Updating awful dated decor

[WittgensteinsBunny]

We're looking at moving to a bigger house. Everything that is bigger in our area / price range has very, very dated decor - think late 80s / early 90s hyancith bucket. Very unpleasant. We completely gutted and renovated our (Victorian terrace) current home - we bought a small house that left us with some cash to do it up and we didn't have children then. There is no way we could do it in our next house - money or time wise. Space and location is now the thing we're looking for, but I do want to have a nice home that feels like ours. We've looked at Victorian houses and houses built in the 90s and everything we've looked at has the same vile pale green carpets, big blousy drapes, fussy country kitchens, horrid bathrooms, lino kitchen floors and bad wall paper. We're looking at a particularly splendid example, built in 1995, tomorrow with all of the above and more. Thing is, I love it from the outside, think it offers good space, potential to extend, big garden, close to DD1's school and DD2s primary school, nearby beautiful woods, nice views, nice cul-de-sac but DH is put off by the fact it's a) not Victorian / period - so lacking features and charm and b) would need so much work to make it feel like ours. I think I'm going to like it as it's very similar to my childhood home and if so, will need to convince him that it's a great buy! He's very practical but also a perfectionist. If you were tackling this, where would you start? I want to be able to give him some simple solutions as to how we could make it more homely.

not that it matters but it should be DD2s pre-school. DD1 is 4 and DD2 is 2.

Hi-with a very small budget I would strip walls and paint everything white until I had the money to change it.This is what we did with our 1950s house.It gave us time to live in it and decide how we wanted it.We also used white roller blinds in all rooms (blackouts in bedrooms) and have been adding curtains as we decide what we want.Neutral carpets throughout.We have grey sofas and lots of bright prints and plants so looked clean and modern very quickly for little money.

We also have wooden floors downstairs...try to check under carpets when you look round houses!

Thanks, that's really helpful. I like the idea of keeping everything really fresh. The girls will definitely want pink (!) so white with a hint of pink in those rooms! I've been on Pinterest and I think we could update the kitchen with some grey paint and new door handles. Thanks again.

Yup it's amazing the difference just painting all rooms white and replacing fussy curtains with cheap plain ikea poles and curtains

Cost £hundreds to do the whole house, albeit some time.