How long did it take you to get around to decorating your new house?

[PaintingOwls]

We will be exchanging on our first house next week hopefully, leaving a 3-4 week overlap between getting the keys and our tenancy running out.

I want to do a couple of "big" things in that time before we move in, like carpet the upstairs and paint the rooms.

DP just wants to move in and do one room at a time as we save up etc. I am sceptical as I think that life will run away with us and it'll be a huge pita to move furniture once we're in and nothing will get done.

So looking for other people's experiences - either approach!

Oh dear, those tiles on the wall and the fish tank need to go, possibly mean walls being reskimmed in patches.

First house it took us five years to finish it and every room redecorated.

Second ten!

At least paint the skirting boards before having carpets fitted. Otherwise you end up having the lift the edges of the carpet and it never goes back down properly unless you get carpet fitters in again. If you use masking tape, you never get a perfect finish and the tape can leave sticky residue which dust sticks to.

We’ve been in our house 7 years now. It was well over a year before we did any decorating. House was liveable, but carpets worn and walls all badly lining papered. Started with our bedroom and then did others. I’ve taken the approach to change things as they bother me/as circumstances change rather than setting out to do it all upfront.

If you can’t live with the decorating then by all means do it, but bear in mind that a simple room redecoration can snowball- we started tearing off the wallpaper in one of the bedrooms and found the ceiling was rotten underneath. We needed a new roof on the extension. What should have been a simple re-skim and paint turned into a much bigger job!

Been in 18 months, took 12 months to decide on colour and get paint... One room mostly done (finishing tweaks to be done) all others still to do 😳

Moved 6 years ago heavily pregnant with second child. Have decorated kids rooms twice, our bedroom once, and the kitchen. Lounge and hall - the most difficult things - still haven't been done! (They were freshly painted peach when we moved in. Not what I would choose but it does at least withstand grubby hand prints. Unfortunately it takes at least 3 coats of good quality to cover it up.) We have replaced the boiler and the kitchen, downstairs bathroom and half the upstairs bathroom.

Last time we sold we finally had it looking nice. Hopefully, we'll have time to enjoy a nice house before we move again.

It took us 10 years to finish our old house and we’ve been here 3 years and still have the previous owners glorious embossed floral wallpaper in our bedroom 😂

We moved in 3 years ago. Got the keys a month before moving in (We had sold and were in rented) Had all walls stripped, re plastered where necessary and painted, then new carpets. Moved in with a bed, deckchairs to sit on and the tv on a cardboard box whilst we chose and ordered furniture. Not for everyone, but it meant that we had a true blank canvas which made choosing furniture much easieŕ and avoided costly mistakes.

20 years 😂 obviously gave it a magnolia coat whilst kids were little but now they have all left home I'm decorating it to how I want

We've been in this house ten years. We still haven't decorated the hall, landing, living room, master bedroom or our ensuite. They're all on the hit list for this year/next.

Everywhere else was done as and when we could afford it.

In your position I think your plan is best. Take the hit now. Do it all at once and it will be easier and nicer

4 years later and nearly half way done. Having to save up and no room at a time.

We got the keys then moved in with my parents for three months to do everything: new kitchen, two new bathrooms, painted and recarpeted all the bedrooms, lounge and landing, new windows etc etc. Then when we turned the key to move in... ahhh! Done!

We moved in and lived with the green gloss ceiling and woodwork and pink wood chip in the sitting room and dining room for about two weeks. It took 4 coats on the woodwork. We didn’t have much furniture though.

New house DH wants to live with in laws for a few weeks while we get decorators in to get the anaglypta off the walls in the hall and get all walls skimmed and painted.

Oh and put furniture into storage.

We tried to do a lot of work before we moved in which I regret for a few reasons
•was rushing to get the work done so we could move in so has not been completed to the finish I would like
•not living in rooms before completing work means you do not know where the light falls, where is best to place TVs etc
•we have now run out of funds so now saving again and the majority of rooms are half finished

If you can, then paint everything before hand in white just so it is clean, fresh and you don't hav PE awful colours and picture frame squares to look at when taken down

Beyond that I would wait and do a room at a time as in reality you won't get a house don't (properly ) in a month un,see it is small and you can commit to it full time. Even then it is an ask

I would try and avoid buying new carpets as otherwise you will need to take them up again

Moved in January, have decorated the living room, dining room and master bedroom so far, and cracking on with the hallway this week. I suddenly feel quite accomplished! We will probably live with the naff old kitchen and bathroom for a few years so we can save for what we really want.

It’s obviously more efficient to do it beforehand (sanding just covers everything in that annoying fine dust) but with the details you’ve given plus the photo, I feel you may find all kinds of dreadfulness once you start stripping stuff, so you had better be prepared for it being a long job if you’re going to do it properly.

I would do carpets before moving in, if you can. I wouldn't do anything else as I agree you need to live in a house first to know what colours etc would be best.

Moved into my house two years ago and am about 1/3 of my way through it. That way everything has been considered and well executed because I took my time. The only room I rushed was the hallway because the paint was so grotty. I bloody hate the colour I chose in haste and cannot wait for it to come back round in the To Do list and get it properly sorted.

It can be tricky to decide the order to do things.
We had a month between getting the keys and moving in, had to rewire and replace boiler as well as several radiators. That cleaned out our renovation budget.
Now getting on with redecorating one/two rooms at a time - have been in one month and nearly finished on the living room and hall, halfway through second bedroom.
It is much slower than you expect if you DIY - we had anaglypta everywhere which was (of course) hiding plaster in a terrible state so all of the prep takes aaaaages.

We moved in having done very little decorating, we just put a new bathroom upstairs and that was it. Time wasn’t on our side unfortunately. However, living in the house before decorating paid dividends. The light in the morning fills up the hallway and the dark colour we had in mind wouldn’t have emphasised that. We use the second reception room more than the main one so we made it more cosy, not the minimalist style I had in mind. Getting used to your new home first might influence your choices. Good luck!

What was the deleted message? 🧐

We moved on Friday armed with an air bed and basics like clothes, 2 mugs, coffee and ONE tea spoon. We are sleeping in the living room because the carpets upstairs are utterly foul.

It's so much worse than I remember, and infested with spiders to boot.

It needs basically everything you can think of doing. I don't know where to start.

However, it's so liberating being in an empty house, it just goes to show that I don't need all that STUFF. I'm trying to persuade DP to donate basically everything at the old place