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!!!

Wow it is interesting to read how much effort people put into keeping their homes pristine. I am more with the every few years camp and expensive paint that is more durable.

We have repainted 3 rooms in the last year.
1 because I couldn’t handle seeing the 70’s wood veneer anymore but can’t afford to remove it all and the other 2 for our daughters.
Before that?
We repainted 10 years ago and are slowly redoing each room with colours we like rather than blah greys, whites and boring beige.
We repaint paint ourselves in the evening and between decade paint jobs I was the walls when needed with sugar soap.

I lived in my place about 4 years before I repainted. Also replaced every power point and light switch as they were yellow and would look crap against new paint.

That was nearly 5 years ago and the paint still looks as good as when I did it. Hallway recently got a wash due to marks from the dogs, but washed up like new.

I did the ceilings too as no idea when they were last done and they looked aged. Also replaced all light fittings and ceiling fans.

No idea how people are ending up with chunks and chips out of walls? Seems odd / rough. I hate people being rough with my things and damaging them, perhaps that's why my walls are wearing so well.

I did buy good quality paint. Ceilings are all bathroom + kitchen ceiling paint.

I've never painted before, but it really isn't hard. My paint job is better than my neighbour and hers was professionally done. I did two nice coats not thin / light coats. I watched a few google videos on cutting in etc and did the spare room first as I'm not in there as often, so mistakes wouldn't annoy me.

The difference from the beige walls and gold doors to stone white walls and white doors was just wonderful. The white has made everything so much brighter.

Painting with a different colour every few years might be ott but a refresh of the same colour is fine. I have white walls virtually everywhere which can look a bit shabby after a few years

Our house desperately needs painting. We have bikes that get dragged in and out and huge scrapes on the wall. However I refuse to do it because it would last five minutes and need doing again! So I'd rather just live with mucky walls.

My kitchen has needed doing for about a year . But I don’t have the money for a professional and I cannot cope with the thought of doing it myself. God the upheaval.
It will take so long to do and be so fiddly. I am putting it off, again.

@Murphs1 - that's because you're using oil-based paint, which yellows when there's no natural light. Strip it all off properly and use a water-based wood paint, then you won't need to keep redoing it. A downstairs loo doesn't need to be hard-wearing anyway.

I grew up with a nan and a mum who both painted a room per year on a rolling basis and I bloody hated the upheaval of decorating. When I got my own house I discovered I actually enjoyed decorating too but I wasn’t quite that dedicated!

We moved into this house 9 years ago and got a professional to do the whole house with the idea that it would then be easier for me to keep on top of with touch ups and re-doing rooms as they needed it. I then became disabled so all that’s actually been done in the last 9 years is the hall, stairs, landing and DD’s bedroom, all by DH (who would be the first to admit he isn’t great at it). In theory, I’d have redone the whole house by now and the high traffic areas twice, so it actually looks shit. Paying a professional is way out of our budget now. With 3 dogs, DH washes the walls constantly, but they still never look as clean as fresh paint would .

I think annual repainting is a lower-middle-class houseproud/anxiety phenomenon
People day things like this to justify their own lack of painting. It is very obvious.

I was looking at a repeat series on tv about Claridges. After every occupant leaves, the painters go in to do touch ups. Maybe you should tell them that this is a lower class attitude and paint scuffs are the way to go....

My dad ran a building form when I was growing up. The "naice" families repainted often in the same shade, indoors every 2 years (upstairs one year, downstairs the next). They would book in for the following year a year in advance. Outside (whole house) every 3-5. Labour and materials were much cheaper though. These days people are spending £100's on paint alone and decorators can command up to £250 a day in my area.

Our house was all wallpapered but ceilings and woodwork were done every year.

We haven't repainted for about 5 years and it really shows. Repainting the outside of my house is an epic job (rightly no one will do it off a ladder anymore) and we are saving up to do it as it will cost about £3k (biggish house). In spite of the fact I'm always washing the walls / woodwork the inside looks tired with handprints / scuffs etc. Ideally I think you need to touch up every year but it is hard to find the time / money.

Why do decorators always take the remains of the paint with them instead of leaving it for the customers who paid for it? I can't imagine they can have much use for it do they?

Our kitchen needed finishing off separately in one area but the bloody decorator had taken the paint so we had to buy a whole new tin for the sake of a cupful. Scowl.

I don't take the remains of the paint, I leave it with the client for reference and touch ups. They have paid for it.

However I do keep all the white paints, emulsion, gloss etc and charge them a proportion of what is used.

Bad decorator practices do not get asked back do they?

Why do decorators always take the remains of the paint with them instead of leaving it for the customers who paid for it?

When we had our hall, stairs and landing redecorated the decorators left the paint with us. I have used it to touch up some areas, and you can't tell.

I would agree you but I guess it depends on the room and its usage. I painted the kitchen 3 years ago and have touched it up a few times. I am just about to do a full coat of emulsion.

We have sort of an ongoing process over a couple of years. By which time the first room needs an overhaul anyway. Bedrooms are bottom.of the list, family areas always get a tidy up.

I get bored or it gets grubby - 4 kids, outdoor lifestyle, mud attracting dog etc

People day things like this to justify their own lack of painting. It is very obvious.

Some people are getting their knickers in a knot about very frequent repainting/redecoration being a LMC thing. Of course it is, along with matchy-matchiness. Kate Fox even deals with it in the 'Home' section of her Watching the English.

I was looking at a repeat series on tv about Claridges. After every occupant leaves, the painters go in to do touch ups. Maybe you should tell them that this is a lower class attitude and paint scuffs are the way to go....

Lower- middle, not 'lower-class'.

Unless you are running a hotel in which suites contain grand pianos, original Art Deco furniture and emperor beds, and cost thousands of pounds a night, I'm not sure I see the relevance.

But hotels generally operate on the illusion that no one has been in your room before you -- none of us want to see hair in the sink or the previous occupant's apple core in the bin, and high-end ones like Claridges go to more extreme lengths than Ibis to give the illusion you are the first occupant. ever.

And as someone who used to work as a room cleaner in an expensive US hotel, I can tell you those rooms can get trashed.

I've got white walls so I go over them every year and I change my carpet in the hallway every other year .

Kate Fox even deals with it in the 'Home' section of her Watching the English.

Even deals with it you say. 😂

You say that as if one book defines a nation of people. Watching the English is an amusing, funny read. It is not a definitive guide.

You say that as if one book defines a nation of people. Watching the English is an amusing, funny read. It is not a definitive guideYou say that as if one book defines a nation of people. Watching the English is an amusing, funny read. It is not a definitive guide

I don't think it's very good myself, and I think it's dated rather badly, but as it's continually lauded for its nous on here by English people, I can only assume they acknowledge some form of general accuracy in its broad outlines.

As a furnished rental professional, the legal depreciation period for paint is seven years where I live. In keeping with this period, the tenants cover paint damage on a degressive basis, with the amount dropping by 15% a year until reaching a residual value of 15%. Legally speaking, I expect to repaint about every seven years, with some touchups in between. Washable paint, to the extent possible (except ceilings which are covered in matte paint and difficult to make washable).

We repainted the entire i side of the house when we moved in 5 years ago. Havent done anything since. I wipe fingerprints and stripes with a sponge as needed. If you look really closely, then its obviously not perfect, but i wouldnt even dream of painting every year with little kids around. Its like cleaning windows, as soon as you finish the last one the first is already full of prints again.

We will probably repaint when the kids are older. Especially their rooms have pencil marks and stuff all over.

We dont repaint very often. Way too much hassle. Cant remember the last time any of them were done

I'm quite lazy when it comes to redecorating- and only do it when its looking tired or dated. I don't wallpaper as that quickly shows its age. Keeping a pot of the paint used for touching up is a must. If I redecorate I do it properly with a proper sanding down of paintwork and removal of old wallpaper, which is why I only do it when necessary, or updating.

Painting and decorating is a messy job, I don’t think I would be able to adequately protect our carpets from paint drops.

Living room and hall every 3 years
Dining room probably 4 years
Bedrooms every 5 years
Kitchen and bathroom are fully tiled