HELP - first home and no idea about decorating!

[tiutinkerbell]

Hi everyone! Hoping I can benefit from some of your decorating wisdom!

I have just purchased my first ever home (woo) but I have NO idea about decorating/choosing paint colours/planning rooms etc. I have rented all my adult life so far so have never had to choose floors, paint colours, art, wall decoration etc. I am not even sure what style I like! I do have furniture which I like but it doesn't really fit into a 'theme' or style and I would like to have one running through the whole home.

I am hoping to paint before I move in as the house is currently painted a variety of different colours which wouldn't go with any of my furniture - grey bedroom, white second bedroom, red hallway, yellow kitchen, brown living room... but I have no idea what I want/how to choose. My Mom is very much of the opinion 'just paint everything Magnolia and be done with it' so I am thinking of going with this for ease but does anyone have any ideas where I could start my journey? I will be hiring someone to paint but all the ideas I like online look SO complex/expensive and as I am on budget it is hard to make decisions. I also have zero DIY experience (think can't hang a painting) so I feel very lost - I may just leave my Mom to do it!!

Any advice/tips/help of ANY sort would be so helpful!

Look through loads of interiors, Pinterest is always good as are paint manufacturers' websites, both for colour schemes and decor ideas.
www.dulux.co.uk/
www.crownpaints.co.uk/colours
Paint's not just paint, there are different types for different areas, learn about what you need as opposed to what you want. Then decide what you like.

As it's your first time, I'd not go for super expensive paint because once it's on the walls you may find you don't actually like it that much and want a change.

Which way do your rooms face?
North facing is cool anyway so steer clear of cold colours, ice blue, lavender, mint green.
South facing will be warm anyway as it will get the sun all day so reds, oranges and brighter yellows can be a bit of an overkill.
East gets the morning sun.
West gets the setting sun.

Enjoy choosing something that's personal to you and that you like. tip, colours often go a couple of shades darker on the walls, so if in doubt, pick a lighter shade rather than a darker one. In general, dark colours make a room look smaller, lighter colours make it look bigger and more airy.

Try watching some youtube videos about interiors or watch some of the Great Interior Design Challenge on netflix to give you ideas of thrmes and styles and how furniture and colours can complement each other.

Thank you so much - the house is east facing so morning sun in the kitchen and evening sun in the living room.

Thank you for the advice on paint - I deffo thought paint was just paint. I really like a kind of 'country farmhouse' style - bright, airy, clean but that is not the style of the house at all at the moment so it is quite daunting to start.

Maybe if I post a link you lovelies can give some ideas of what you would do with it? It is not in awful condition, just needs a refresh!

If it is basically liveable, but just not your choice of colours etc, I'd suggest not doing anything until you've lived in the house for a little while. Then you'll know better how you use each room and at what times of day. You'll also see what the light is like in each room and you'll have a much better idea of what the house feels like and what style/colour to go for.

eg, I have a north facing sitting room in a Victorian house, which when I first moved in I thought I would want to brighten up. It turned out that actually I really like the slightly gloomy feel of the room and have decorated to embrace that. It's one of my favourite rooms in the house now and always feels really cosy.

This was me a couple of years ago. I joined Instagram and followed loads of people renovating/decorating for ideas. It helped, although a lot are very show-home like! And sometimes you see so many nice things you get confused what you want (or is that just me )
Get loads of test pots and wallpaper samples. Colours and patterns vary a lot depending on light and surroundings.
Also try and decide if you want a modern, traditional, retro etc theme to narrow your search down.

Whatever colours/styles you eventually choose, do look up how to prepare surfaces properly. It's very tempting just to slap paint on, but proper prep will result in a better, longer lasting finish. Also things like which order to paint in, ceiling before walls, etc.

I agree with whoever said don't do anything in a hurry. Ditto to the mention of the little try-me pots of paint. Try them on A4 sheets at home, to see how they look in the room.
You might find a beginner's DIY handbook very useful, too.

I would second living in it for a while. What you decide on now may no longer seem right in a few months.
My first place I set to and painted the living room pale green. It was horrible when I finished! It was some time before I had the time to re-do it (in white). It is a good idea to see where the light falls etc. Houzz is a good online resource.
You are lucky to have someone do it for you. This will cost you a lot of money. Decorating isn't difficult. None of my business, and if you can afford it, all well and good. But buying is expensive, and if you want to save a lot, do it yourself a room at a time. We all had to start practicing somewhere.

When I was in your shoes I took myself off to the newsagent and spent the conveyancing time knee deep in magazines figuring out what I like. We had two weeks between completing and leaving our rented flat, so we painted ourselves, which was lovely. We started with the ceilings, and had tester pots on A3 cards everywhere, and then did the rooms in the order we could decide on the colours. Loads of friends popped in and helped out for a couple of hours here and there, I have really happy memories of that time!

I do have furniture which I like but it doesn't really fit into a 'theme' or style
It can! 'Eclectic' is a style. The trick is to find (or create) a theme - eg a colour palette, a shade of wood, foreign travels, flora&fauna, etc. Look at your current possessions and try to analyse the common component that you like about them.
Find a neutral colour, repeat it (or variations) throughout and let the house evolve its style.

Think about expensive items first. It doesn't take much to change a paint colour to suit a sofa or a kitchen but it doesn't make sense to do it the other way round i.e. find the sofa to match the paint!

I really like Dulux paint and can suggest some great neutrals but it sounds like you might be in the states? (‘Mom’ is a giveaway).

Why not try painting yourself? With decent paint it’s easy and fun- if a bit time consuming. You’ll get a lot of satisfaction from doing it yourself and it’s really not difficult with masking tape and decent brushes/ rollers. Prep walls with sugar soap and water for a decent clean.

Personally I think Dulux is better than Crown or F&B for novices- goes on really easily.

Also magnolia is one of the most horrible neutrals going- just looks dirty and old fashioned. There are much better neutrals out there.

Thank you everyone for your fab ideas and suggestions. I always thought that I should paint before I moved in but maybe I should just get rid of the colour I really hate (like the red hallway), and then leave the rest until later?

I have a grey bed that I love and white bedroom furniture so maybe a grey/white theme for the master bed?

My couch is new and amazing - neutral two tone leather. I also have a cream IKEA poang chair which I am thinking of placing in the bay window in the living room. So I guess neutral/muted tones in there instead of greys - creams maybe. It is currently a brown colour with a feature wall which looks kind of like brickwork which I am not too keen on.

Kitchen/diner has white/blue/black tile backsplash, black worktop and white cabinets at the moment with one yellow wall and the rest white. No idea what do with that. They have black appliances in there to match the countertop but I am not really that keen on black so maybe I will go for grey appliances.

I want the house to be really cosy and inviting so I guess that is my aim. This is the first time I will have a place big enough to really entertain and I want everyone to feel really welcome and comfy in the house.

And nope I am Irish but use Mom/Mam interchangeably :) I live in the UK so Dulex is deffo available.

I haven't even started looking at paint samples yet so I will look into some Dulex colours this weekend and see where I get.

I grew up with Magnolia everywhere and am deffo not passionate about it - I just don't know what else to do! My parents wouldn't really be into colour with decoration - think minimalist, Scandinavian - which they do beautifully but wouldn't suit my house at all.

It sounds like you have plenty of things you really like, so that's brilliant! If you surround yourself by stuff you actively like then it will come together by itself a bit, I really wouldn't worry about themes.
Definitely easier to paint an empty house, but if you are going to have to repaint anyway because you didn't know what to choose then you might as well wait! Although- inertia will kick in. Our current place is trade white top to bottom "and we will choose colours when we know the house better". Meanwhile the years are ticking merrily by...

a grey/white theme ... neutral two tone leather. I also have a cream IKEA poang chair... neutral/muted tones ... really cosy and inviting

That's sounding quite Scandi/hygge. Would you like that style?

minimalist, Scandinavian - which they do beautifully but wouldn't suit my house at all.
Ah, just read your update. Scratch that idea!

@senua I just did some googling and I actually LOVE the hygge style pictures I have found.

My parents Scandi is more minimalist with lots of wood, hard edges, magnolia with no throws/paintings/'clutter' as my Mom calls it. I would like something a little cosier :)

I really love the hygge style living rooms that they have on pinterest. That looks really cosy. I wonder how I would be able to do something like that throughout the house.... I will have to keep researching. Thanks so much!

Enjoy your decorating!

We have renovated both our houses and redecorated most of them ourselves.

Find some interior designers that you like and follow their blogs/ take a look at their Instagram.

The Farrow and Ball website has some good decorating guides. Some might be a bit harsh, given what you've said above, but may still help as a comparison.

Consider the light in the room and whether you want to fight it. It is sometimes better to paint a dark room dark and make it cosy, rather than trying to 'lighten it up' by painting it white. (I think it depends on the size of the room.)

Remember paint always looks darker when it's on.

Buy special kitchen/bathroom paint for anywhere that will get wet.

We usually get slightly better paint than the basic stuff, but do one or two undercoats in basic white matt, or a cheaper approximation of the colour you want. That way you aren't shelling out for masses for the more expensive stuff.

@Daisy2990 thank you for the advice!

I am going to hit up Pinterest and IG and see if I can find some styles that I like and see if I see any trends.

Plus go and actually look at paint at the weekend! I feel like a fish out of water here - so inexperienced and worried I am going to make loads of wrong decisions!

Can you paint yourself? Honestly it's very easy and takes no time really, I regularly paint rooms and a large one I can do in. Weekend for two coats. A hallway is different though.

I'd go for a light colour there and brighten it up. I think you'd be amazed at the difference it makes taking the red out.

@Bluntness100 I was going to get someone in to help with the painting as I have no idea about it.. I recently asked someone how they fit the paint roller into the paint tin #massivefail haha!

My lovely Dad is a great person to DIY and my parents will be helping me to move, but as he is getting on I don't really want to make him paint the whole house for me haha. So I was looking into getting a decorator for me to do the hard parts.

I think the hard parts are good plan, the rest, where you have a flat wall with even edges, just use some masking tape round the edges so you don't paint woodwork etc and go for it. It really is a doddle.

You need a good DIY book (I like the reader's digest DIY manual) and a session looking at videos on YouTube!

You totally can paint - you could get your dad to help you with the first room to train you up. But obviously it's not compulsory, and if you have small kids finding the time without their "help" can be the limiting factor...

I am deffo going to invest in a DIY book - such a good suggestion. I am still a little lost on where to go with it - am posting a link to see if anyone has any suggestions:

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-76155404.html

What colour do we think for kitchen appliances? I need to buy new but not sure I am keen on the black but not sure if any other colour would go!