Decor dos and don'ts?

[WellWellWellifitisntyou]

Not sure how much traffic I'll get, but I'm looking for interior design dos and donts. I've always rented and not had a carte blanche with regards to walls and flooring so I've never really thought about it. My friends have previously criticised things such as my choice of sofas and soft furnishings (bought a leather corner group sofa about 9 years ago that was apparently hideous and tacky...any time that I make a big purchase I seem to get it wrong). We have a 2 bedroom 1950s flat in a not particularly nice block and have spent a couple of years of inaction because we wanted to buy a house. We just can't afford it and I'm coming to terms with the fact that it's not the be all and end all, and we need to make the most of what we do have. DCs room is quite nice but other than that not a single wall has been painted. The furniture was second-hand pine (table and chairs, bedroom wardrobes etc) and has "survived" move after move whilst we were renting, it's all looking a bit battered and dated. Subject to a quite modest budget we are in a position to decorate throughout, although due to the budget I think we'll have to keep the carpets which are the same throughout the whole flat and are a deep charcoal colour. Kitchen lino can go though. Before we had DC DH's style was minamilist but it's not really something that fits our lifestyle now. I'm more into clutter, I've got shelves full of books, photos on the walls and shelves, art work on display etc but I don't really like too much colour. We've totally lost our way. From my hours on Pinterest I was thinking white walls with copper accents? Is that a real world thing?

For white walls don't go pure brilliant white but a softer off white.

The whole copper thing is a bit 2015 so I'd probably stick to chrome which is more of a classic finish.

To account for both DH's and your taste, perhaps the Scandi look would be a good one for you? See pics below. Charcoal carpet can stay but you could also put some rugs on top.

Out of the big things to remember: start off working out what you need, e.g. a lot of storage table and chairs for 4 or 6 etc,
next see what you've got and can potentially use (perhaps painting or reupholstering first)
ruthlessly get rid of everything you don't need
add new things you need.
Look in places like Ikea and in online shops.

Thank you. I love the storage in that first picture, I've never considered storage at that height. That could work great. Thanks for the heads up about the copper. I'm always late to trends!

Your purchases are not wrong if you like them, you want a home not a show house!
It is amazing what you can do with a lick of paint and a bit if creativity.
First I would just think about how you live and what bits can live without and what you need to store. For example I realised that the clutter that drove me mad and overshadowed any lovely decorative detail were the random clutter of post and letters from School. So my decoration includes an area I can dump and store this attractively. Then get a colour scheme, play with paint colour swatches.
Try this link
www.houseandgarden.co.uk/topic/decorating-advice-tastemaker

I have done up my house on a very, very small budget (which explains why parts of it are still rotting and dropping off). Just trying to think about what saved me the most money, I think it was:

• I almost never buy new. Ebay, charity shops, community recycling, boot sales. I got my kitchen chairs for a fiver from a local restaurant.

• And then I paint. Rustoleum chalk paint, followed by Annie Sloan matte varnish, covers everything and you don't even need to sand. I wouldn't paint nice wood, but everything else gets ruthlessly covered (and then it's the colour I want, and looks nice).

• Some things are worth paying for, others are not. I bought my daughters' beds for £30 each online, but the mattresses cost considerably more. No need to pay big money for a bedframe, or a kitchen table, but you do want to get a reasonable quality mattress and sofa.

• You can transform a room with paint. I love colour, but if you prefer neutral even better. Just paint it off-white throughout and everything will look soft and fresh. Add colour with cheap accessories that can easily be changed if you get bored - and you can get really nice cheap accessories. I like George at Asda, and Sainsburys Home, and of course Ikea.

• If you keep similar colours going throughout your home, it's easy to move things around when you want a change.

• I agree copper is a bit passé, but how about aged brass? It's very in right now, and is more classic.

• Plants are also very fashionable, and great in a neutral room.

I've just realised you said quite a modest budget, which might mean you have considerably more than I was imagining, but the above still holds. Pale walls (other MNetters always recommend Dulux Timeless; I also like Dusted Moss which is a pale grey green), grey carpets, a couple of colours running through your accessories (mustard and olive, rust and grey, duck egg and dusky pink - whatever you like), plants, rugs (again, try George at Asda), brushed brass accessories - it will look bloody lovely.

I'd paint that pine furniture. You could make it look great with some chalk paint and varnish as Ketzele says.

I think the trick is to create focal points in a room, that the eye is drawn to, so group the paintings and prints, group any sculpture, organise clutter tidily. I love books on display in a good bookcase. If you're happy to paint wood, you can get really gorgeous vintage pieces on Ebay for a fraction of the price of IKEA.

There's a good page on Facebook called DIY on a budget Official. If you join that you can see other peoples homes that they post and ideas where to buy things. You do have to filter through a lot of bling and sticky-back plastic though!