Is hiring a painter and decorator worth it?

[TheOchreCrow]

I watch Instagram videos of decorators and they seem fab. They do a lot of prep and results look good.

However I've got a poorly decorated house due to decades of landlord specials.

Is it worth it getting a decorator and how much would I expect to pay?

Hell yes!!

but pricey
and i wouldn’t bother if rented unless you planning on living there long term or suggest 50/50 with landlord

If you aren't handy, don't have help and don't have much time a proper professional decorator will do a much better job. But if you are handy, have someone to help for the tricky bits like wallpapering ceilings and have plenty of time, then you can spend more time getting things perfect.

Cost will depend on the size of the house, your location, whether any cracks need filling and sanding, and if you want frames, skirting etc stripped and painted, but you’re looking at several thousand pounds.

I wouldn’t pay for decorators personally, largely because we tend to go for all white, and we’re pretty handy and don’t mind decorating.

We pay to get hall/landing/stairs done occasionally.

Normal height spaces we'd do ourselves - including wallpapering. Means the rooms get done more often than the stairs!! I'm not a fan of painting kitchens, however.

Yes . About £500 per room plus materials. However I would not do this for a rental .

PS I've read it as you've bought a house that has been rented out by its previous owner.
If you are renting it, don't pay to decorate!

Only for the stairs and landing because it's fiddly and I'm not good with heights. I don't mind doing simple rooms.

Most people can learn to do it themselves, it's not a particularly complex thing to do, but it takes time, a lot of time, and you have to be prepared to make mistakes and have to re-do things, you also have to research things like understanding the different types of paint, i.e. water based, solvent based, etc., to ensure you get the right undercoat for your preferred top coat etc. Also, you need the right tools and equipment, i.e. different grades of sand paper, a sanding machine, 2 or 3 sets of ladders, boards between ladders for working at height, the right adhesive for wallpaper, tools and filler for filling cracks, gaps, etc., learning to do things in the right order, etc. None of it is rocket science, but you can't expect to suddenly decide to fully decorate a room and for it to be perfect in a couple of days the first time you try, whereas a decorator could probably do a "good enough" job in a couple of days, though a lot of them don't regard "perfection" as necessary, so if you've got the time, the materials, etc and willing to spend the time, you could probably do a better job than a "professional" as they don't want to spend longer than necessary as they're working to the clock according to the quote they gave you and that will usually be to a "good enough" standard as customers won't want to pay for an extra day or two for the "perfect" finish.

Iv just had two rooms done , in 4 days and it cost £960 including materials . Well worth it .

I’ve done basic decorating like painting a whole room white so you don’t have to worry about cutting in, and I’ve done wallpapering on one wall. As long as you’ve got enough time and patience you can do a good enough job but I think if you want it to look really good then a proper decorator is the way to go.

Yes but don’t go for the cheapest quote. I made that mistake for a previous house and it was an awful job. Good decorators are worth it but expensive. I decorated my current house and it’s a miles better job than the cheap guy did, but it took me ages doing it around working

No I bought but it's never been professionally painted or has layers or badly painted

I spent a whole day with a tiny wire brush and paint stripper, removing all old paint layers from latches and hinges. Doubt a professional would be that dedicated. If those sort of details matter to you, get them done so he can whizz round with a roller.

The main thing will be to strip it back to bare. Sand/strip down the paintwork, fill the cracks/gaps and then start again with a decent undercoat and a decent top coat.

For wallpaper, again, strip back to plaster, then sand/fill the cracks/gaps, use some kind of "base" to seal the wall, and then use a simple/easy wallpaper pattern to try your first attempt, i.e. something with a vertical line pattern with a little bit of texture will be easier to put up than a heavily coloured/patterned flat shiny paper. Anaglypta is excellent for a first attempt, especially if the walls aren't particularly perfect, as it hides a multitude of sins and excellent to paint over - a good alternative to re-skimming or lining paper if you just want to emulsion paint the wall rather than have a patterned paper.

It's ALL in the preparation and planning. If you strip back to bare, prepare properly, etc., you've won half the battle before you even begin to start putting it back together again. If you don't it'll just make your job harder and the results won't be as good.

Good advice, totally agree.

If you’re physically fit and you have someone who works as hard as you well, just do it yourself. In my 20s, I renovated an entire three story house with an outside toilet. But preparation time is the big thing and sugar soap is your secret weapon.

I’m contemplating having a crack at decorating at home because it’s a case of painting over perfectly sound wallpaper that’s been previously painted. I figure paint isn’t too bad if it doesn’t work out perfectly - it can be touched up.

Yeah I don't know if painters will strip to bare. The wood is horrible in the house, been painted and drops etc

honestly I've seen some absolutely shit work by "professional" decorators so not sure if I'd bother. If you could guarantee it would look really good, maybe, but you could be hundreds down and it still look awful.

Why don't you try doing it yourself and see on a relatively small room that's easy to do, first?

A lot of it is down to good equipment and patience - i.e. painting with a roller/spray gun is a million times quicker and usually looks better than brush. Whether someone has put in the time to =sand/prime/fill/cover up edges etc. beforehand vs just slapping another coat on will make more of a difference than the experience of the painter.

Some people pay for the convenience as well, which is fair enough. A few hundred might seem like a lot but how much is a day's annual leave, plus all the equipment, worth?

I've painted myself. I want a better job done.