Thinking it’s normal to repaint the house every couple of years?

[Cloudyyy]

Help solve a debate for us.

DH thinks once you’ve painted a room, it should be done! No touch-ups or fresh coats necessary. MIL agrees they’ve never needed to repaint unless otherwise redecorating, sometimes going 10+ years between paint jobs (and absolutely never more often than every five years).

I remember my parents always “touching up” with a fresh coat of paint every other spring, alternating doing upstairs and downstairs. DM used to sponge the walls sometimes with warm soapy water if we had scuffed it.

What is the norm???

YABU = we never repaint unless absolutely necessary
YANBU = we retouch the paint jobs from time to time

I should add we have young children, so messy/ sticky fingers on the walls are unavoidable at times!!!

@Sunshineand use waterbased gloss/eggshell, it doesn't go yellow like oilbased paint.

I do mine about every 5 years but I save and get someone in to do it. I'm not well enough to decorate.

I try and do a room / area a year, so it works out every room gets repainted once every 10 years. That way I can set aside a week and do it properly - ceilings, skirting, paint and paper as necessary. This year, its the bathroom and utility.

@Sunshineand use waterbased gloss/eggshell, it doesn't go yellow like oilbased paint.

Thank you

I think we are in between. I don’t have the time to do anything else, with children and working I think there has to be a compromise.

Yanbu. To keep it nice, it will need touching up. My DH and IL are the same as your husband, they did the whole house in 1985 and never touched it since. The wall on the stairs is covered in hand prints, the skirting has chipped, there are lines on the walls where the chairs have been pushed up against them, black windows, the ceiling has gone yellow. If they’d kept on top of those jobs over the years it wouldn’t need the massive refurb job that it needs now.

put it another way, if you are redecorating, you are not doing anything else. Life is too short to waste what little free time we already have.
It's not hard or even that expensive, but it's a boring waste of time.

At least every 5 years, more than enough to me.
Kids bedrooms should last around 5 years before they get bored and want a new theme/colour.
The rest of the house, if cleaned regularly, doesn't need it. you don't need to repaint around light switch if you keep that area clean.

Kitchens more often, they do get a bit grotty to be fair.

If people are happy repainting every year, it's a bit weird, but why not

I think 7 years is the ‘rule’ for tenanted houses. We have dogs who leave marks so re-did most areas with the tough paint. It makes a big difference.

Agree with those saying 5-7 years for paint; I think actual kitchen and bathroom fittings should last at least a decade though.

The main bathroom and my room are being done this year; the bathroom was Screwfixes’ cheapest in 2006. My room is getting new carpet and fresh paint - if I ever get time to clear the boxes of junk in there, from the rest of the now nice tidy house 🙄🙄

That’s it unless you count the chicken coop which has had a new roof recently, just before the storms came thank goodness!!

“if you are redecorating, you are not doing anything else”

Of do give over. It’s the prep work that takes the time time when decorating but if your room is prepped properly once, the the next time you do it it should only be a few hours work. It really isn’t hugely challenging.

We cant afford to decorate some of our rooms. The hall and our bedroom look like they haven’t been painted since the 70s/80s.

Whole house done every 5 years but we are fussy so .arks and touch ups would be done extremely regularly.
By that I mean, any little Mark's would be touched up so the place looks pristine even just before painting.

Wiping Mark's and touching up paint takes no time and does make a huge difference to how a house looks.

I'm weird about walls and skirting so touch things up constantly. No idea why, it's just an odd habit but makes me feel better knowing it never gets grubby.

We have dogs, cats, two boys and many, many guests and parties, though, and we're often outdoors, so the house needs keeping on top of.

Depends how houseproud you are and your priorities. Moved in here about 16 years ago and painted about 1/3 of it so far. Know it needs doing but would rather be doing other things!

I think quite a few rooms in our house need doing again, approx 5 years after being painted. Externally needs doing every 2-3 years to keep smart/weatherproof.

But I do like interiors design/having a smart house and garden so maybe that’s why..

Once every 20 years here!

I do 2 or 3 rooms/spaces most years.

We repaint the whole house once a year. Normally get someone in to do it over the summer when we are on holiday.

Still working on round 1 of the house after 8+ years. We do virtually all of it ourselves including plumbing, electrics and literally shifting walls so it's slow work. Our most recent project which was a big one took 2-3 years of regular effort around family life. No way are we fannying around re-doing stuff!

The lounge was one of our first rooms and other than some scuffs on the door frame, the rest of the room looks good. I wash paintwork and there's not really any impact on the walls to chip at them. There's no point in trying to patch the door frame with the way that modern gloss yellows with age. The most sensible time to deal with it will be when the hall is done properly. Admittedly I did a half-job on that a while back, fed up with the dull colour and giant pot holes in the plaster. I wasn't too thorough as it was going to get bashed by our main project.

I'm not influenced by fashion and choose simple pastel paints for the light and mood of the room, so the decor doesn't date quickly, and they're more forgiving than minimalist white.

We have been in our house 2 years and I would say it is due a paint. In particular the hallways and kitchen are starting to look grubby. I think if you have white paint or similar then painting every few years will brighten up a room. My dh reckons the previous owners used cheap paint to do the hallways as it doesn't clean very easily?

My parents though would re paint every few years and redo the wallpaper however my inlaws have had the same wallpaper for the last 20 years. Each to their own!

Well, this is an eye opener! I am clearly a slattern.

If I had nice square rooms with no furniture at all, then painting would be a breeze. But all our rooms are crammed with stuff- the study would be a nightmare - dismantling fitted furniture etc, likewise the sitting room and the thousands of books. Can't be arsed, I'm afraid.

Give the muddy walls from swishy tail a wipe down regularly, but a full decorating job every two years - what a nightmare!

I'd love to know how people "touch up" wall paint and it not look all patchy and blobby, and well, noticeably touched up. If the wall paint has been on there for a couple of years it will have changed in colour and texture, so putting a new coat of paint in small patches would look awful wouldn't it?

We're probably due a redecoration in the next year. The walls are a neutral "ivory with a hint of [insert some stupid made up colour by Dulux or Crown] " throughout so it's easy enough to do. The hall stairs and landing are easy because it's a gallery landing so it's a wooden staircase through the middle of the hall rather than a lot of wall to paint on the stairs, which I remember was a nightmare in our previous house.

We would do touch ups maybe 3 times a year. We use top quality paint that covers well and would be completely unnoticeable when touched up.
Touching up might take 30 minutes for the house. It's just little chips in the paint.
We would use an ear bud instead of a paintbrush.
There are no large patches being painted just chips.

Using the best quality paint is a saving.
It covers so well, can take a wipe well and just lasts.
Cheap paint is not a saving when you look at the effort if you paint yourself and the cost of a painter.

No, we just pain when we're doing a whole redecoration, that's painful enough.