Starting with a blank canvas - kind of excited and kind of terrified!

[IAmRubyLennox]

Very excited because this morning we've completed all the part-ex paperwork for our new (as in newly built) house.

So assuming (and I know that anything to do with property is a big assumption) that it all goes ahead, I will have a complete blank canvas of a house.

Totally no idea where to start.

Any ideas about what to prioritise, how to get it all nice and liveable without making expensive mistakes in the mean time?

We'll be reusing a lot of furniture etc from the old house, but I don't really want to replicate the decor of our rooms here.

Exciting, but quite scary if you're not good at interior design!

Oooh lovely. My tip would be to make NO descisions about decor until you've lived in the house for a month or so and got a "feel" for it. It's easy to start imagining how a room would look when it's empty but it can be a completely different kettle of fish once you've put furniture in and bums on seats

I like flicking through the magazines and tearing out things/styles/colours that appeal to me, just to build some kind of picture. Good luck!

Firstly I'd find out about carpets etc- think which will stand the test of time/ weaning/ potty training
I second about living in the property and also about who is going to decorate
curtains- are a must if its summer for small dc's rooms
Light fittings- if youre going to get them done professionally then youre better off getting them done all at once- Think about the style of your house, size of the room and how the light will be used
eg its pointless having a huge chandelier (sp?) in a small box room.
Think about wram and cold colours.

Were moving into a blank canvass too- I plan to do the kids rooms but stensils of trees not massive painting.

If you are prone to changing your mind often- aviod wall paper.

We're having a house built too - very exciting but quite daunting at the same time.

Has the house already been built, or will you get to choose things like flooring, kitchen, bathroom etc as it is built?

My DH downloaded a couple of interior design programmes (one free, I think it's called SweetHome, and the other cost about £30) and was able to put in all the dimensions of the rooms and of our current/proposed furniture, and then it gives you a 3D interactive picture of what the house will look like. It is all quite time-consuming but makes it so much easier to visualise the furniture layout.

Our downstairs is an open-plan kitchen/dining room/lounge so it has been good to try and do all of that at the same time to make sure the lighting, colours and flooring work together.

I definitely agree with the idea of looking at lots of magazines and also visiting shops and just having a look at what's around.

Don't get too excited about decorating sttraight away. We moved into a newly built house too a couple of years ago and were advised to leave it a year to "let it settle". The developers did come back a year later and fill in the cracks and repaint over.

We got to choose the kitchen and bathroom fitting plus flooring so you these should be your focus to start with as they are mostly permanent