Whole house to decorate- feeling overwhelmed by choice

[romance123]

I've been lucky enough to move into my dream house in May.

The house is more or less fine, but needs redecorating throughout as the carpets are really old and dirty, and the walls need repainted.

There are also 4 bigger projects I need to do in reasonable time- but I've been put off by the excessive cost: loft extension for 2 more bedrooms; update bathroom- including knocking down wall to make it bigger; adding a second toilet somewhere; knocking down wall to make kitchen diner; converting garage into home office.

But I'm just going to redecorate first so we can live in it properly- then look into those projects in about a year.

I first thought I would get the same carpet throughout and paint the same colour throughout to freshen everything up and leave it at that.

But now I've booked different weights of greyish carpet for stairs landing and bedrooms. And the living room is very pale beige (which I know I will regret!!)

I have a thousand different ideas for paint and wallpaper for all the rooms- and finding it really hard to narrow it all down.

Also what I thought was in theory a quick, simple refresh is costing £10k (£4k carpets, £6k decorating and materials).

My partner thinks I'm mad to be spending that, but I have no capacity whatsoever to do anything myself, with pets, children, working full time and the garden- I can barely organise dinner and clean clothes for everyone- let alone tackle any diy projects.

I suppose I'm finding the choice of options overwhelming, but I suppose I should go to my paint shop, and limit my samples of paint and paper to what they stock, so I don't get too confused by options.

My living room is painted white and looks quite light and fresh. However it is a long room with one end facing north and the other facing south- so would the same white work in the whole room? As I read a lot about warm or yellowish whites not working in certain lights, but being perfect for others- but what if you have both?

And yes I agree about the do it once do it right. But paint doesn’t really work like that if you don’t know your house yet.

We have everything bright white undercoat and as I have done the first room it looks extreme in comparison. But by the time I do the last room I am sure this room will look boring and be redone. Your house is a whole not everything in isolation and I do think you need the correct base to then build your colours on top otherwise it’s not right.

Basically unless OP is an interior designer it’s going to get painted multiple times anyway and will likely be liveable but not spot on first time.

Op how realistic is it you’ll do any or all of this stuff. If you’re put off now by thr cost is it not likely you’ll still be put off in a year? Is it all maybe a wish list?

the reason I ask is if you really thought you’d be doing all this stuff and money was a concern no way would you be considering spunking ten grand now. Which makes me think all the work you want done is just a wish list and never realistically going to happen, never mind in 12 months. That’s two or three hundred grand and months of work you’ve got Listed there.

if you do have the money to do this, and will do it then just get the carpets cleaned, but if it’s just wishful thinking then admit it to yourself and crack on with the decorating and carpets.

Yes @Sunnysideup you're right- I've listed everything I would like to do to the house- but I don't particularly have the ability to deal with a massive upheaval straight away. So the answer is I'm going to think about it in a year- or get some quotes and see how I feel- rather than start work in a year.

I also agree with several PPs that when I do the building work I want to do the whole lot as a cohesive whole- not little additions here and there, which can end up looking really disjointed.

Which is why I want the house to be nice now- so we can actually live in it and not be ashamed to invite people over. While I take time to consider a possible big future project.

I've booked the decorator and carpets, and it's the same price whether I paint everything white or different colours, with wallpaper possibly being slightly more depending which one I choose.

I agree it sounds like those things will be a couple of hundred thousand pounds at least just on today’s prices and prices are still climbing out of control. If you’re not realistically going to do them for a few years (or at all) then I vote little greene slaked lime throughout with accents of almost black green.

What colours do you like generally

I'm very drawn to blue and greens. But sometimes like in my hall I like a bold statement so have red and navy together. We have an old Victorian house so it can take the boldness.

Wall paper wise I currently love bold colourful papers with nature themes. Birds woodland etc. I have wallpaper feature walls in all the bedrooms