To ask how often you change your furniture & decorate

[Stripyseagulls]

I’m a lazy cow/ not particularly motivated by home furnishing trends. I have nice stuff but I tend to replace when it breaks!

My friend redecorates & buys new furniture/ sofas every 18 months to stay up to date with trends. She loves all the Instagram stuff/ posts her house pics etc.

I feel like I slob but I literally can’t be arsed! Apart from the expense; I can’t be bothered to treat my home like a lifestyle magazine. I would rather go out to the park with the kids to be honest or going on holiday!

Aibu to feel like a shabby slob though?! How often you revamp everything?

I don't even change my furniture when it 'breaks' . My sofa and chair are Killed By Cats, and so they have throws on them to eke out their lives.

I've re-upholstered my dining chairs, if that counts? After 20 plus years of service.

I patch up the wallpaper when the cats scratch it - but with the same (carefully kept specifically for that purpose) paper.

I am considering redecorating the hallway after 15 years. I will use whatever is vaguely 70s-looking and cheap.

I bought a new bed when my old one collapsed. For the second time, after patching it up with spare wood and gaffer tape .

But I'm the wrong person to ask - 'stuff'means little to me. I mean, I adore my new stuff - so much so that I keep it forever.

We decorate one room/area at a time, usually one every other summer. So it's taken 14 years to do 8 areas. We bought our sofas in 2005, still going strong. Previous were handmedowns - and in fact went back to M-I-L when ours arrived because she got a conservatory!

We could certainly afford to get our house re-done every year or two. But why? It's a lot of faff with zero benefit. Fuck all that Instagram nonsense. How shallow and purposeless do you have to be to make fake internet likes your reason for existing?

Sounds like your OP is a not so veiled dig at your friend, so what if she decorates a lot, it’s up to her how she spends her time and money, you sound jealous and I’m guessing you will be enjoying lots of posts saying it’s terrible she decorates a lot as that will help your feelings of insecurity.

We've just replaced our suite.... looking at baby photos, we've had it 20 and a bit years.
My dining table on the other hand, I had from my parents, who bought it 2nd hand from an ad in the paper in about 1975.

Your friend is nuts.
The waste - in terms of earth's resources, as well as cost to her family - is shocking

I would judge your friend - as others have said, absolutely no consideration for the environment

I decorated my living room last year. Previously it was at least 10 years if not longer. By decorated I mean painted with new curtains and curtain pole. It's a work in progress. I only bought table lamps a couple of weeks ago. The suite is second hand, from my mum as was the carpet (from someone else). I plan on saving for new flooring but once done that will be down for at least a couple of decades. I can't afford to redecorate every couple of years, nor do I want to, way too much hassle for a start.

Like a pp by the time I've gone through the whole house it'll be time to start again.

We have not changed anything in 8+ years since we moved back to the UK. Yes, we’ve acquired new things (had 2 dc since then), but we’ve not replaced anything. We have the same manky ikea sofa we bought after scraping together whatever money we could come up with when we were students/looking for work. It’s disgusting and stained, but with a toddler I refuse to buy anything nicer until littlest is a bit older. I’m not moving it again though. It’s going in the bonfire when we move next year.

We are both relatively high earners, but I think anyone that preoccupied with their decor could probably due with a hobby or to just get out and live a bit more.

Forgot to add I replaced my mattress earlier this year. It was 14 years old and had become uncomfortable. I kept the bed frame though.

Same as you. I replace furniture when it no longer functions as required and redecorate when I look at it and am suddenly appalled by how it looks. It's a ballache.

When necessary. Having said that it was necessary to get a new mattress five years ago as it is old and lumpy and still havent got round to it. Last furniture I bought was second hand two years ago.

I replace when it is beyond repair. Or with the dc’s when they’ve outgrown.
Decorating I’m always painting. I get bored of the color very quickly. Also a great way to keep on top of the clutter

Been in my house 11 years
Repainted once
Changed sofa once as it was saggy and awful
Just changed a chair for a cuddle chair one, I had the previous chair 13 years and it's gone to a charity who supply furniture to people who were homeless

DDJI your post sounds really sad

Sorry DDIJ

@BettyBooJustDoinTheDoo wow, your post is really nasty.
I said at the start it makes me feel crap & slobby & like I should be doing more.

We have same furniture, barring kids moving from (second hand cot bed to singles) and carpets.

Walls have been repainted and curtains replaced. That's as far as I'm gounv5. I've spray painted picture frames and replaced those. We did some building work for new kitchen but that's staying for a long time now!!

Carpet on the stairs is thin on some treads. It'll do a while longer.

I buy (what I consider to be) 'timeless' furniture and only replace it when it breaks. However, I try to decorate every 2-3 years because, while furnishings can last a long time, paint and wallpaper looks shabby pretty quickly, especially where there are pets/children.

I wallpaper / paint every 4-5 years, bathroom is painted more frequently because it's badly ventilated and it gets some mould. I really place furniture / appliances only when they're broken.

I moved in with my partner just over a year ago, and he has done nothing in his house for the 16 years he has lived here. That's not to say it's desperate, but at the same time everything does need to be done really, and that leaves us with a massive task. I think in an average house you should try to do one room per year, then by the time everything's done the first will be ready for doing again. The exception being kitchen/bathroom which should last a lot longer but could be repainted or something. For us, that would mean each room got done every 6 years, which I think is reasonable.

**replace not really place.

Bought my dining room chairs in 1984. Had them repadded and covered in 2014. Cost circa 500.

Inherited two Victorian wing chairs from my dad in 2001. Had them reupholstered then for £800; more recently for £1100.

Just had a sofa I bought in 2002 re-upholstered for £1000.

Quality lasts and stays looking good.

Decorating = 3-5 years kitchens/bathrooms and 5/7 elsewhere.

Your friend sounds nuts.

This is an interesting one. In one sense if that's what she enjoys doing and wants to spend money on then crack on- it's kind of her hobby I guess.

On the other hand it speaks to me of someone who is dissatisfied in some way with her life and is trying to bring meaning- she might be bored in her job/with parenting or feel something is lacking in some way. It reminds me of those people that get a buzz from shopping lots on line.

As for me, I like to express creativity with my house so i add little updates here and there, but they are mainly things I've made or got in a charity shop or second hand. I love colourful fabric and can't bear matchy things. I think it's a shameful waste to throw things away that often.

When the kids have grown up, though, I'm going to get lovely parquet flooring and fancy William Morris wallpaper and never decorate ever again, I think.

18 months?? I hadn't paid for my sofa yet after that long. We freshen up the paint when it needs it and replace furniture when it breaks, if at all. Our old sofa we got when we moved into our first place was a ticket to the nearest chiropractor so we replaced that 3 years ago with said finance sofa, which we're expecting to last us years!