Decorating First Council House

[Whity654]

Hello,

Me and my partner are decorating our first council house, basically the tenant before us presumably didn’t have the know how or time to do a good job of decorating and so has left us with a bright red bathroom painted wall as well as painted over plug sockets in the majority of the bedrooms.
The skirting boards are relatively damaged too with one even having a burn on it which is strange.

I just wondered if anybody had any ideas on the best way to rectify these things? Please don’t think I’m being ungrateful as we are beyond appreciative to of been given council housing!

I was also wondering if anybody else had to decorate and buy furniture on a shoe string? Bare in mind the flat is of course unfurnished and we have a low income to work with

Thanks in advance

Burnt skirting board could be from blowtorch on pipes if near a radiator? Happened to us too. We weren't able to replace the section for a while, so sanded it back and then added a thin layer of wood filler.

I think I'd ask your council about the sockets - you obviously don't want to clean them with anything wet! Anything abrasive will leave scratches. If there's a chance the socket covers could be replaced by the council, that might be safest.

Is there a used furniture warehouse in your area? I used to live near one run by a charity - it provided jobs and training re-conditioning the furniture, then the stuff went to people who had real need of it. Otherwise free cycle can be good to see if anyone's giving away something you need? Especially people often have part-cans of products where they don't need the rest, and might have something you could use as a sealing undercoat to cover over that red wall.

I hope you enjoy your new home!

Before you start take photos of exactly what the place looks like now. Take photos of everything and then email copies of all the photos to the council/housing association so that they cannot claim it was perfect when you got it when you eventually leave. Things like plug sockets should be replaced and the council may insist that this is done by their electrician. The burn on the skirting (depending on how deep it is should be sanded down and filled or just painted over once wiped down. If the walls are papered and the paper is in good condition (i.e. Not torn) then you should be able to paint over it to give it a cheap update. If you have walls that need to be repapered then you can buy lining paper which is really cheap and then paint over that. If your local council has one some councils have a room at the rubbish tip that people take unwanted but perfectly good furniture and belongings to and you can just take what you need. Otherwise free cycle pages on Facebook or online are really good too.

How exciting!
The paint on plug sockets might come off try a bit of hob bride or Jif on a sponge and rub gently once you get some off you can usually pick it off with you nail.
I would ask about the skirting definitely photograph it and email to them.
Furniture- my daughter just out of student accommodation has challenged herself to buy/ get it all from Gumtree and Freecycle. So far they have sitting room furniture free and a fridge £25. Washing machine from friend going travelling£50. Sometimes you can get paint too. Worth looking.

Thanks everybody for your comments, the burn is located below a radiator so that implies it was most likely done by soldering with a blow torch on the pipes.

I’m going to take pictures of everything and email them to our LA with hopes they may help a tad, the most irritating thing for us is that the bathroom has been painted red terribly and even got it on window frames etc, it’s just a job that could of been saved by simply masking off when painting

Magic sponges may well get it off the window frames

In terms of stuff on a budget, you could try Freecycle - you could get stuff for free. It's also good to have a look in second hand and antique shops or look for adverts of house clearances. You can pick up a bargain that is better quality and looks better than tat from Argos for the same price. When it comes to new stuff, Ikea is good value for money. Sometimes, things can also be found on Wayfair but the quality can be a bit hit and miss.