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!

White or silver will be fine!
Re wall colours, without being in the room and seeing the light it's hard to know. Nothing beats big samples in the actual room...

That's lovely op and a brilliant size.

There is nothing in that that's hard to paint. So think what colours do you like?

You can really brighten up downstairs and very easily. I'd get rid of that yellow in the kitchen, I'd personally go for something more neutral throughout, pale French grey, pale eau de nil, pale griege, pale duck egg, and make it look a lot more modern and brighter. Upstairs can wait right off, it's fairly neutral now, and a couple of weekends and you can have the downstairs done.

As you're on a budget, defo do the painting youtself.

For appliances, I'd go silver, and not something matchy matchy.

At some point I'd also have the outside painted, maybe a bright white, and get some nice pots out there. The money you save doing rhe inside yourself will pay for having rhe outside done.

Painting is not that hard if you have
a) the right tools for the job, including dust sheets.
b) give yourself plenty of time, but above all
c) don’t skimp,on the preparation because it’s the most important part.

Good luck!

@MessySurfaces thank you - I think I will go silver appliances as I've had white forever in my rental and I am so sick of it!

@Bluntness100 thank you for all the tips. I will deffo be doing something to the outside once I am settled and have the funds. I would love to get rid of the paint and bring back the brick but if this is too much work I will be painting white and then paving the whole front of the garden and just having pots/shrubbery instead of grass there.

Kitchen wise the yellow is going especially as its only on two of the walls - I will have a look at all of those colours online as I think the kitchen would be lovely bright as the tiling isn't too bad at all.

Living room wise they are taking the electric fire so I think I will open back up the chimney that they covered and switch the living room back around - sofa facing chimney with TV on the wall. I am hoping to put a gas fire in there. I have a sofa so I guess I will centre colours around that. I am not a fan of the brown at all, I think it is quite dark.

I would love greys in the bedroom as my bed is grey and furniture is white, but I don't want it to be cold or utilitarian. Anyone have any ideas on how to make grey cosy?

From my Pinterest it seems my style is hygge/farmhouse. Lots of white, brights but still cosy. Translating that into a house is much more difficult than I anticipated however haha!

Have a look at some of th farrow and ball and little greene colours. If you like one, you can have it colour matched to a cheaper paint like dulux to make it more cost effective. Go for a matt finish, it's much more elegant,

Also if you like a colour, just google it and you'll find images of folks rooms with it on.

Grey is almost done but things like elephants breath from farrow and ball is a good colour. I find Laura Ashley's pale eau de nil and pale duck egg blend well with pale,greys so give a kind of theme, in terms of warm soft muted but room brightening colours.

Personally I find plain white walls too stark but I know many love it.

Preparation is the key. Make sure you spend time on sanding, filling, unscrewing sockets etc. and masking up.

Definitely don’t pay for expensive brands of paint. Just get them colour matched.

Also, no need to buy the expensive kitchen/bathroom paints. These are throwbacks to when paint didn’t have antimould additive but they all do nowadays.

Those walls won't need sanding or filling. I'd agree with masking though unless you've a steady hand and can cut in. I've never unscrewed a socket and I paint a lot. As long as you mask it off you're fine, I paint an embarrassing amount as I have a low boredom threshold so often pop to Homebase, buy a tin of paint and change it at the weekend. 🤣

If you've a nice slim brush, a good one with straight edges, cutting in is quite easy and removes the need for masking.

Having just paid a decorator to paint some of the more inaccesible parts of our house - hall/stairs, I would suggest it's not as difficult as you might think. I've done plenty of decorating, including wallpapering, but just don't enjoy doing it - don't have the patience to make sure I keep the lines straight, etc.

Do a bit of research on YouTube, maybe stick to water-based paints for walls and woodwork, they're fairly hard-wearing and easier to clean up any messes!

Get decent quality brushes/rollers and have patience. It's really not that difficult. :)

We got ours painted white everywhere to blank it out until we'd lived in it for a while and got a feeling for the place

We've left most rooms (Timeless) white and added the colour/cosyness through artwork, lighting, curtains, throws, rugs and cushions. I like a change every now and again so often swap things round room to room

Kitchen we re-painted Natural Calico ourselves as white was too harsh and the bathroom is tiny so painted that dark grey when we redid the suite - feels warm and snugly

Re adding a third colour to your bedroom, teal, blush or yellow all would go well with grey and white. Or charcoal grey. Have a look at scandi style images on pinterest for more inspiration.

Or a dark olive green - I think this is the next big trend in interiors.

Paint everywhere white. Live there for 1 year and you will know which colours will work. Rooms look different in different light.

Recently had a few friends go through this, few tips from them:

100% paint everything white before moving in. This serves as a good undercoat when you eventually decide on colours, but also helps mke everything look fresh and new once you move in. Also allows you to do things on a budget as white paint is cheaper and easier to for novice DIY. White paint tends to show less imperfections in brush strokes.

Once you move in, tackle each room one by one if on a budget. Take your time to decide what you want.

Instagram, Houzz, Real Homes, Pinterest. All good for inspiration.

Many may disagree, but try to avoid Ikea if possible. Most of their furniture and accessories don't date well, and I've found that people that tend to use Ikea frequently always end up making frequent changes to their decor. It's possible to achieve the hygge or scandi look without using Ikea.

Thank you everyone! I now have a completion date so feel like I really need to start making plans but I am so overwhelmed I haven't even started looking at paint colours yet.

Hopeing to paint before I move in which means doing it right before Christmas, so a bit of a nightmare. I am going to force myself to go to the shops this weekend and start looking at colours. Realised I totally forgot to think about the second bedroom as well - it will have a grey bed in it but no idea for the walls.

In terms of kitchen, I deffo want it nice and bright, does anyone have any paint colour ideas? Is just 'white' a colour? I will probably do the same for the hall to get rid of that red.

Please help to calm me down haha!

Congreats!

I personality wouldn't paint the kitchen white, as with the white cupboards I think it will be quite cold and stark, not warm and inviting.

You could do something a bit different, like a navy blue. Which always works well with white and makes it look fresh.

I had a lovely lime green kitchen in an old house. It made me very happy! My current one gets lots of sun, and is white. But I do like a bright kitchen.

OK so after a LONG few hours in B&Q and IKEA I now have decided on some colours themes for the house!

I have lots of different samples which I am going to try on the walls as soon as I get the keys to make sure I like the colours (although some of them look so similar I doubt I will even be able to tell the difference...)!

My question now is where do I get paint? I've seen people say B&Q is not the place to buy and that there are different paint qualities?! What do people recommend? I am in the West Mids area if anyone has any recommendations!

All paint brands have different qualities. As do different types of paint. Best advice is before you buy any 'brand' of paint Google to see what reviewers say - just as an overall, cos there will always be pluses and minuses. But there were lots of minuses for Valspar paint when I was looking...

Valsapar is seemingly shit. I'd steer clear of that.

Oh gosh I am in paint colour picking hell at the moment.

Everytime I find one, I find a million more that 'might' be better.

Will steer clear of valsapar, thank you. I do have some samples for that but if I like those colours hopefully I can get something similar.

Looking at Dulux at the moment but can't seem to find one that is right for my bedroom. Looking for a grey/pinky colour. Theme is going to be greys, light pinks & gold. Can anyone advise?

Going to go for Warm Pewter in the kitchen as the feature wall I think, with Rock Salt on the other three walls. Was looking into blues/navy as well but think it may be too dark for the room.

Sorry I know I'm a bit obsessed with your thread, it's not personal, my friends tell me I'm obsessed with decorating,🤣

Instead of picking a set colour, you could have a paint made up and colour matched in dulux, most decent diy stores do it.

So for example do you see a colour you love. On a wallpaper, a dish, a card, even an item of clothing? If so take it along and they will colour match it and make up the paint.

I'm redoing one of my rooms shortly and am going to have wallpaper on one wall (god there is some gorgeous ones now) and have the paint colour matched and made up to the base colour in the paper.

On a separate note have you thought of having wallpaper? Harlequin, Sanderson, Cole and son, etc do some gorgeous ones.

@Bluntness100 please do be obsessed with my thread, I need all the help I can get. I am not enjoying the stress of this decorating process.

I am not a fan of wallpaper purely due to the hassle of getting it off in a few years when I change my mind. I have found a wallpaper sample with the PERFECT colour scheme for my bedroom though which I nabbed from B&Q so am using that for my inspiration. At the moment I am thinking Satin Bow as the main wall with either Metal White or Polished Pebble on the other three walls.

I have a few samples but have since found a few more colours I want to try so am going to pick up those on Saturday. Hopefully there will be something for each room that looks good :)

I think you could paint the kitchen white and make a feature wall at the end with blackboard paint. Very in at the moment and so easy to do. A few chunky shelves in the alcove and a metal light over the table and that's the look.

Ok then if you insist 🤣

I think the polished pebble will be nice against the white. But I'm not sure about the satin Bow, it looks a bit beige to me?

What about having a paint mixed in a farrow and ball colour, ammonite or cormforth white, something a very delicate grey? I started a thread on ammonite and some folks posted pics..

Wallpaper you can often paint over, like a lining paper basically.

The black board idea is a good one too, not sure though how easy that is to paint over.

Visited somewhere today with shocking pink and dark grey colour scheme. I'm not a fan of pink but it looked great

Trying to imagine a strong vibrant pink in your kitchen...maybe feature end walls and the rest grey

This was the shade of pink