to wonder how people afford to decorate their houses?

[Blelibo]

Me and DH both in late 20s, both on 30k a year, own our own house, we have one child together and DH has a daughter from previous relationship... we hang NO money to decorate our house with. We've lived here a year and it's completely empty!!

Anyone else in same boat?

But also everyone on here has a point. I use eBay to get things like chests of drawers that I will paint and line with funky material steeped in PVA to stiffen it. You just need time really... it would be possible though if you look around.

Feel sorry for young home owners now.houses and therefore mortgages are so high.Things were hard when we bought our first home but we saved hard but suppose we did it before we had children and children arent cheap.

Oh & the people I know with the most amazing interiors/extensions/no money spared are the ones who paid 600k for a property spent 100k doing it up, sold it 4 years later for 1.4m & bought new property for 900k & spent 200k on it. It’s breathtaking & huge.

Charity shop it.

Sorry to say, chances are you are wasting money somewhere, write down all your outgoings and justify the spend to each other. When we did it we realised how much we wasted on subscriptions we didn't use and how much lunches cost when its a fraction just to make the night before, etc etc. Mind your pennies and all that. Not a criticism (and have no idea of your situation) but just a suggestion.

GUMTREE!!

I could have written this post OP, we’re in an incredibly similar situation. We bought a good house in our mid twenties, in a pretty expensive area, and have since done a decent extension by remortgaging. Despite earning a fairly decent amount, with high mortgage costs and high childcare costs, there is very very little left over each month for the decorating that needs to be done (and little time). We have this conversation regularly in our house ‘how do people do it??’ Biggest difference for lots of people is childcare costs. If we had grandparents who looked after our child, we would have £600 a month to spend on carpets etc immediately. But there’s not much we can do about that.
Best thing that we did (it’s not for everyone, but we enjoy it) is take in foreign students on an ad hoc basis. It earns us a couple of hundred pounds a month which we put directly towards the house. Is there something similar that you could try?

Sorry if it’s been mentioned already, upthread, but Freegle and Freecycle are AMAZING (and free, obviously)!! Examples of things I have got for free off the top of my head: 2 almost new leather sofas, 3 good as new bar stools, spotless leather ottoman stool, 2 fab Fortnum & Mason wicker hampers (for storage), steam cleaner, very high-tech lamp with different LED colours, 7 foot (incredibly convincing!) fake tree for my kitchen/diner, a huge ethnic woven (storage) chest for my kid’s room and 2 woollen rugs. But there is more!...

I would say half of my house is new (but eg discounted in sales) stuff and the rest is freebies from recycling sites, which people are just delighted to get rid of, to gain space in their own homes. You just need to register (for free) with the Freegle, Freecycle and Trashnothing websites and respond immediately to daily emails when you see something you need... xx

My friends daughter just bought a flat in the summer the only thing she bought new was a mattress and carpets. Ever thing else she got from gumtree bought lovely leather settees, for the bedroom she bought that horrible nottie pine furniture which she painted with the chalk paint and changed the handles it look really nice very french!! Even got a lovely bed frame and all the occasional furniture She got lots of her accessories from cheap shops like home bargains B&M stores & primark I went round a few weeks ago and that flat look lovely!! I was very impressed it really looked amazing. But as she does not have children yet she did but a lot of time into making it look so amazing.

Um....we have a less than half of that coming in and still manage to decorate and furnish our house - I buy most things second hand but that doesn’t mean horrible!!!

Same salary as you guys and same issue. Been here a year and can’t afford to change a thing

OP you are very young, have a large house and two children to support. Just don't expect everything to be perfect straight away. You are doing great!

DH and I have 20 years on you, we bought our first house in our early 30s (postdocing so short term contracts before that) and did a bit to that before we had kids. But after DD2 was born (now 9) we did nothing to the house except a bit of painting because we had neither the time nor the money nor the energy to think about it. We moved to a bigger house earlier this year and have completely redecorated the previous owners formal dining room into a playroom and done some other essentials (curtains!) because we have the savings to be able to do that.

We also have enough of the essentials to be able to take our time redecorating. We also have considerable savings, earn much more than you and don't have significant childcare costs now all 3 DC are at school. So of course it's easier for us to decorate than for you. But when I was in my mid 20s I was living in shared rented flats and wasn't worried about having the perfect house. You have plenty of time and TBH you don't want everything done immediately because it will all go out of date around the same time if you do that.

Scanning my 1980s and 90s I diaries so amny many hours I spent decorating. I had forgotten some of the names of the tasks even - what you do to walls befiore you start wall papering., We did shifts at weekends with he babies so one would do 3 hours 8 11 and then swap the children and the other of us then did 3 hours painting etc etc.

Belibo take a look to see if there is a community repaint location near you
They sell donated surplus paint v cheaply, all brands including Farrow and ball, but I didn't like the colours. A kick of paint in a colour of your choice can make a big difference

We were in the same situation when we first bought our house. We did it a bit at a time when we could afford it, and I worked some overtime to save up. We were on a lot less that 60k though!

We save up, and do it slowly.

Second hand, Freecycle - let people know you need stuff and you will be inundated! We were married 10 years before we bought a new sofa

I am assuming the 60k is gross so some of this will be paid in tax, N.I. and pension. Then the dh has to pay child maintenance for child from previous relationship as well as having dc in current relationship. We don't know where OP lives but in many parts of country that won't go far. Once mortgage is paid, utilities and food and possibly childcare there can't be much left. If no relatives to give you cast offs try charity shops. If a large proportion of your money goes in childcare then once dc at preschool you will have more left over each month. Only other thing to consider is moving to a cheaper area to live.

I read books (i'm old) about collectibles/antiques and then went to charity shops and second hand places. My snooty inlaws refused to believe that i decorated on a very slim budget.

A good coat of paint and a few good ideas are amazing for any look you desire.

Best wishes and happy hunting.

i joined mn in 2007.

when did it get so fucking nasty?

OP i hope you are ok, i totally get what you are saying.

we earn a bit more than you and still struggle to sort the house! its whats going out as well as whats coming in!

I think the reason OP got the replies she did is because of the way she worded her posts, didn't respond to any of the helpful posts, flounced once, came back to say she hadn't flounced, then said she was hiding the thread and flounced again.

I got the impression that OP wants to be able to buy nice, shiny, new furniture, and decorate using Farrow and Ball, not have to slum it getting other people's cast offs from Gumtree, and paint from Wilko's. She sounded very petulant, and adding that she and her DH earn 60K between them, she was bound to put some people's backs up.

This thread could have gone so differently, if OP had engaged with those who offered suggestions.

truly i read nothing that could be construed at stealth boasting or not engaging.

i just think people enjoy putting the boot in and when one does its a green light for some pack mentality nastiness.

really - nothing the op said was remotely offensive. makes me laugh when people come on here spouting about their dysfunctional parenting and get the 'there there' cream but this poster was having a whinge about not being able to decorate and got lynched!

copper, but she IS able to decorate. She just chooses to spend the money on other stuff.

Yeah like nursery fees? I cannot see why people are being so nasty. She works.

Tell you what op....
Jack work and get your self on benefits. Then everyone will have sympathy for you! And from what I've seen you know able to afford a goat and a widescreen tv.

"Saving" for nursery fees. She's on maternity leave currently ffs.