How often do you re decorate?

[crabbied]

We have 4dc and frankly our paintwork takes a battering. The hall and kitchen look shabby++ and were last done 8 years ago. I've got a decorator coming to do ds1 room this week and it's probably 6 years since it was painted. DH thinks it's excessive. Frankly if he lives alone it would be a pit. I think the whole house needs doing but he says waste of money.
How often do you re paint?

I was just thinking this the other day. Everything apart from (huge tall) hall painted when we moved in 10 years ago. Badly needs a refresh and the front room has a v dated feature wall with 'big' wallpaper.

But - it's a lot of money!

Exactly it's so expensive. In retrospect we should have done a room a yes until editing until it all needs doing including the outside. We have wooden windows and render so it's v v expensive.

We painter our open plan kitchen diner December last year and thinking of repainting this year

Usually every three years

I redecorate every 3-4 years, but I do it myself. I would never pay a decorator. Rather do it myself and use the money saved towards other stuff

I have a son with asd and severe learning difficulties and I find decorating really relaxing. I usually do it when he's at nursery and my teenager is at school.

I think I could emulsion. But I'm not sure about glossing. I'm v messy and I presume there is loads of prep. Plus our ceilings are high. But maybe I could try.

I hate decorating but would never pay a decorator. It's really not that hard. Yes there is a fair bit of prep but once that bit is done it's pretty quick and easy.

About every 12-18 months but I have all white walls so you can see the marks. It is also cheap and quick to do, I enjoy decorating and am good at it so I don't see it as a big job really. I often do it for friends, it takes a day per room to paint if not wallpapering, no biggie.

Ok so maybe I will look into this. I'm sure there will be tutorials on you tube about how to gloss. I could tackle the outside or hallway but maybe kids bedrooms.

If you don't want to gloss you can just use satinwood. It stays white longer and you can just wash the brush in water. Easy as anything. The finish isn't quite as long lasting as proper gloss but it is cleanable and easy to paint over if it needs touching up. I never use gloss anymore.

If you have high ceilings get an extendable pole from b and q (about £6) and a paint roller you can push on to it. Then cover everything in old sheets and off you go...!

You can do it. It's very satisfying doing it yourself. Well I think so anyway. Not everyone agrees and if you have the money to get someone else to do it that's up to you .

There's a really good Facebook page called "diy on a budget" full of cheap and easy ideas to decorate a home. Some of it is a bit all glitter walls and tile paint (!) but it's good for inspiration.

I think things do look shabby especially after 8 years. We did our bedroom when we moved in 10 years ago and it badly needs doing again. I think paint ages and fades. We have been slowly working through our house. My Dh wants to put a new kitchen in, so has not wanted to freshen it up with paint in the ten years we've been here, so that's looking terrible.
Both being done this year though.

My eldest daughter has had her room painted 3 times in those 10 years and my youngest twice and hers is due another re-paint this year.

I wouldn't use gloss nowdays, just get white wood paint.
We rent, landlords pays for decorator to paint everything every 3 years ( it's in contract). All walls are white.

I can do the rooms myself apart from the halls and kitchen due to height of ceiling, and I do them whenever I get bored with the colour. I can do a large room in a weekend. I usually do every room probably once a year. Sometimes more. It's quite a big house and I just wake up on a sat morning and think fuck it, think I'll paint that room Whatever colour, then I nip down to b&q or Homebase , buy the paint, the masking tape. brushes etc and just do it.

It's a bit of a standing joke amongst our friends that I'm always painting something. I also keep all my painting gear handy, like clothes, floor covers etc, cloths as I'm normally painting every few weeks or so.

If I had to pay someone I wouldn't do it this often, but for the realitively small investment involved in doing it myself, and a few hours on a sat and sun, and the big difference it makes, totally worth it. 😃

You've inspired me. I like the idea of satinwood if I can brushes in water. I'm always put off by messing around with white spirit.
So do I do walls or woodwork first? Do I need to sand woodwork down and prime first or can I paint satinwood straight on top?

I'm following that Facebook page now Fairylea.

If the woodwork is really grubby and uneven I would sand it down first using sandpaper and then give it a good wash to get rid of loose bits / dirt and leave to dry before painting (no primer needed). You'll need 2-3 coats of satinwood. If the woodwork is smooth and reasonably clean you could just paint straight on it.

There are no rules about what to do first, people disagree over it! Personally I like to do the woodwork last, but I keep some of the wall paint spare just in case I splodge a bit of white paint somewhere I don't want it and I can then just paint over it.

Good luck

Thanks. I've announced to my 11 year old that his room
Is my project!

We are working through ours slowly. It's bloomin expensive!!!!

We renovated our house 4 years ago & we have already repainted 2 rooms & the hall. This year we are repainting the rest.

I like change. The tv room will stay a similar colour as the sofa & curtains are too expensive to replace but the other rooms will have a colour change. The woodwork needs redone because our original painters conned us & didn't prep the wood so the paint flakes off easily.

I agree doing a room a yearwould be a better idea so you can spread the cost. Part of the issue is, for us, if we redid our bedroom we'd need new curtains as well which would be ££££

We got our kitchen redone last year. This year we tried painting one room ourselves, it turned out ok but the edges between ceiling and wall are wobbly.

I've just done DS2's room all myself. I've used quick dry gloss and it looks fine. Our whole house needs doing but for ages DD kept drawing on the walls something the others never did. I think if you want it looking fresh it does need doing frequently but its finding time and money. Also kids can be so hard on it I caught one of mine using the wall to wipe his hands clean!

Every 4/5 years....ish

Just about to do DS's room and it'll cost under £100 for paint, curtains, bedding and wall stickers.

Always do it myself. I find painting very therapeutic

The ones that haven't been done for 4 years badly needs a redo. Think our house is well lived in though. Without kids it'd all fare a lot better.

Depends which rooms, but high traffic rooms like the kitchen get painted around once a year.

You need to start and the top and work down, so ceiling first, then walls, then woodwork. Cover the flooring up well! It's usually easier to do the cutting in first - the corners of rooms, edges between wall and ceiling and around door frames, windows frames, light switches and plug sockets etc. Use a wide brush for the corners and a smaller, thinner brush for going round the switches and sockets. Then you can roller the ceiling, then the walls. Get decent quality brushes for the woodwork as the finish will be much better, don't bother with B&Q cheapest. They'll last well though if you wash them out thoroughly between jobs.