Whole house to decorate..where to start??

[moopymoo]

We have just renovated a 4 bed flat in a georgian manor house. all very lovely ...i know have plaster walls and am swamped by interior decor decisions looming. Where is good for ideas? We have about 3 pounds 80 left in budget due to dry rot treatment, so it needs to be cheap. I love Cath Kidston type chintsy stuff but i know its a bit old hat now...any advice? Whats the new Cath Kidston? Should that be a whole thread???

paint it .. cheapest way .. if you have the money buy small amount of cath kidston wallpaper (although agree she's well past her sell-by date) and do a fireplace wall or similar

I'd start with downstairs personally

(I quite like colour of new plaster though)

start at the top and work down but make sure you do hall and landing etc last so they do not get damaged when moving ladders around etc...

If walls are smooth paint them -- there is a lovely heritage range of paints for Georgian era you can get which would be nice... I personally hate KC and find her stuff a bit naff but then I would not be living with it so I would suggest you just use it on a couple of key walls to get max impact for least buck...

yeah, will mainly be painting have seen some F&B wallpaper that i like but cant afford much. Am in danger of ending up with magnolia box even if it is heritage 'parchment' magnolia! Am not good with colour and really dont like feature paint walls ... guess i need to get the tester pots out. i like the colour of the plaster too twiglet..bit dusty to leave though!

You can seal plaster and leave it or there is a plaster coloured paint in the heritage range.Otherwise just paint it all old white(F&B)and live with it until you are inspired.Agree re feature walls I don't like them either a bit 'changing rooms' much prefer to paper a whole room or nothing.

Yes, start upstairs then work downstairs. DH is prop developer and this is his rule.

I also live in a listed Georgian house. I have chosen earthy neutral paints from Fired Earth and F&B. I've heard that Dulux do a lovely range which is cheaper and they can customise for you. Colours such as eau de nil, ecru, off whites and taupes work really well. You can pick out moods and colours by using adventurous fabric on cushions, loose covers, and as someone's already said, by wallpapering the odd wall. Then if you change your mind you don't have to redecorate completely, just change soft furnishings etc.

I'm in the process of picking colours etc for our new bedroom and am thinking of using Laura Ashley's eau de nil or duck egg fabrics. They do LOADS of really gorgeous designs that work really well in period buildings and cheaper (!) than Cath Kidston. I was pleasantly surprised by LA's range, not as old hat as I thought it would be.

choose your fave F&B colours and have them made up by dulux, to save some cash.

try a curtain exchange place or ebay for curtains( you might even find some CK if it's old hat )

CM, that's a really good idea which I suggested to DH once but he went on about how it was the quality and finish of the paints that made F&B special not just the colours. (I think I nodded off at one point).

All good advice. thanks. I have used dulux paints before made to F&B colours and they didnt seem quite right, not 'grainy' enough or something. think old white everywhere is best idea, then do other stuff slowly as we can afford. pot of cash runs out very fast in old buildings! Love that curtain exchange idea, we are in lancs non near us but might ring yorkshire one and see if worth a trip over.