Do you paint your own house?

[Cannybarsseddthough]

All downstairs needs painting, plus outside seating section walls
Do you do your own, if so, how long does it take you? Or do you hire someone?
We've done both before, just expensive, but doing it ourselves seems to take so long. Would you try to do it all in one week/weekend for example or a wall
a time?

I think Dh mentioned them last time actually, he def wanted one

I do it myself, a room at a time.

I've paid for it to be done before, and it was quicker, but I can do it better! I quite enjoy it. Except ceilings. I hate that.

I do all mine, including the ceilings myself.

We used to do ourselves but since having kids just too time poor so we pay a professional.

lucky to be able to afford it though

I find it too boring to actually do it. After 10 minutes I’ve had enough, so we pay someone

Also lucky enough to be able to afford it nowadays.

Used to do it myself, but the work of a professional
Is far better than I ever managed.

I do consider it a luxury to pay someone else, but a worthwhile one.

I would expect one room takes a day. That's what my DH has done recently when I've been at work / son at nursery. He's been finished by the time we've got home about 4pm. Empty the room the night before. I would much rather pay someone but it is so expensive and seems wasteful when we can get it done ourselves.

I agree. If it's just emulsion painting we'd do it ourselves. If wallpaper even though I can do it myself to a good standard, it takes me so long as I am a bit of a perfectionist, I'd rather pay someone to do it. It's easier to paint one wall at a time moving furniture to the centre of the room out of the way and cover.

Also silk paint washes marks off easier than Matt.

@Cannybarsseddthough Sprayers: I have a Wagner pro 350m...maybe 500-ish but cheaper second hand. Felt expensive at the time but paid for itself in a weekend. I could only justify it when I had a lot to do in little time....have also used lower spec versions but you need a good one for ceilings and to eliminate overspray. Look at YT vids for specific models to get feel for speed and precision.....for an idea I did 4 ceilings in a day with no roller marks or cutting in.

I do it as I find it therapeutic, I’m always painting somewhere. I did the back of a bathroom door today.

I use professional painters on work projects and the difference is astounding. Not just the finish, which is always better, but the speed. Might not be true for all but certainly the ones I use.

I decided to do my hall stairs and landings (hsl) the first weekend of lock down.... Never again. That was when I first realised that I have 13 (!!!!) doors off my hsl! I also hadn't really thought through how the hell I would reach the 15 ft high wall on the top of the stairs!!! Took me 16 hours and I nearly killed myself in the process. That didn't include the door frames etc.

I (male) painted the kitchen and sitting room only after 9pm once the kids were asleep. I did two hours a night. IIRC it took a week per room. It was hard going and a PITA to keep getting everything out again and putting it away, but it was worth it in the end. It also meant I still had the weekends. I even enjoyed doing it to be honest! Not that I want to do it again for a very long time 😂

I did the bannisters during lockdown, it had been waiting for 2 years to be done since we renovated the house, it was horrendous but at least we had a bit of time (well not really as was still working and had all the kids in the house but we had no social life 😂), that’s been the only thing we’ve painted ourselves.
Everything else we’ve paid decorators to do. Don’t mind the plain flat bits of wall but the prep, the protecting floors/furniture, washing brushes, cutting in blah blah just pains me so much. Would far rather pay someone else to come and do a nice job. We’ve had the whole house done several times over since we lived here, money very well spent.

Do you do your own, if so, how long does it take you? Or do you hire someone?

We've done both over the years. When were were young and had no money we did all our own decorating. As we got older, and were a bit better off, it seemed like a good thing to out-source. Professionals do the job both so much quicker and also to a higher standard than we can. They have the right tools and equipment, and aren't trying to fit it in around other jobs which take us out of the house for 40 - 60 hours a week.

How often do you repaint? I think the last time Dh did it on the first lockdown, but the walls get so messy with a little one touching all over them. Is 3 years a long time to have left it?

Crikey no. I wouldn't re decorate a room after 3 years. More like 10, or 12. We tend to work on a one room a year, and having lived in our house 20 years, some have been done twice, others just once.

@UsingChangeofName God, really, our walls have become so mucky from
toddler hands in the past etc, just looks dirty sort of, needs freshening up

My husband does all of our DIY , he’s a perfectionist .

It took me 2 weeks to do a whole house except the laundry 278sqm. H did the high wall bits in the entry way. Costs about 10k to get a House painted here and we can’t afford that. Did it 10yrs ago, still looks good, I just wipe marks off, the ceilings need to be done and I started that but too hard basket. So they’ve been left

Try hot water with a little washing up liquid and bleach. Sponge-scrub, rinse well (again with hot water) and see what comes you're left with. Best case scenario you don't need to paint at all...less best is that you've already started your pre-paint prep 😉

Zinnser do an excellent interior scrubbable Matt with can be tinted into whatever colour you like. Extremely hard wearing and kid proof. https://www.zinsseruk.com/product/allclean-scrubbable-interior-matt/

I did my own three story house. Top to bottom. Ceiling, walls and paintwork. I did one room every school holiday as I'm a teacher. Some rooms were complete makeovers like bathrooms with new flooring. Over the summers I did two rooms. It took me a couple of years but it looks great. I'm a perfectionist with things like that, so I'm happy with it the way I did it.

DH does the painting in our house. I’m disabled so I just keep him topped up with tea and bacon sandwiches. We bought our 4 bedroom house last May and have decorated every where apart from our bedroom and the office, so, far, including having a new en-suite. It just gets done at the weekends.

You need washable paint. It shouldn’t need redoing after 3 years. We use this Valspar one in Mid Sheen. Any mark on the wall just wipes off.

I don't but fortunately DH enjoys doing it so that is good, it takes variable amount of time depending on the inconvenience of the room being done, for example the hall gloss painting was started last year and will hopefully finished this year but the bedroom was done in about 3 days

Same here. Looks good and probably the same finish as if we had hired a decorated.

We do our own. We are massive perfectionists and the few times we have paid someone to do it (or any other DIY type jobs) we have been disappointed even when they come highly recommended. We do spend a lot of time doing prep (filling, sanding etc) so if you aren't willing to put the time in then you are better off paying someone.