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Home decoration

First home - don't know where to start!

19 replies

SushiSuave · 29/01/2023 08:31

We are about to buy our first home having rented for years. We are going to need to choose carpets and wall colours soon as the house is a new build, but I have no idea what I like or want! We don't have a huge budget so restricted by that but where do I start with choosing all of this? Where is best to look for inspiration? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

OP posts:
crossstitchingnana · 29/01/2023 08:33

Best piece of advice I can give is to not rush into it. Live there for a while, get settled. Then, one room at a time (unless flooring will be the same throughout. )

goodmorningsunny · 29/01/2023 08:36

For the walls, go light and neutral: easier to paint over if you decide you want another colour down the line.

For floors, do not go a "fashionable" colour! I had classic wood put down a couple of years ago. It looks good with everything and doesn't really age. Wood is wood. My brother had the grey wood, which was very fashionable in 2019, put down. It's only 3 years later and it looks very dated already! If you're not sure for now, go classic and neutral.

JuneOsborne · 29/01/2023 08:37

This is the fun bit! Insta, Pinterest, hell even Google images are a great place to start.

What kind of house or flat is it? Modern? 1960s? Period?

What rooms are you considering?

So, for example I live in a 1920's/30s house and for one room I'm using that period for inspiration. So, I have a lovely 1930s chair that I've restored. And a 30s side board. And a deco mirror on the wall.

Do you want dark and moody, maximalist? Minimalist? Light and scandi?

Lighting is the biggest issue I have. Expensive and hard to choose!

Tell us more about the house and your style.

Top tip, farrow and ball colours mixed in the gold tin valspar paint is brilliant. Cheaper, easier to apply and washable paint...

superdupernova · 29/01/2023 10:15

Go on Instagram, search #newbuilduk #mynewbuild #bovishomes (or whatever you're buying) #homerenovationuk

You'll find a lot of accounts from people posting their interiors. Once you start following a few, Instagram will start suggesting lots of similar account to follow. If you have a particular style, search for that hashtag too. I tend to put UK on the end of hashtags to avoid US houses which are often much bigger and not so helpful.

Dippydinosaurus · 29/01/2023 11:02

Try and think longer term. Do you have/plan to have children/pets. If so go for hard floors downstairs and carpets upstairs. Plain walls for now and as a pp said, do one room at a time when you've moved in. We've rented for the last 12 years and will be buying later this this year and this what we're going to do

Slimjimtobe · 29/01/2023 11:05

I love interiors but I would suggest also to go for off white for now

then fresh houseplants

lots of prints (gallery’s or online)

neutral sofas etc and then add colour with cushions and a rug

just get out there and see what catches your eye (IKEA or even charity shops)

Napmum · 29/01/2023 11:13

With our new build, we waited a but and are still happy with off-white for now. However, our first house we both wanted colour after being in rental beige for so long. I would recommend buying lots of tester pots and using them on one wall that's for seen very often (like a utility room). I would also consider just having one or two 'feature walls' so you don't have too much to paint at least at first. Youve got an entire hiuse thats professionally painted, and it'll take ages to paint the whole thing and cost a lot more. It also means if you change your minds, it isn't hard to paint over one wall.

Carpets and vinyl got for natural but neutral like cream with brown and grey specs. This doesn't show the dirt too much. I always go vinyl downstairs and then get a big rug from IKEA for the living area. Much easier to clean.

CharlotteStreetW1 · 29/01/2023 11:17

If there are options from the builder, go for a more neutral choice of carpet (dare I say "beige") rather than grey. It's warmer and easier to add to than grey - there are so many shades of grey (at least 50 ha ha) and if the tones don't go together, it looks awful.

ChessieFL · 29/01/2023 11:20

Check you can paint the walls immediately - we’ve recently moved into a new build and were told not to redecorate for a year to allow everything to dry out properly (there’s a lot of water used in the construction process).

I think it’s always a good idea to live in the house for a bit first anyway so you get to know things like how the light falls in different rooms, how you use them etc which can all affect what colours you may want.

GOODCAT · 29/01/2023 11:34

Really good advice above. Personally I would go white walls and then with it for a bit. It will make it feel fresh and clean. You can then treat it as undercoat if you want colour later. Living with it for a bit helps you know exactly how you will use it.

I completely agree with @Slimjimtobe get some pictures on the walls and plants. That really helps to make it feel homely. Pick up original and expensive art slowly over time, but get something on your walls while you are building up to what you really love. Also make sure more than anything that it is the right size for the space.

Flooring wise natural wood is very hard to beat, but have tiles or vinyl in areas that are going to get wet. I felt I made a big mistake not going for wood flooring, but in practice the way we live it would just get wrecked.

You can buy very cheaply and mix in old stuff with the modern that is easier to find by going to a local furniture auction. Personally I like a home that reflects the interests of those who live in it but that also has evolved over time.

Final tip is declutter massively before you move and don't let anything in to your new home that won't have a place for it to be kept.

KirstenBlest · 29/01/2023 13:45

Paint all walls and ceilings white.
Flooring, up to you but pick a neutral, not too light and with a fleck.
After a year, you will have a much better idea of where the light falls in the rooms, and what they look like at different times of the day.

Don't go for grey floors - they'll limit you to cools tones on the walls.
As pp, easier to go from white paint to colour than the other way round. Trade white is fairly inexpensive, whereas trying to repaint a bad colour choice isn't. You might decide later to go for wallpaper.

Ikea is good for curtains, but the cotton ones shrink a little when they're first washed so hem rather than cut and hem.

Newlifestartingatlast · 29/01/2023 14:19

Go neutral as basis. I’d personally avoid white unless you have an extremely birght lightfilled space ( think glass walls). I have white walls and in uk in darker rooms and shadows it just looks grey and cold. Go for a neutral light cream, something with a tint of yellow to make your walls warmer- i.e. the same colour as white would appear if in the full sun.

for flooring I’d stick with traditional colours that again are warm; oak coloured hard flooring and oak/ pale honey coloured carpets . Use vinyl in bathrooms and avoid floor tiles at this stage that cost a lot, can crack in older houses, and can be cold in bare feet . You do not want to be replacing flooring for 20 years. Grey carpets or grey tones are cold, and imho look dirty as an associate grey with dirt.

id then find 1-3 decorative items ( pictures, posters, vase, lamp stands etc) for each room- something you have or love or see and buy. Go big for items - if you’re buying poster/ pictures get as large as you can afford or space will hold. Use the colour of these items to inject colour to the room. Look at the colour wheel to be sure the colours work well. Use these colours for cushions, throws, rugs light shades, picture frames etc. these coloured items are easy and cheap to replace when you decide you want a change. Or if you love the colours you can paint walls or wall in the same scheme to inject more character. Don’t look at latest trends, they’ll date- go for what works with your things and that you like.

think about texture to- add wools, velvets, furry textures to add warmth in same colour palet . Add wood, hemp, weaves for a more scandi modern look, add satin , leather etc for a sexy look but don’t go full tarts boudoir 😉

curate the belongings you have on display. Don’t spatter gun photos, pictures, books or plants all over the room- cluster/ group items together and use odd numbers of groupings. Pinterest has loads of ideas on how to dress a room using this curation.

in terms of curtains/ blinds, settees etc- go as neutral as possible.they are really expensive and if you go for colour and fall out of love with them, it’ll be a constraint on a new colour scheme . You can “ colourise” a neutral sofa with cushions and throws. You can colourise curtains by adding a coloured header to the top - I had some cream curtains I rehashed for 25 years by adding different coloured heading strips to them to tie into my scheme- I have a sewing machine but you could do it with iron on hemming tape . Again think texture with curtains - a lovely neutral weave can add interest and warmth, silk effect will be colder but add more sophistication .

bathrooms - white sanitary and tiles. You can add texture t walls with a few mosaic type tiles, or textured white tiles. Then use towels, and bathroom accessories to add your colour - wood effect floor will give warmth to it. Again this will mean it’s cheaper and easier to sell when you move on

Kitchens - most difficult, but try to stick with neutral again and avoid too much colour. Add colour with toaster, kettle, and other stuff out on display. But if you love colour and want to,inject that - a simple single band of the tile splashback, or a couple of well placed cupboard doors can really zing.

viques · 29/01/2023 14:23

Live there for a bit. See how the natural light works in different rooms, how do rooms feel ambiently, are they warm or cold. Where does the noise happen, where do you want the house to be quiet and calm. Are rooms overlooked or noisy because of neighbours or road noise. Where do you spend most time in the house, work out where, and why.

Mirabai · 29/01/2023 14:24

Don’t paid everything grey.

Mirabai · 29/01/2023 14:24

paint

CatOnTheChair · 29/01/2023 14:25

Is the house not coming with white walls? Leave them for a year, or you will be repainting again once it's dried out.

Floors. Wood, or wood effect vinyl tile downstairs. Neutral (I say beige but never bought into the grey) ideally with a bit of fleck, so not one solid colour, for stairs, bedrooms and maybe livingroom.

Build it up slowly from there.

waltzingparrot · 29/01/2023 14:35

Buy some house style magazines and see what catches your eye. Pinterest has thousands of style ideas to browse - set up a folder for each room and keep pinning things you see and like and a style sort of emerges.

We had a new build which should have had dark stained wood for stairs according to the plan, which we didn't like, so got them to stain it much lighter when building. They didn't give us the option so you may have to do your own deals with the builders and get them to change things off book, if there's decor planned that you don't like with your house type.

Our neighbours got them to paint their bathrooms bright blue rather than magnolia.

I was glad our new build was painted off white throughout. Made it easier when we eventually wanted to inject some colour into the house, to paint on white walls.

We also did the trick of carpet all rooms/landing on the first floor in the same carpet to make the floor space seem bigger - it works.

KirstenBlest · 29/01/2023 14:43

We also did the trick of carpet all rooms/landing on the first floor in the same carpet to make the floor space seem bigger - it works.
Yes.

The neutral carpet with a fleck is so that it doesn't show every tiny stain. Dark carpets don't show stains so much, but will show any dust and fluff.

Wood/wood effect downstairs so you can wash it after your guests refused to adhere to your shoes off policy

Furniture wise, check if you can get the item in through the door and up the stairs etc. Might not be an issue, but it can be.

SushiSuave · 30/01/2023 19:38

Wow - there is so much knowledge here, thank you! Lots of ideas for me to work through.

It's a new build semi detached. I'm wanting a cosy living room, bright fresh kitchen diner and calm and relaxing bedroom. Definitely need to start the research!!

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