newish and we love it. Also we have young SEN kids who wreck furniture and spill so it’s not worth buying new furniture or getting a new floor when the old ones are fine. Plus we want to build our savings up again and don’t want to spend too much on decor. We
might get new carpets in time though.

It also makes it difficult to decide how to buy new bits that are essentials like curtain rails, toilet seats - do we get them to match the modern decor or our own stuff?

We did know this before moving in, that the homes we were looking were incredibly well put together, but as soon as we moved our own mismatched jumbly furniture in it would look completely different and we’d never be able to replicate the feeling. I’m a bit worried it’s going to look horrible and wondering what we can do - just not worry about it? How do we buy new things we need to bring it together a bit more? Make it as neutral as possible - like make any new buys white so it matches both the current decor and furniture? If I could choose freely again I would have picked either a light calming green to feature as a running colour but I don’t really have an eye for interiors.

To be fair I think once all the kids stuff is in it will look chaotic anyway. I wanted to get a Totter and Tumble playmat as a treat to ourselves but now I think any design is going add to the chaos!

It’s also unlikely to be a forever home - because of our SEN children we may well
be selling again in 5-10 years. We bought very much for location to school.

Any advice is much appreciated!

Painting is a really cheap way you can pull together your furniture with the house. You can always repaint when you leave and don't have to do a whole room. I know it's old fashoned but I watched the house dr when I updated my home. She pulled together jumbled houses into coordinated homes on a limited budget.

Can you add some pictures of the new house and of your furniture so we can visualise the issue a bit more?

we have moved quite a lot and we paint everything white. Literally the whole house in the same colour white. Not an approach for everyone but it’s cheap, it makes a space feel as bit as possible and then you only have to worry about the flooring and the furniture matching. You can also do quite a lot with what you hang on the walls as well as soft furnishings to tie a room together, but that is also easier to do with white walls.

I think you are being hyper critical. You need to wait till you move in and then think about how everything looks. Frankly, people won’t notice the legs of furniture and you can probably get away with buying a few cushions and a throw. Put some pictures on the walls for people to look at.

I would Pick some fabric for curtains that have both grey and beige in them
Have a look on Pinterest as it will give you some ideas. You’ll just need some curtains/cushions etc to tie it together
The house will look different when you’re furniture is in

Use the colours you have to work with by using soft furnishings that have both - e.g. grey and cream cushions, natural throws and rugs, and lampshades. Most of these can be bought fairly cheaply in places like Dunelm, and Primark/supermarkets have homeware sections as well as IKEA. You can tie almost anything together if you need to. Take a look at a colour wheel for some ideas for complementary colours.

If the downstairs floor is grey wood, could it be painted a different colour or stripped to take it back to the original colour of the wood?

Could you have a look under the carpets and see what the floor underneath is like? There might be floorboards which could be presentable enough especially if you put a rug down.

The walls are mostly white thankfully, and those that aren’t we are painting.

I guess it just makes me feel a bit yuk - grey oak effect floors with light and natural oak/cream furniture. DH bought replacement toilet seats and he chose natural wood as nicer to sit on, even though the toilets have a distinctive and modern look. 🤷‍♀️

I guess you’re right and I should wait to see how it looks. But we really need curtains! It’s such a big expense and we’ll take them with us to wherever we go next so it would have been nice to have chosen ones that we love rather than ones that need to match to what is already there.

It was a new development and the vendors were the first owners - so I’m guessing nothing below the carpets?

In terms of flooring can you think about rugs which will bring things together?

The other thing you could consider is painting some of your furniture or at least giving it a bit of a whitewash effect to tone down the yellow. Google "grey country chic" for ideas of the look. Get some white finishing wax. Give the original lacquered surface a light sand and then rub the wax in ( try it on the back first to see if you like it.

I've added some pics of some tables which have had the bases painted and the top waxed.

How many carpets are we talking? Are they all grey?

Congratulations on your new home.

Don’t panic, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Move in, and then see how it looks. It probably won’t look as bad as you think. You’re picturing it with the previous owner’s furniture in, not yours.

This. Emulsion is inexpensive and repainting is easy as long as you don't rush.

Wait until your furniture is in and then build a mood board for each room. A new rug or some cushions will link the two colour schemes. Curtains can be expensive. Do you have a skillful gran who will make them for you.

I love this part, dressing a room and making it work. Have fun 😊

I agree with PP. whitewashed wood will work in modern decor and traditional home. I wouldn’t buy loads of modern stuff as 1. Not your taste 2. You are not staying long term. Painting walls is inexpensive and will help. Maybe replace the grey carpet with a cheap carpet in a shade you like. I wouldn’t spend loads on curtains as they’ll probably not fit the windows at the next house.

I feel you. Our homes internal decor choice left a lot to be desired
Think grey floors and Walls were combo of "rental yellow", lilac (think 90s teen girl bedroom), cold ice blue etc

Painting, rugs and "see as you go" once in are your best strategies.

my dds room had IMO a grim steel grey carpet. But it was expensive/ new ish.
In the end I got a white and mustard/warm yellow wallpaper and cracked on. Yellow rug warm wood bed and white furniture and you are in business
So room is yellow white grey in the vein of the 70/20/10 color rule - which i find helpful.

The other bedroom we found some calm more traditional griege type wallpaper to life the cold grey carpet and then more warmer toned mink type colours and then some purple. Grey/griege, white, purple.

Our bedroom had VILE dark brown fit wardrobes (expensive) with pale rental yellow.
It took me agessss to work what to do. I did a mid/dark warm green that works that the brown wardrobes and oatmeal carpet and added some wallpaper on one wall that picked up the green and had some other colours and mustard in it.
I was shocked at how decent it looked when we were done. Brown white Green mustard
In about a 35/35/ 20 / 10
It gets a lot of compliments and I dont hate the wardrobes now - which is honestly didnt think was possible

Basically I just worked it out as I went along and worked with what I already had. A lot of furniture move from intended rooms....I was surprised at how well It turned out.

Curtains check out argos. They are amazingly cheap and do the job

You might be able to stain the grey wooden floors a darker colour which sounds like it would work with your furniture. And a quick Google suggests you can get carpets dyed - https://carpet-dyeing.co.uk/carpet-dyeing/ again a darker colour would work with your furniture and white walls, might not be what you choose from scratch but will look more coherent than what you've currently described and won't mean buying furniture that isn't your style.

6 rooms, hallway and stairs

The carpets are greyish white - very cool unlike the warm cream furniture we have.

We were also going to treat ourselves to a new bed - I think it will have to be some shade of white to keep it neutral.

Don't get curtains, get plain cream or white shutters or blinds throughout. Kid safe of course. (blinds2go)

Get the biggest cheapest rugs you can find that match your style and cover the carpet in the biggest living area.

Upstairs if you have floorboards it's cheaper to get rid once they're worn out then paint the floorboards and then again add cheap rugs in your colours. Good luck!

Paint every wall a neutral shade. Cream or white. Decorate with framed posters and birthday cards, family photos. Lots cheaper and frames are always in charity shops by the dozen.

I would love to change out the carpets and paint etc but we are actually moving very soon! And once the furniture and kids are in it’s very unlikely we’ll have time or opportunity to do any big jobs. I think we’ll have to use furnishings to pull the rooms together.

I think I'd go dark wood - sounds counterintuitive but will work with light grey carpets and white walls. Cool blue accents, think snowy woodland!

OK so it's a new build in shades of grey.

The grey everywhere is going to date very very fast (has done already tbh) so if budget allows I would actually replace the flooring with something that goes with your furniture. I definitely wouldn't be changing your furniture to match carpets you don't even like.

I would do this as a matter of priority, you can always paint and get new curtains a bit later.

Buy some fabric and make your own curtains it’s only sewing in straight lines. It’s the ironing carefully before sewing that’s the hassle

It takes a little organisation but it won't be as bad as you think.

I remember my parents replacing their carpets during the time we lived in our old house and they just accepted a certain amount of chaos for a few days as they had to move the furniture out temporarily. I actually think this is a better way of doing it than replacing all the carpets before you move in because once you can see your furniture in the room you'll be able to see what colour carpet or floor would actually look good more easily.

Please don’t spend money you don’t have on getting it all perfect straight away. Instagram has a lot to answer for. Painting is cheap so you could do that. Wait until you are in and see what it looks like. I still have mismatched furniture and I’ve lived here years but I prefer to wait and replace items with quality as and when I can.