Your very best decorating tips per-lease!

[PieMinister]

After a long, long wait DH and I have bought our first place, a proper family home. It's 60s, with beautiful light living rooms with a lovely view, darker bedrooms and a great garden with a windy path. Suddenly I am overwhelmed: I never thought about it, but I realise that in 15 years of renting I have never made a place home. I have never even chosen paint.
Come and educate me, wise Mumsnetters!

Are you me, OP? Renting does leave you a bit terrified of taking charge of your own place. Our house is 1900s and walls are all painted pink or brown

Watching with much interest.

It depends on your budget

www.livingetc.com/ lots of inspiration here (they have lots of pics of 1960s houses)

Same flooring as it gives continuity and makes the house look bigger
No carpet (I can't stand it)
Colours I love at the moment: greys, greens, light blue.

Congratulations! Am hopefully also about to be in similar position - out of renting to a 60s family home (only been renting couple of years tho since sold last place but was new build so not much decorating done). Agree about carpets downstairs at least, much prefer solid floors - don't know what though? Am also over curtains and love indoor shutters, much cleaner look - would they look weird on non-period though?

Definitely going to get rid of the carpets - that is the one thing we are certain on... We are buying off retirees and the house is currently very grandma, though beautifully looked after. Might have to put up with the festoons if floral curtain till we get some money together ... And will have to live with the peach bathroom! But oddly the paint we really like is cream with a terra-cotta tinge as it feels warm - would that be hideous?

Pie - tester pot :) It sounds like it would clash nicely with the peach bathroom suite!

Do the prep work, then paint the walls white - you can see the space better and it's a good undercoat :)

What would you do with a modern kitchen fitted out with cupboards in a really flat pale grey? We have lots of accessories in bright red, which might add nice colour bt I wonder if there are more gentle colour that might look equally nice? The grey seems to me to be a shade that sucks the life from the room

Strip everything out, get rid of the carpets and strip the wallpaper, paint everything white, then introduce colour gradually. Also my best tip would be only buy branded paint (dulux or crown), never buy stores own.

Can I ask another dumb question. We are clueless at all this as have always used decorator in past. All the houses we are looking at are old people ones that haven't been touched for years, all have layers of hideous thick flock etc wallpaper. What is the best way to strip everything out, clean everything up and achieve a nice clean, flat neater White finish to start with? Once get all the wallpaper off (hire a steamer) would I need to pay a plasterer to come in and replaster everywhere? Can we get away with skimming? Can we do that or is it a plasterer job?

Do what exactly is the skimming then? Am completely clueless, just trying to remember what people have charged me for in the past!

So! Sorry on iphone

PrinceH - your friend would love our walls then. I'm in the process of doing the place from one end to the other - the walls are terrible. In the lounge it looks like a map of the world underneath the paper! I just want to strip it all off... but I'm behaving myself and doing it one room at a time

OMG that's even worse than our place!! I'm going to out myself now to anyone who knows me IRL (please PM me if I have!! LOL) but here we have.... blue in the main bedroom (well it was, it's stripped now!), orange/peach in the other bedrooms, lemon/yellow in the lounge, green in the kitchen, blue in the hallway and this horrible textured stuff in the bathroom with lovely (pmsl) stencilling.... there are little bits that have curled up and I just want to RIP it all off

Stencilling! Changing Rooms has a lot to answer for...

Yep little fish & shells in green & blue.

Lovely :)

You're bringing supressed nightmares back!! Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

If you are scraping off wallpaper to paint the walls then preperation really is key.
Once all the wallpaper is off, wet the wall and use a scraper and a cloth to get rid of all the wallpaper paste residue. It can react with the paint and caue it flake and bubble. Then wash the walls in sugar soap. Rinse the walls with cold water. Next fill any holes, cracks with filler. Sand, then wash the walls again. Then you will have perfectly prepared walls ready for painting.
If the walls are bare plaster, the walls wil soak up your first coat of paint. You can use a solution of PVA glue to prime the walls first. Sometimes we cheat and mix the PVA glue in with white paint and use that to prime the walls.

Hi Purepurple - I'd really appreciate it if you can offer any advice.

I took the wallpaper off months ago (long story as to why it's only just being done now!), I have already taken to the walls with the filler (commercial grade joint filler which the builder recommended). I figured as I was going to be filling and sanding most of the wall I wouldn't need to wash them, possibly the wrong decision - but too late now! It's going OK but the damn stuff is 'going off' quickly as I'm trying to apply it, most of what I have done so far looks pretty good though, but where I'm trying to 'fill' deeper areas it has cracked, I think I used too much in one go maybe (even though I tried not to). They put new windows in a few years ago and cracked all of the plaster around them at both sides and just basically crappily filled it and papered over it. I took the crumbling stuff out so I'm trying to 'build' it up in places.

The walls - hmm...

The long wall has a lot of dents in it, I've now filled that whole wall - it looks more like a skim coat!

The back wall has either paint or some kind of strange 'coating' on it - well, a few layers actually and you can't really see the plaster much, it's all flaking. The plan is to sand that and see how it comes up first. I've just filled the screw holes and where the daido rail was (very satisfying pulling that off it was!).

The window wall, that's pretty much done except for the window area which still needs more attention. It is a real mess and I'm not sure how good a finish I'll be able to achieve with it. The cracks are the inside the window 'cut out', on the sides,...if you know what I mean?

I also need a good product to clean the old paint, filler, sealant & crap off of the PVC window surrounds - any suggestions? I'm also not sure if I need to 'seal' them again or not. It is like a stick on surround, around the edge of the window - it looks like part of the window until you inspect it closely 9or pull off the bit they ever so attractively put along the wall bit and around the corner?!

I've pulled off all of the old skirting and I'm debating replacing the door/door frame too to match in with the new skirting.

So - when I have finished filling and sanding (and filling and sanding and filling and sanding) should I was the walls with sugar soap or just clean water? I had just planned on 'hoovering' them and then brushing them off?! If you think I should wash them down, how would you do it without getting the plaster too wet?

I have bought the Homebase paint for the mist coat, the guy said just to mix it 50/50 with water and not worry about the glue... what do you think?

Right - off to fill :)

Thanks if you have made it this far and have the time/energy to reply!

Gosh, you have your hands full there , chip. I would wash the walls with a sugar soap solution. I wouldn't worry about getting the plaster wet-it will dry. I normally just use a dishcloth or a j-cloth. Then just give them all a rinse with a cloth and plain water.

When we took the paper off round the window the sealant came off with it as the previous owners had the windows fitted on top of the paper. DH filled in the big gaps with builders foam, trimmed it back, then filled it with indoor window sealant. Looks great.
I would do the best I could with the walls inside the windows but if you are putting up curtains or blinds then they will cover most of it anyway.

For cleaning the window frames you could try a green scourer and jif and lots of scrubbing.
If you are planning on painting the skirting and door frames then I wouldn't bother replacing the door frame as it will all look the same when you do paint it.
I personally wouldn't water down the paint, it makes the paint very thin and it goes very runny.I would use PVA glue in the paint. Or you can use watered down PVA. But it's up to you. Good luck anyway We have done our room, DD's room and half the lounge. Just the kitchen, dining room, downstairs loo, hallway/landing, bathroom, DS's room and the spare room to go

PurePurple ... and this is only the start of it!!

Great - yet another 2 steps to add in !! Thanks for that!!

I could regale you with yesterdays builders foam episode.... let's just say... it was interesting! I, ummm, need a new canister now.

The manky old horrible skirtings have all been taken off and disposed of, I will be having lovely new fresh ones which is why I'm thinking about a new door frame and door (well frames and doors throughout).

........ will race you to the finish :)

Builders foam I an still picking it off the coffee cannister in the kitchen, thanks to DH, weeks later.
I don't rate my chances in a race. I started sripping the lounge on New Years Eve and have just finsished painting the walls. The door frame needs stripping where there was some water damage, all the woodwork needs painting and then the chimney breast needs wallpapering when the woodburner has been fitted. DH has replaced one of the light fittings, so one half of the room is still lit by a lovely 80s monstrosity.
But, I am already planning the next room. What are you doing next? we are doing the downstairs loo punk style. Dh suggested it- we are going to paint it and then stick lots of punk stuff like photos, gig tickets, programmes, record sleeves on the walls with a bit of graffiti too. Dh wants a toilet seat with razor blades or barbed wire, bless him.

The builders foam did a projectile poo across the room, hitting the only bit o carpet without protector on it Thankfully I'm not precious about the carpet as eventually it will be going, but I could have done without and adhesive stain on it in the meantime! OOps.

Interesting downstairs loo

IF I mangage to make the walls 'OK' in the bedroom I'll do a quickie job on the kitchen next. It all needs replacing if I'm staying, but if I'm going to rent it out it's OK (and my heart wont break if they aren't careful with it!!). At the same time I'll do a quickie on the bathroom - same thing applies really.

If I think the walls come up to a good enough standard I'll do the living room, if not that will have to wait until I can get the plasterer in - so it's all a bit 'wait and see' until this rooms done.