In what order do I decorate

[Cocoalover]

House renovation. It needs new skirting throughout, new flooring, and painting. What order should we do it?

I would paint ceiling first, then the walls, then lay down the floor, then the skirting and paint the skirting last (if needed). I would do any electrics before anything.

Paint can go everywhere and you need a lot of work protecting everything first of all, you can also scratch the floor moving around the paint buckets and the tools, so you save the flooring for last where possible.

I agree paint first, but shouldn't the old skirting be taken off first? Otherwise the line will be wrong?

I just assumed it would all be removed before painting tbh. When you don't remove it is when you need to move on to protecting things, which is never a good idea for new floor. Nobody wants to protect new floor, then realise after painting it's been scratched or got paint on anyway.
The ceiling in particular can be a real mess. Also, if you're doing the painting yourself get an extender for the roll.

Paint ceilings, then walls, then put skirting on and paint that, floor last.

The skirting is usually removed to lay down new floors (I'm assuming you're changing it all together not just doing up what you have), so if you put it down first, chances are it'll have to be removed and then put back so it won't bw quite as perfect and the paint might be ruined. If it's real wood you might need to put new nails in different holes, so it won't look perfect either.

Thanks for all your replies.
Would it be possible that new skirting after painting the walls would scratch the walls, etc??

No! Getting it out after the walls have been painted would be more likely to scratch them because you need to put something into the space at the back to push it out (usually a hammer). Putting it in is very easy and pain free -you can use nails or a special glue but the nails are better because it allows the wood to contract and expand, and the air to circulate, then again the glues are more seamless so it's up to you (real experts prefer nails though). You're unlikely to damage the walls putting skirting in.
Tip: you'll likely have a bit of paint left from the walls. If you scratch a bit of the wall just go in with a bit of pain in a small brush, unless you're using super shiny paint it'll be spotless and you won't be able to tell after drying.
Tip: If your walls are somewhat uneven, like when you remove wallpaper, you'll be better off with matte paint (much more forgiving) so it's easy to touch up here and there.