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I have no home decorating instinct for my new home

3 replies

SENMum1727 · 14/09/2025 16:00

DH have recently bought our first home. It’s a newish build - we are the second owners - and there’s lots to love with the layout and location, but the first owners did a really rubbish job with diy and maintaining bits of it and they took with them many fixtures so there’s a lot that needs replacing.

I should be relishing making it my own but I’m really not. There are some very modern touches in the house that I don’t like but we need to start saving money again and can’t remodel extensively. There’s a lot of griege. We have two kids, one is a baby that hates cars, so DH is going out to B&Q, Dunelm, B&M on his own and looking and choosing stuff and sending photos back to me and I feel very uninspired. I don’t have a vision for what I want especially from photos on WhatsApp. I guess I like country home aesthetics but we don’t really have the budget for it, and it doesn’t fit with what is currently in place. So we’re defaulting to the plainest and cheapest options. DH just asked me which bathroom shelf to get and gave me the option of white wood cupboard country home type or mirror with glass shelf as the only two options. The bathroom is very modern looking so the latter would look better but I hate it.

I’m just feeling stressed about it all, on top of look after the kids. I’d rather wait and enjoy living in the space for a bit and I keep deferring making decisions and DH is a bit fed up and just wants a mirror in the bathroom. Whereas I tend to spend time weighing up options, but I’m feeling too overwhelmed with the number of things that needs doing so I’m not thinking about it it at all. Our family gave us a cash gift to help buy bits for the home so we should use it, but we’re so used to getting the cheapest options off Argos etc so I don’t know where to start with looking for slightly nicer things. I’d quite like to go to IKEA tbh but the baby can’t do the journey yet.

Any advice please? I do realise how fortunate we are.

OP posts:
AbzMoz · 14/09/2025 17:22

Suggest to focus on what you functionally need and go to ikea and grab the lot in one go. Worth having a babysitter for a half day, or go at 6-9pm on the close. Write a list, room by room. Ignore anything decorative for now. Recognise you just need a functional home and can upgrade items as suits you in the future (and at that point you can think about the country house aesthetic)

RhubarbandCustardYummyYummy · 14/09/2025 17:24

IKEA showroom will give some good inspo but just work out a few priority prices you need and leave the less essential stuff for when you have more headspace

LivingTheDreamish · 14/09/2025 17:51

Yes I also think IKEA is the answer for the initial basic purchases. Good value and well designed. Don’t send your husband on his own unless you have no other option! And if that is the case, send him with a shopping list after extensively browsing the website.

Take your time with the design element. But if in your initial buying spree for the basics you see one piece you instinctively love, eg a beautiful rug for the living room, or colourful cushions, get them. It can be the jumping off point for everything else and will be immensely cheering amongst the greige in the meantime.

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