new- but vair OLD- house- decorating

[SpringHeeledJack]

we're moving in two weeks' time, to a 3 bed terraced house built in the late 20s/early 30s

the lady who's selling it has been in there since it was built

since it's a bit small upstairs, we're planning to stick a roof extension on it, but will have to wait till next year when an endowment matures. This means that potentially none of us are going to end up in the bedrooms we start in, iykwim. Also will possibly be moving the downstairs about, since there's only a little tiny kitchen atm

the decs can only be described as lairy- lots of big, big flowers, lots of dark, dark colours

what I think I need to do straightaway is paint the whole lot one- or possibly two- neutral colours, so we can live in it for now, then redecorate when we've done our works

anyone done similar/got any tips? could do with 1. a colour and 2. a paint type/make that'll be good for covering BIG PATTERNS

tia

We moved into a house and simply painted the habitable rooms white - over the woodchip, peeling plaster everything, just so we could live there whilst we worked through the refurbishment. Dulux Trade is a good covering paint IME - you might as well get acquainted with your local Decorator Centre if you have a lot to do. Advantage of using the same colour is that you don't have leftover tins. How brilliant to move into an untouched house though.

I'm all in favour of painting walls, though in my case I wouldn't go for white (IMO looks like a mortuary or a public convenience), I would go for pale, warm colours.

BTW Dulux Trade Supermatt is a very good paint for bare plaster, but if you are intending to rip it off soon, I would go for a cheaper own-brand from a DIY shed. You will need several coats because the first coat will stir up the old dirt off the wall and ceiling, and will look dirty when it dries.

painting wallpaper, especially woodchip, makes it more difficult to get it wet and strip off later.

If it was me I would strip off all the paper before you move in (messy work, use lots and lots of warm water with a drop of Fairy and a broom) and clean off all the residue of paste with warm water and a broad metal scraper. Traces of paste will prevent paint adhering.

I am going through the decorating nightmare of stripping wallpaper from walls that seem to have had the paper on since 51BC!
I bought a steam wallpaper stripper for about £30,and blimey,the paper comes off like a dream! I am spedding my way around the house...definitly one of my best buys.

speeding

that's great

bit of info: if you hold a steam stripper against a wall for "too long" it will make the plaster crack and spall off.

With my soft broom and lots of water, I go round the room a couple of times, by the time I get back to where I started, it's soaked in. Somettimes I use a garden sprayer. I accept that this method does use a lot of water, so look out for puddles and drips going through the floor, or, if a chipboard floor, turning it to soggy weetabix.

Ooh thanks for that tip PigletJohn...I did notice that in some places,and that is obioisly more work for me (filling cracks),so cancelling out the speed factor. Will make sure I do it carefully

thanks for replies, people- am just whizzing out now but will come back later and look properly

I think we'll have to just splosh a load on over the paper for now- we can't do it before we move in. The house is almost too wee for us as it is, without having to shunt everything/one round for steam stripping

will do it later on, though