Complete overhaul! In 3 weeks?!

[Seabiscuit1]

I have just bought my very first house and am feeling incredibly daunted. It’s 2 bed with a sitting room, a kitchen, bathroom and large hallway. It needs everything done! Well cosmetically. Structurally it’s sounds and no electrical or plumping issues.
I love a challenge but we won’t be moving in until the start of May when I will be 37 weeks pregnant. So what I am looking for are some quick and cheap decorating ideas to make this a home. The carpets need to come up as they are utterly vile. Brown, dirty and not fitted properly. Hoping I will find lovely floorboards under there but who knows! There is thick tile type plasticy wallpaper in kitchen and loo that needs to come off.
Give me some inspiration and some hope! I will have the whole family to help so I just need the ideas and be the project manager. Not wanting to spend much as will be on maternity allowance so don’t want to blow all my savings in the first week.

I would arrange for the carpets to be ripped up before you move in. You can't do that once you've got all your stuff in there without it being a huge PITA. If you can get a look at what is beneath the carpets first (just by pulling up a corner and having a look), that would even better. If it's floorboards they aren't likely to be stained or nice looking so you'll probably need to get them cleaned/varnished before you'll want to live with them. Upstairs you may want to lay new carpets so it's warm and cosy in the winter. Floorboards can be cold and hard and remember your baby will be crawling around in a year's time.

Once you've done that I'd get a team of decorators to come in and remove all the wallpaper, sand and paint everything so it's nice and clean for you and the baby. If at all possible this should be done before you move in, even if it means delaying your move by a week. First babies are usually late (unless you have a family history of them coming early - ask your DM and GM about this).

PS. You can dump the old carpet at the tip as long as you have a vehicle (pref a van), in which to transport it - if your family can do this the cost will be zero. If you want new carpets they needed by hugely expensive (unless the rooms are large), but go and check out your local carpet showrooms with your room measurements to get an idea of cost. Rugs would be an alternative.

As for painting and decorating - if your family can do this then it will just be the cost of the painting supplies and the endless cups of tea needed by the painters!

Yes to getting carpets up before you move and stripping wallpaper, then paint everything needing painted first, ceilings walls, skirting boards and door frames if needed.

Then get your flooring down. I'd say carpets in bedroom, vinyl flooring for bathroom if it needs replaced. Maybe choose neutral colours for paint and one feature wall or even add the colour in with accessories, curtains, cushions etc

Floorboards look lovely, but it's nice to have carpet in the living room when you have small children. They spend a lot of time playing on the floor, and carpets are more comfy and more cosy.

Thank you. I will definitely get the carpets ripped up before we move in. Unfortunately I don’t think I will be able to afford to replace them quite yet. Bit out of my budget. I was thinking some big rugs in the meantime.
Going to paint the kitchen cabinets I think. I would love to redo the tiles in kitchen and loo but think that might but a bit too big of a job initially. Any ideas for some quite/ cheap solutions in the meantime?

Tile paint

Tile paint is a tempting option but not sure if it will ever look good enough. Oh well. If it doesn’t work out I can always redo the tiles a couple of months down the line

You can buy time stickers that go on top of existing tiles. There's a great Facebook group diy on a budget. Great examples there

Tile stickers!

Tile paints easier if you use a gloss roller and not a brush. Wilko do it.

There’s a few bank holidays coming up so laminate flooring will be on sale quite cheaply. The underplays cheap on eBay.