Where do you start renovating?

[Salome61]

Hello, I've just downsized to a 3 bed bungalow, which hasn't got any storage except a built in wardrobe, no other shelves or cupboards at all. The loft isn't boarded.

I don't like the bathroom tiles or flooring, kitchen tiles or flooring, or the very thin grey carpet in every room but the lounge, where it's beige.

Decoration wise two bedrooms are Farrow and Ball Borrowed Light, everything else seems to be magnolia.

All the white goods the seller left seem to be on their last legs so I've got to keep enough in the budget to replace the fridge/freezer, washing machine and dishwasher.

I don't know where to start. Do you choose the wall colours first, and then the curtains and carpets?

Should I just make notes on every room, and price up what needs to be done, and do mood boards?

Should I just make notes on every room, and price up what needs to be done, and do mood boards?

Yes! If there's no structural work, electrics, plumbing or plastering to do then it's just the fun stuff i.e., colours! Personally I'd choose the floors first, as it's easier to find colours to go with floors than floors to go with colours. Pinterest and Instagram are good for inspiration.

Watch Sarah Beany's 'Renovate, don't Relocate' series, they're really good.

You can start thinking about floors first, but you need to be doing things top to bottom: ceiling first, then walls, then floor. Also loft first, then first/ground floor etc. That way you carry the dust down and avoid damaging the freshly decorated stuff.

I've done floorplans with indicative furniture as well using floorplanner.com to get a feel of what's needed, what fits where etc.

Thank you very much for replying, I've been here for ten weeks and lots of things from my old house just don't 'fit' here and it's given me a mental block, I really do have to start over.

I'd already signed up for Sophie Robinson's colour course and have been working through it.

I'll have a look at Sarah Beany's series, thank you very much.

Agree with pp. If you are going to replace the bathroom I would aim to do that sooner rather than later just because in terms of living there it's something that will make you feel better in yourself to have that space nice and how you want it. It can get a bit draining when your whole home needs work, but ime getting the bathroom sorted early on makes a big difference to that.

Also think about whether you want to have a cohesive colour scheme through the whole property (not necessarily the exact same colour in each room, that's a bit dull, rather a palette of colours used in different ways throughout the home so it feels like one joined up space but there's still interest as you move around) or if you're going to do completely different random things in each room.

If the former then start with your colour scheme/palette and then decide on flooring (the same or similar throughout?) and which selection from your colours will work best on the walls in each room depending on lighting, furnishings and what the room is for (e.g. Calm relaxing colour in bedroom). Each room gets its own identity still but they fit together as one space so there's no jarring effect as you move around.

If the latter then you pick a room and work room by room to decide on colours etc and treat them as separate projects.

Painting tester colours onto swatches of lining paper means you can move them around the house or within rooms to see how they look in different lights at different times of day, and is really handy if you're playing about with a colour scheme. The lighting of a room can totally change how a paint colour looks in your home from the testers or catalogues.

When working with your budget priorities, prioritising having the best quality flooring you can afford in the budget can do wonders to change how a space feels - it can lift a room even if you can't afford as much on the rest of the room. Whereas a cheap floor in an otherwise expensive room can really drag down how it feels. Floors really dominate a space so they're worth proper consideration.

Oh and if you need to replace boiler or pipework then do that before redecorating whatever space it's in! Especially if it's in a kitchen - don't go and get a new kitchen and then replace the boiler afterwards as it may no longer fit in cabinets or mess up the new design or decorating.

If there's lots to do chart out what order things need to happen in and what depends on what, what will damage other things if done in the wrong order, how long things will take, etc.

And have fun.

Oh, and don't forget that you can mix colours with a percentage of white if a colour is too dark for your space. So if you find a colour you love but it's too dark for a room it's worth seeing what it's like with 25%/50%/75% white.

Personally we went room by room. Anything else would have been too much at once.

Thank you, I've just been doing some of my colour course and looking at bathroom colours. The bathroom does really depress me. I bought a Ragrund shelving unit from Ikea to have somewhere to put my towels - made it up and put it in the corner it would fit and it's rocking, the floor is uneven, I've had to put it somewhere else. You can't put anything on the sink as it rolls off into the sink - yet it seems flush to the wall.

Wish I'd had longer than 15 minutes when I viewed!