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Home decoration

How many times do you decorate/ change decor?

82 replies

ItsFridayIminLoveJS · 25/05/2025 11:46

When watching the soaps ... l always wonder why loads of the houses haven't been decorated for years.. ( yes l know it's soaps and not real life) but even so .. you would think they would change things around..
Some of the houses are very modern and some haven't changed for 20 plus years.
On average l change mine every three years.. especially living room .. my bedroom and dining room.
New colours... add new pictures .. curtains/ cushions/ throws/ bedding etc.
Rugs/ plants etc.

OP posts:
LoafofSellotape · 25/05/2025 11:50

My God, it must cost you a fortune!

We decorate ever 8 years or so when it's looking shabby, we have very neutral colours so we don't get tired of the colours.

fatgirlswims · 25/05/2025 11:50

Every 5 years I reckon although if DH was asked he would do it every 20. He is so tight!

LikeARacoonOnMeth · 25/05/2025 11:50

I wouldn’t change decor that often as I’ve decorated it how I like it.
I’m also not inclined to change cushions etc that often and contribute to landfill. I don’t kid myself that all the items donated to the charity shops get sold on rather than end up there, and I hate the rampant consumerism that SM seems to encourage.

dontcomeatme · 25/05/2025 11:54

My DP do it every single year, the whole house. They book weeks off and do it all in one go, I just can't fathom how or why or what for. It's exhausting to watch. And I dont just mean paint, I mean new colours, accessories, last year they ripped the kitchen out and put in all new. It's constant.

We might do a lick of paint every 3 ish years. But full decoration depends on the room, I love my sitting room colours so never really change that. Bedrooms maybe every 5 year. My DC are still growing and we like to change things around for them. All white walls, but decor with their favourite characters etc.

muddyford · 25/05/2025 11:54

We were in the last house 17 years and it wasn't redecorated in that time, except for the kitchen and bathrooms. It had been freshly done to our taste before we moved in. Been here 8 years and done nothing. It still looks fairly clean; frail DH would not stand the upheaval now . When I come to sell I may go round with a pot of emulsion and white gloss and touch up the odd bit.

AllProperTeaIsTheft · 25/05/2025 12:01

Nowhere near every three years! You must have money to burn. We are financially fairly comfortable, but not to the extent that I'd want to waste money constantly re-decorating. We bought our house 10 years ago and did most rooms within the first 3 years, including both bathrooms. Then had a new kitchen in 2021. We haven't re-decorated anything again and have no plans to at the moment.

Palsaq · 25/05/2025 12:02

When I move house I decorate. I have to because I usually completely redo the whole place and there's no walls or ceiling left 😂. I can't say I've ever redecorated a house I'm living in.

All my paintings are real paintings so I wouldn't just change them. I'll keep them. I keep things until they fall apart mainly. My sofa is older than I am.

treetopsgreen · 25/05/2025 12:04

I think it's normal not to redo your house constantly, most people don't have the time or money.

treetopsgreen · 25/05/2025 12:05

Also it can take me years to get a room right so why would I change it.

TheWildZebra · 25/05/2025 12:05

My parents haven’t redecorated parts of the house they moved into 30 years ago, and the existing floors and kitchen and bathroom (think avocado) still exist. It’s painful. They’re trying to sell and wonder why people aren’t interested and the house isn’t worth the same as similar properties where people have spent the time and money. So frustrating!

it’s useful to know (and pass on) that people expect much more recent decor and fittings.

cadburyegg · 25/05/2025 12:14

My entire house needs redecorating. It’s been 5+ years since anything was done. I moved in 8 years ago and I’m redecorating one room now for the first time since we moved in!

hopeishere · 25/05/2025 12:43

We’ve been in this house about 18 years.

Kitchen painted three times once a change of colour.
Sitting room completely redone once including new blinds.
Hall repainted three times.
Loo repainted once.
Master bedroom repainted once - change of colour and new curtains.
Sitting room 2 - repainted once same colour (this room really needs redone totally).
Kids rooms redone once.

I would do it more often but like a pp my husband hates spending money on the house!!

MrsMoastyToasty · 25/05/2025 13:04

Next month I will have been in my current house for 25 years. In that time we have done.
Hall , stairs and landing-18 years ago
Main bedroom- 25 years ago
2nd bedroom- 24 years ago
3rd bedroom- 20 years ago (after extending)
4th bedroom- 10 years ago
Bathroom- 20 years ago
Dining room- 5 years ago
Lounge- 8 years ago
Kitchen- repainted walls 5 years ago after leak from upstairs bathroom (insurance claim) but kept units and appliances.

However we have more pressing jobs to do like rebuild our shared chimney stack with NDN, repaint the exterior and replace gutters, soffits and fascias, and replace some double glazed windows which have blown.

Picklechicken · 25/05/2025 13:13

Every 7 years ish we might do a room. Just don’t have the time, energy or money to do more than that. I mean I guess we could if we stopped having holidays but we prioritise them over decorating. Plus I can’t be arsed to do it myself anymore (although used to enjoy it when I was younger) and also hate having decorators in my house so I’m just happy to leave it as long as possible!

ExtensiveDebating · 25/05/2025 13:14

Hardly ever but we have all plain emulsion walls that don't really date. We moved here 22 years ago did all the bedrooms soon after and they haven't been done again since (admittedly they need it now but they are small and there isn't anywhere to move the furniture to).

Hall, stairs and landing done twice, once when we moved in then again last year. Kitchen was new when we moved in and replaced about 4 years ago. We did the bathroom when we moved in and it needs doing again now. Dining room has been done twice, living room only once. It is always the problem with small
rooms (can't push furniture into the middle and work round and nowhere else to put it all as no garage and not much space in other rooms).

I'd say ideally once every 10 years would be good.

Gundogday · 25/05/2025 13:17

The downstairs walls have been re-painted in the same colour as when we brought the house. In fact, if the people who we brought the house from nearly twenty years ago visited, they wouldn’t see a huge difference - same kitchen, lounge curtain (we bought their curtains), same fireplace etc! We did completely redo the garden though, but that was only four years ago.

TrolleySong · 25/05/2025 13:20

Why do you redecorate so frequently?

The only people I know who do this are my PILs, and it’s generally because it’s never quite right.

My MIL, who is the instigator, has a habit of repeatedly buying furniture that’s too big for their small rooms, but only seems to recognise once it’s been in situ for a while and everyone’s irritated at edging around a big kitchen table where you literally have to suck in your stomach to get between the chairs and the walls, and the kitchen drawers can’t be fully opened. Or a big sofa with recliner ends, but the only place to put it is tightly up against the walls, meaning you can’t recline it.

Gundogday · 25/05/2025 13:28

Change every three years! Do you keep core pieces such as sofas and furniture or does that get changed as well?

LibertyLily · 25/05/2025 17:49

Crikey, every three years - including new rugs, textiles, art etc!

All the houses we've owned have been purchased as knackered renovation projects - some needing fairly major work - and therefore we've had to decorate as soon as the building work was done.

The longest we've lived anywhere (ten years) we decorated everywhere once, except DS's bedroom and the living room which were both repainted after five years. The living room was redone because we wanted a slightly darker version of the colour we'd originally chosen. DS obviously grew out of the blue stripes I'd stencilled the whole room with when he was eight 😉

We were at our last house six years and only decorated once in that time.

We tend to go for period colours that we love, so don't tend to get bored easily! Our furniture, art, decorative bits, lamps and rugs have been collected over a number of years and whilst we occasionally add something new-to-us, most are vintage/antique and again are chosen because we love them - not because they're currently on trend.

Same goes for curtains, cushions etc - for example, we recently bought fabric for new living room curtains, having had our previous ones for fifteen years (although our last living room didn't need curtains at the windows, so we didn't use them there). We loved the fabric so I was actually sad to see them go, but they wouldn't work with the colour we're planning to paint our new living room. We have an eclectic mix of cushions (and of everything, really) so wouldn't want to swap these out every few years.

totaltime123 · 25/05/2025 17:51

I change the decor when I buy something I see it can be once a week sometimes it depends on inspiration

PickAChew · 25/05/2025 17:54

Every 3 years is pretty wasteful.

We have no hard and fast rule. We've been in this house over 7 years and still haven't got all the way around it. Some bits desperately need some attention but time, energy, arsedness and other factors all get in the way.

Mikart · 25/05/2025 17:57

Decorate every 5 years. Always neutral. We have 130 things in our walls and change them around regularly.
Had my sofa 9 years and living room curtains 8.
Won't be changing them any time soon. We are getting a new bed in September...it's 9 years old.

homeismyhaven · 25/05/2025 18:00

I enjoy decorating and love the challenge of getting the house to work well for us and feel like home. We moved in 10years ago and each year we have done constant improvements to how we live in the house, like knocking down a wall, new floors, moving furniture/replacing with what works better etc. decorating wise have prob changed living room 3/4 times in that time, main bedroom painted 3-4 times also, love the difference a can of paint can make and find it therapeutic doing the work. although now feel very content with how everything is and feel like there’s nothing left to improve on whereas usually I’m planning another project by now!! Feels strange to have it all ‘done’ finally but now I can just get on with pottering- have always imagined getting to this stage!!

teksquad · 25/05/2025 18:02

Every three years would be way too much for me. We have lots of kids and a big house so do it piecemeal but id say most rooms get some attention every 5 years or so. Still got original bathrooms fromearly 2000s whcih we will hopefully do soon. Original kitchen too, can't afford to do a whole new one but will replace cupboard doors and workspace next year. Have had new fridge and dishwasher in that time.

Everygrain · 25/05/2025 18:04

As little as possible, I normally buy fairly expensive bedding, rugs, etc. so want to keep them a long time