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?

We have been married 9 years. We have just completed house move 6. Five of those moves have been international. The majority of furniture was in storage for two years as we were overseas (not mainland Europe/UK which is 'overland')

Most of the furniture has followed us around except the time in storage. We do end up with new stuff when old stuff doesn't fit into new houses. But stuff gets reused in different ways too. This move we will need to replace a broken chest of drawers, the girls want a desk each in their bedrooms and we need a new guest bed.

Otherwise, we just change cushions etc as they wear out. And we got new sofa covers when the sofas came out of storage as they had got a bit smelly.

We replaced our sofas last year after about 22/23 years having had the reupholstered and recovered after about 10 years.

We’ve been in this house and think we’ve probably redecorated most rooms about 3 times now.

I don’t slavishly follow interior fashions, but I’ll admit to a fair bit of grey and some duck egg blue! All the floors downstairs are solid wood so that won’t ever need replaced

I was thinking along the lines as the PP who suggested your friend does this like a hobby. It sounds like she gets bored/likes change. I can understand feeling like that, as when I look at interior designs I see lots of schemes I would like to do, but I only have one living room, one kitchen, etc.

She must have a decorator on retainer... and I suppose it's so much easier to redecorate if you've just got rid of your furniture

It isn't people being competitive @Jennifer2r, it is people replying honestly to the question posed by the OP.
Most people would be pretty shocked to hear that people replace suites etc after 18months. Combination of cost, hassle / energy, and sheer wastefulness. Nothing to do with competitiveness.

Ooh I couldn't be doing with it. I hate the upheaval of decorating. We've been in our house 13 years. In that time each room has been done once. Except the kitchen and the kids bedrooms which have been painted twice. The living room.and hall are desperately in need of attention and the carpets and sofa are really on their last legs but weve just put it off again till next summer, I hate it. I think your friend is wasteful but I also wish I had a bit more oomf like her

I change my sofas every 5 years and paint every 2. Carpets maybe every 3 years. I like to live in a modern house. Couldn’t live in a dated house

@ilovemytumbledryer what do you do with the old sofas?

I phone the council to come and take them if no one wants them.

*cue the virtue signallers being horrified about the enviroment...

I lovey tumble dryer - do carpets really date that quickly?

If you are following trends that closely, do you genuinely like everything you buy to ensure your house doesn’t look dated?

Ilovemytumbledryer some of my furniture is well over 100 years old. Looks at 18th C card table to right and nestles into armchair that's circa 1880. Would you seriously think such pieces are dated? They are well designed and I would say that exquisite design from different eras can be matched well.

Also re the carpets, a good quality, neutral carpet shoumd last decades with care and regular cleaning.

It’s hardly virtue signalling to want our kids to have a planet.

alsohuman

Oh, you have kids? One of the worst things you can do for the planet but hey ho. Drive as well do you?

@BettyBooJustDoinTheDoo blimey, what a bitchy reply to the OP- you might want to head over to the post about how nasty it’s got on mumsnet recently. I didn’t read the OP like that at all so it probably says more about you...

My son is 44 and is one of the most environmentally aware people I know. He agrees with you, hence no grandchildren. And yes, I drive - a plug in car. Next? You’re wasteful and clearly have more money than sense @ilovemytumbledryer. Your user name says it all.

Bought a new settee in 2001 when we moved country. Had sold the furniture with the old house. Still have that settee. Thinking possible of replacing in the next house move but mat just recover as looking tired fabric wise but structure is sound.

@ilovemytumbledryer

Carpets every 5 years. Just buy decent ones.

alsohuman

Why did you have children if you care so much about the enviroment?

I wouldn't buy new furniture until I needed it (e.g broken or worn out) but I do decorate every room every 18-24 months.

Because it was a bit different 44 years ago @ilovemytumbledryer. People like you hadn’t fucked the planet up then.

I change my sofas every 5 years and paint every 2. Carpets maybe every 3 years. I like to live in a modern house. Couldn’t live in a dated house

I'm confused by this. Why does repainting your walls & changing your sofa = having a modern house.

I like to update cushions & small decorative items. I love interiors but change is not driven by timescales more me seeing things I like. I'm a bit bored of my bedroom & the wallpaper is a bit tatty in some places after 5 yrs so I would like to redo that. I won't be changing any furniture except painting a 2nd tall boy a new colour. One of my armchairs is in need of tlc so Im going to get it upholstered. I have lights & furniture that I will keep forever because I love them just like some of my clothes.

alsohuman

No, it’s because of how we lived 44 years ago that’s caused the mess actually.

So maybe try to halt the damage? Or at least slow it down.

I've been in my house for 5 years and we have:

• decorated and carpeted living room. Used furniture we already had and later bought a second hand sofa that a friend was getting rid of. Bought a new tv unit
• repainted kitchen walls white and papered one wall.
• repainted dining room white and papered one wall
• wallpapered the hallway but not the walls up the stairs.
• decorated and carpeted baby's room
• repainted bathroom.
• bought a new bed
• acquired a farmhouse dining table from a warehouse clearance
• replaced a TV unit that was too big
• bought kallax units for toys

Still need to do

• our bedroom
• staircase walls and carpet
• replace chipped laminate in kitchen and dining room and laminate the hallway
• bathroom needs replacing
• second bedroom when DS moves out of the nursery
• utility room needs new units to accommodate tumble dryer and decorated
• patio has broken in places and needs relaid and mortared

I feel like it will never be finished

The cheap b&m dining table and chairs that we bought to tide us over for a bit as we were planning on moving soon and didn't want to spend loads if the furniture might not fit in the next place is over 5 years old now. It did fit in the new place. We are probably going to replace it by the end of the year as DS sitting at the table now means we could do with a bigger one. Will by something good quality and hopefully never need to replace it.

My MIL once commented that she was looking at new carpets as hers were over 6 so in desperate need of replacing, I was very confused as the carpets looked almost like new and the carpets in my parents house were over 20 and still going strong. My childhood bedroom was decorated when we moved in and I was 3 and then again when I was 14 and then again when I was 19 and had moved out!

Redecorating every 18 months is so wasteful!

Never unless it breaks. Sofas are 10 years' old. Dining room table from eBay. Some of our stuff was from my parents and in-laws

Would only buy if we move.

18 months says more money than sense