Old fashioned house

[Everestisthebest]

Okay so we bought our first home nearly 3 years ago now, in that time I had 2 under 2 and was very sick myself so haven't really done much with the house. I'm very unknowlegable when it comes to fixing up houses or making them look nicer/more finished/modern. The house definitely looks shabby, old kitchen old doors and door handles, no light fixture in the kitchen, broken blind in sitting room, grubby walls.... the house just looks very old fashioned and grubby but not sure what would be the biggest thing to make the most impact the fatest?? The furniture is probably quite old fashioned also lots of wood furniture. Any tips very welcome!

I’m also not very knowledgeable but grubby truly describes my living room until recently – just wasn’t possible to make it feel clean.

Luckily the ceiling and walls weren’t in bad condition so a couple of coats of emulsion really transformed the room. For the walls, I splashed out on a big tin of Farrow & Ball Dead Flat. Haven’t put its scrubbable credentials to the test yet but it looks great, very forgiving of my somewhat haphazard painting technique.

Little things that also made a big difference were cleaning the radiator thoroughly, replacing the old, discoloured power sockets and investing less than £100 in a curtain rail and curtains from Ikea (aside: this thread has some good recommendations for blinds https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/home_decoration_pictures/5145843-anyone-with-experience-of-blinds2go)

I went on to lay a new floor and paint all the woodwork, but honestly the fresh walls and ceiling on their own made such a big difference to my mood, I didn’t realise how much it was getting me down.

You can't beat a lick of paint, ceiling ,walls and don't forget the woodwork. My DS's bedroom looked old and tired. I've just painted the ceiling and walls in pale grey and the picture rail and skirting in brilliant white gloss. It's totally transformed the room and looks fresh and modern.