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?

Been in my house 14 years and nothing has really changed...

We’re using my parents’ mid century Errol furniture and I’ve just had a 42 year old chair reupholstered. Our bed was bought three years ago and we’ve just replaced two cheap knackered chests of drawers that were 25 years old. Your friend’s bonkers, OP.

I don’t follow fashions either, I decorate how I like. We moved into our house a year ago and decorated the whole downstairs plus our bedroom, haven’t got round to the other (unused) bedrooms yet and bathroom is all neutral tile so not needed.
One of our sofas is 6 years old and we will keep it until it’s broken or no longer comfortable to sit on.
The other sofa was brand new and we chose and bought a high quality item rather than chain store, I love it so much and I anticipate we will have it for a very long time.

I’ve lived in my current house 30 years, most rooms have been decorated 3 times (others like the hallway twice)
On my 4th set of living room furniture (3 of the 4 were secondhand)
Sort of works out every 10 years on average
In between I change smaller things like cushions, curtains, bedding if I want a different look

Your friend has more money than sense.

A lot of our furniture is antique and our curtains are very good quality and were expensive to buy, day 1, so I won’t be replacing them anytime soon. If you have furniture/soft furnishings that aren’t the current “trend” but are more “timeless” you don’t have to be constantly replacing them. Decorating-paint/wallpaper would be when the paint needs freshening up. We’d be broke if we were redecorating/replacing furniture every 18months! Besides, as PPs have said, it’s environmentally irresponsible.

I decorate every 3 years or so, sometimes a total change or just a coat of paint to freshen it up, I don't change the main furniture though unless it's broken.

I swap the soft furnishings but the old ones are either kept in the loft and reused in the future or taken to the charity shop.

Almost never. My furniture is of a timeless quality and made to last. I just replaced our secondhand (23 years ago) 3 piece suite, on the basis there won't be any more kids jumping up and down on it/playing shark in the water round the room.
I might get round to re-decorating the lounge this year (because of new sofa) but the carpet (Axminster, a wedding present) is fine just needs a good clean every now and then - oh and I still need to make the curtains, fabric is still on a roll from over 20 years ago.

Bought my house 12 years ago completely renovated it all!! extension on back loft extension new kitchen and bathrooms. Once it was finished did not touch it for 11 years!! Last year decorated it completely as it was getting scruffy!! I won’t be doing anything for another 11/12 years!!

I tend to go with what I like for expensive stuff, and add a few cheaper, changeable stuff that fits the current style.

I a, about to redo the kitchen after 15 years. Lounge was done ten years ago and now needs a refresh. Bedroom furniture is classic dark wood - I love it. Have had it for 15 years, and was my aunts before that.

That’s so annoying, every 18m...I do know people who threw away a brand new bed cos they saw one they liked better. Couldn’t even be arsed to get it taken away by the charity shop people. I thought that was awful.

Your friend is wasteful, frivolous and the reason the planet is drowning in "stuff".

We've had our sofas 17 years. Things get changed when they are worn out or really tatty, not just because we fancy a change.

How ridiculous.

Must be a slob here- most of my furniture is inherited, dining table is Georginan, we used a 1920s sofa from aunt from 1994-2018 and it’s now in the potting shed! Felt quite reckless buying a Parker Knoll sofa last year - but am hoping it will last well beyond its 25 year guarantee.

Buy well, buy infrequently is the approach I was brought up with. Can’t understand the mentality of the OPs friend.

Our house hasn't been redecorated for, must be 30+ years. Bathroom and kitchen probably even longer, I think the bathroom suite is original. Needs doing, as it's way past shabby, but we don't have the money. Majority of our furniture is second hand.

furniture i like to keep that for a long time, 20 years, 30 years, lifetime!
Decorating i suppose that can be done maybe every 6 to 7 years maybe more
I'm pretty lazy though I hate decorating just don't do it really 😬

Most of our furniture is from when we first married/first house so 17 years old.

We moved last year and needed some furniture for one room, so that's new, but the main furniture is what we have had for years. The children all needed wardrobes too as the previous house had in-built storage.

The sofa is looking very tired now, but I am holding off as we need to decorate the lounge which is a long term/ in the future thing.

We will be doing the DC bedrooms soon (just decorating) The bathroom and kitchen are not to my taste but I can be all virtuous and live with them.

Our table was given to us when we first moved in, my parents have a similar one so it is circa 1960/70's. I occasionally think I would like a new one but then I realise that it is pretty perfect for our needs (round with drop leaves) Chairs have been replaced though.

The replacing every couple of years is totally alien to me it would just never occur to me to do so.

My DC when visiting GP's sleep in the bunk beds that I did and my mum did before that.

I love tinkering at home and interior decor. But I've been into it way before I even knew what Instagram was so don't do it to stay up to date with trends. I love my home decor but wouldn't say its on trend! Obviously some things are newer than others so by nature more trendy iyswim. We've moved every few years so have never been somewhere for long enough to bother with a re do. However it's so much work I can't imagine doing a house the just finishing and re decorating.

I think re doing rooms every 18 months would be so disruptive I couldn't be arsed! Also doing it to stay on trend feels a bit sad. Your home should be comfortable and a reflection of you not Instagram.

Your friend decorates the way a lot of people shop for clothes.

I think there’s a correlation on my IL’s (PIL and SIL) constant redecorating and furniture/knack-knack re-arranging and replacing and their poor financial situations

I would probably expect to redecorate a room every 5 years to freshen paint up etc.

I would change little bits of furniture all the time, whenever I found something I liked and wanted to make room for.

I would replace big bits (sofas, beds, dining tables etc) every 10 years. Maybe longer if the item is wearing well.

I have an ‘instagram’ house, in that I have a house account, a keen interest in interior design and some beautiful rooms. I do it for me because I want to keep a record of our renovations.

I’m always amazed at how much attention the white and grey Ikea lot get. It’s just all so samey.

I buy classics and buy to last. I feel guilty that I made some bad choices in the first soon we did (our bedroom) and really want to redo it. It’s been nearly 5years but it still feels so wasteful. Apart from the odd touch up I expect everything I’ve done here to last 10-20 years.

I re-paint tired walls. I need a second sofa for the back room so will check out opshops. That's it.

My decorations are books on shelves and art, of which I have more than enough.

every 18 months? What a waste. she should be ashamed.

I change furniture on a 'needs changing because it's broken or outgrown' basis.

I have changed the DCs beds as they needed a bigger on. All other pieces of furniture are about 12-14 years old.

I really need to decorate my house. It’s all completely white, which shows up every single mark but I am not very good at it and can’t afford to pay anyone!

Competitive mumsnet at its best.

"my furniture is 800 years old. We bought it from a skip. We must be terrible slobs!