How long did it take you to furnish and decorate your new house?

[Misscf81]

Exactly that!

My partner and I have just bought a house, which we love, and although it is more than liveable we do want to put our own stamp on it and completely decorate some of the rooms.

Before we moved in, I had lots of ideas and couldn’t wait to get started but now we are in here I feel a bit overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Some of the rooms we know we are keeping pretty much the same (kitchen and bathroom) mainly because we like them and we don’t have the budget to start from scratch, but there’s a lounge, dining room, 2 large bedrooms and a converted basement that we want to decorate - but I’m not sure where to start.

I am putting myself under pressure to get things done ASAP (we have only been in a month) and I keep looking at all these gorgeous houses on Instagram, which probably doesn’t help!

Plus, there’s Covid, and the fact my partner has only just gone back to work...and my job may be on the line (and I’m the main earner), which may delay things even more!

So how long did it take you to get your house completely decorated? Are there rooms you haven’t touched since moving in?

I need to take the pressure off myself to get everything done now!

Five years for the first, ten for the second. HTH.

We moved in 4 years ago. We bought basics in the first few months like sofas and a dining table .
We slowly painted a few walls. We haven’t touched the bedroom or the bathroom - which really needs doing but once we settled in and started living we tend to put off starting .
Still wanting to replace all the curtains but there are so many big windows I know it will cost thousands . Art, rugs, lights and it can feel like yours .

The best part of ten years for our last house — big Victorian wreck that needed gutting.

We've been in for 2 years and just finishing up. Lockdown gave me the time I needed to do a few things I'd been putting off like light fixtures and painting. I have 2 pieces of furniture arriving on Friday and then I'm calling it done.

Although we will redo the floors if we don't move. We haven't decided whether it's a 5 year house or a stay-put house. I'm not living with flooring disruption if we're moving!

I will say, live in it for a bit and see it in each season etc. Doing everything within 6 months may well mean doing half of it again when you realise you rushed into a fad that doesn't 'fit'.

I'm following this post with interest are we are due to move (after Sturgeon lifts the move ban).

We are moving into a new build so the biggest expense for us is carpets/flooring and window fittings. I've taken stuff to the local tip, dp jokes we have nothing left! We have a few things that need replacing; bedroom furniture for us and our dc, bits for the kitchen and bathroom.

We’ve been here six years and do one big thing a year. Things like painting rooms I can do myself I just crack on and do immediately but expensive stuff you need to live in it awhile to be sure of what you wish to do or you make mistakes

So far we have had new patio and garden path and outside land scaping, floors sanded and varnished, new kitchen, , beams sand blasted, wood burner installed, house decorated top to bottom, outside painted, new fitted wardrobes, new light fittings in most of the rooms, new fuse box installed and security lights out round thr house, and still need to do upstairs bathroom.

Don’t rush at it, unless it’s something quick and inexpensive as you make mistakes if you do and often come to regret it.

Our first house was a wreck. Probably 7 years to "finish", although of course these things are never ending really, once you think you've finished it's time to start again. The first year we slept on the floor and sat on deck chairs my parents lent us.

This house was livable but we had "plans". We've been here 15 years and have only done a fraction of them, mostly becuase as life has moved on, other things have become far more important to me and I really don't care much about the house any more. I'd rather be out enjoying life.

What I would say is don't do anything quickly or cheaply. Live with it how it is until you can do it properly, the way you want it.

about 5 months including a garage conversion, building our own fitted bookshelves, general decorating in every room but we both work flexibly from home and were able to do it pretty intensively

I'll let you know when we finish.. month 18 so far, we wanted to get it all done asap but life gets in the way!

All I would add is there is no rush, we didn't start for 10 months as we were waiting to do other work first. I am pleased we got forced in to this as after going through a couple of different seasons I now think I understand what works for us in the house. This is different from my grand plans at the start. By the way we are realistically still a good year of finishing. It's not quick but we are not trying to flip it.

To quote Sunscreen...the race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.
Forget about the pressure to be perfect from Instagram, social media can be so toxic. Use it only for inspiration but if you find it brings you down, don’t look and don’t max out your credit cards to make your house perfect, the joy comes from the moments you can afford to do each thing.

What I would say is don't do anything quickly or cheaply

This is very good advice. When you do do something, or even buy something, make sure you get good quality and that you love it.

7 years and the first plans where abandoned long before those we ended up with. Take your time.

5 years

My house is small. It took me 6 months to decorate, get new furniture and new kitchen and some work done in the garden.

Moved in 2013. 2 rooms have been gutted and completely new (downstairs toilet and master bedroom). Some repainting in other rooms but not all.
Hall stairs and landing are riffy but I'm not doing that until the bathroom has been refloored etc.
Thousands spent on outside works, windows, painting, render
Take your time

I've never really 'decorated', more it's evolved over time with furniture and belongings until it's become 'me'

It never stops evolving!

Just about at the finishing touches now after 7 years. Still haven't done the planned extension though.

Moved in late summer. Didn't do anything until the next spring. Both working full time. We decorated the living room, dining room and stairs/hall/landing over a few weekends, then that autumn got floors done downstairs and carpet on the stairs.

The next year we did two of the three bedrooms, plus carpets, then stopped as I got pregnant and couldn't do anything except lie on the sofa looking green And now we have a toddler and I doubt we'll do anything until he's a couple of years older. His room hadn't been touched. We need a new bathroom - that was next on the list when I got pregnant - and eventually we'll replace the kitchen and windows. It's a very long process though.

I've been here nearly 20 years.
It was only a couple of years old when we moved in, so nothing needed doing other than decorating to our taste.
I have decorated my bedroom en-suite, the hall stairs & landing, downstairs loo and ds1's room once (all quite early on).
The lounge a couple of times (once as part of an extension).
And last year had the kitchen and utility refitted.
Ds2's room, spare room, bathroom and dining room haven't been touched (although I did paint the ceiling and woodwork in the spare room at the beginning of lockdown).
Take your time.

10 years so far! Although we have done kitchen and bathroom, and painted DC's rooms and living areas during that time.

We are now re-decorating the entire house ready to put on the market and it has only taken a few weeks so far !

This was our first house and we have learnt a lot along the way. My advice would be to do one room at a time, research and plan it carefully so you get it exactly as you'd like at the end.

Save the money ready and spend twice the amount of time (at least) prepping the room before actually painting as then next time you decorate it will be so much easier!

If you have painted white woodwork to do, my paint advice would be two coats of Screwfix No Nonsense Quick Dry Satin Paint (£16.99 for 2.5 litres) after a light sand/fill as necessary. It doesn't smell, gives a lovely smooth finish (with a good brush) and dries absolutely brilliant white (and no I don't work for them but it really is that good compared to the many paints I've used before ).

We have just finished decorating our house and we have lived here for 12 years. We've done pretty much everything you can imagine including sorting out damp, new bathroom, giving the kitchen a makeover. I've redecorated our bedroom twice. The first time I decorated our bedroom I had no clue what I was doing and it was a mess.
We've had new Windows and a new front and back door. And replastering throughout.
I'm just in the middle of repainting our front room as we are putting up our house for sale in the next couple of weeks.
I think what I'm trying to get at is that decorating is never ending so just take it slowly and concentrate on one room at a time and you will eventually have a home you love.

I bought my first ever house earlier this year (moved in end of March). I used the moths waiting for the solicitors to sort out the paper work planning all the decorating I wanted to do (deciding on paint colour for each room, as well as accessories, diy projects, furniture, rugs, cushion covers, curtains etc). I made a big excel spreadsheet with each room broken down into items and tasks and costs. I decided to start with painting, as that is the easiest and most cost effective part and the best way to instantly bring changes into the house. After 7 months I have completed all the initial painting throughout the house and am know starting to save for things like changing out the sinks in the bathrooms. I think I might have everything done inside the house by the end of next year.......then it will be time to start on the garden.

But, I love decorating and diy, upcycling and reusing what I already have to fit in with my design tastes. I'm in no rush to get everything finished, although it will be nice when it's all done so I no longer have to think about it. But, the excel spreadsheet definitely helps keep me on track and stops me from procrastinating or getting carried away with impulse ideas/purchases.

Current house - three and a half years so far and we've still got lots to do 🙄

Previously, the longest we've taken was ten years for a largeish (3500 sq ft) Victorian house.....

I prefer not to rush and also believe you need to live in a place for a while before you know how it works (or doesn't!) best for you. I could never do somewhere up in a matter of weeks ahead of moving in...and that's with both DH and I coming from design-led backgrounds.

That said, I'll be glad when this place is done! It's a lot smaller, so estimate that will be during 2023 when we'll have been here five years 😉