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!!!

I paint at least two rooms each year so every room is painted roughly every five years.

I decorated my whole house last year with some rooms being completely refurbished

I’m definitely going to repaint the bedrooms this year as well as the hall, stairs and landing

I do my downstairs every couple of years and I do touch ups where needed in between. I do have 4 children and 2 dogs so its necessary! Upstairs I tend to do bathrooms every couple of years too as you get loads of water marks, but bedrooms probably every 4-5 unless Im moving the kids round into different rooms which would make it sooner as I like their rooms to be how they want them.

I'd rather watch paint dry than spend that many hours of my life decorating. I'm just not a DIY person when it comes to house stuff. We never decorated after we bought the house, and only did it this year to sell the house. For some people it's a bit of a hobby, though, and those people might like decorating regularly for the journey rather than the end result.

I have to ask.
All of you repainting every year. Do you get rid os the old paint or paint over?

I have slowly started replacing the decor with dulux trade diamond paint which is the best one for busy households.
One room per year. Next one is the biggie as it has not been done or accessible for 17 years!

I use washable paint and wash the stair, hall etc walls. We had the house painted 10 years ago and tbh most of it still looks fresh so no need to repaint! We have done other rooms as necessary. Think of the planet, though...

Depends on the room, every 2/3 years, kitchen and hallway utility. Downstairs loo every other year, or yearly! bedrooms every 4/5 years. Lounge every 3/4 years or when needed. My decorator loves me

I don't think painting is easy - well not if you want a nice a finish. It's not about the actual painting it's the prep, sanding the walls and not just woodwork between coats, filling chips and sanding again ect. For a nice finish it's not just slap it on. My dp was a professional painter for a few years, my house really is painted nicely due to his corking and filling and sanding.

At least 5 years. My bedroom is at 10 + years

I last had my flat painted in 2009. hHaving had the kitchen redone, I'm now getting the whole place repainted. I'm hoping it will see me out, ie I'll have moved before it's need again.

Yes I'm with you OP I'm always touching up (most of my house is white, so it needs touching up)!
My entire upstairs got done last year, the entire downstairs will get done this year. Next year will do upstairs again and so on!

YANBU. It depends. A house with kids and pets is going to need painting more often but an adult only house not as often.

Anyway, when I was growing up my parents were always giving fresh coats and re decorating whereas oh thinks it’s perfectly normal to go several years without doing much not including the odd touch up here and there..

Oh has lived in our house for 7 year’s and me for nearly 6. The bathroom has been decorated a few times tbh but there hallway, kitchen and living room only once since we moved in and the bedrooms haven’t been done since we first moved in. Desperate to do upstairs but it’s such a big job and I’m terrible at painting so waiting for oh to do get it sorted! Might be waiting a while!

Has anyone actually managed to do all these touch ups where the new paint hasn't been horribly obvious, due to the existing paint fading or otherwise changing?

The house we own now, we rented for a few years first. When we viewed it, we didn't notice that previous renters had tried to touch up the paintwork - only when we moved in did we notice all the stripes on the wall I don't think touch-ups work tbh!

Of course you need to paint it again. My mum used to have my dad painting every year. I’d say maybe every 3, but less if young kids

It depends. I live alone and my paint/carpets etc still look fine after a decade. My kitchen is 12 years old and looks absolutely fine
But I don't touch the walls or chip the paint so there's v v little wear and tear
Toddlers - well it's like digging while it's still snowing, may as well wait until they're older!

@Murphs1 - What on earth are you doing in a downstairs toilet for it to "need" painting every year?

As @Fizzypoo says, it's not easy to get a good finish. I wonder if people are repainting a lot because they've used bad paint, not prepped, not done multiple coats or whatever else they're doing. We get some marks in the hall and living room, but they just wash off and we've had comments that it looks freshly painted even though it's 2 years in.

Kitchen, living room, dining room, hall landing and bath about every 5 years. More like 7 for my bedroom. Spare bed mmm once 19 years ago. Too much stuff to move so ignore it. My dream is to do all the house in one go. Possibly will remain a dream as I like decorating but only empty houses!

If I could afford to do the whole house in kitchen and bathroom paint then I'd not touch it again for decades.

Since that's too expensive I painted it all entirely white, and go round with a big tub of cheap paint every year or so to cover up little bits of damage and stains.

When I paint a room I put some paint into a jam jar and keep it handy. When I have a scuff or mark, I just retouch and it always looks decent.

My Grandma repaints her whole home annually including the doors... She has always done this in white or magnolia throughout. I think it’s frankly bizarre and unnecessary but she also irons underwear which is again, bizarre and unnecessary.

Lol this is an argument in our house.
The dog runs at walls, the child is untidy, and the house needs repainting quite often. I made a mistake of using plain old emulsion the first time. Not ever again as I cant wash it.
I think the hallway, kitchen and living room are likely to become yearly jobs, and the other rooms more likely to be every 2/3/4 year jobs.

Maybe every three years full redecorating.
Wow- can't believe people go 10-20 years!!!

I deeply despise painting so no way would I get the brush and roller out unless absolutely necessary.