De-ninetifying our house.

[ExConstance]

We bought our house in 1996, when it was new. We have maintained it well, new front and back doors recently and a new kitchen, with removal of doors through to our “not- conservatory” a sort of garden room with tiled roof and Velux windows. All that part of the house is just fine. I’m retiring this year and we have ruled out moving due to the cost, and the fact that as we have 4 bedrooms and a good-sized dining room here, we can have a yoga room and a sewing room for me.
I feel that although we have kept everything updated there are a few areas we need to tackle this year. The bathroom and two ensuites are as they have always been but the tiles are lovely in all of them – large but plain with just a perfectly OK border in the main bathroom – Do you think it would be OK to just replace the fittings and flooring. This would mean having shower panels and a more up to date shower in our ensuite.
Artex – it is very unobtrusive artex but it is there. We had the kitchen ceiling skimmed but it would be a big job to do the rest of the house. I’m thinking about hall and landing this time round and leaving the rest, would that put you off our house if you were buying?
What do people paint white woodwork with these days, all the doors need painting and gloss doesn’t look right anymore, but it must be durable.
Internal door handles – ours are the gold/bronze swirly ones and they make me cringe; I want a plain steel looking one but the quality in B&Q etc. isn’t good any recommendations for steel type ones?
Bedroom – certainly getting rid of the cheap wardrobes that flank our bed with cupboards over. I might get free standing replacements as we have a lot of wardrobe space in two other bedrooms.
I will be getting Karndean fitted throughout the downstairs to replace some tatty engineered maple and have some rugs for the sitting room and study. We have perfectly good high quality wool carpets but may have to replace some of this if the same carpet isn’t available to replace what we have in the bedroom when the wardrobes go.
This is just a bit a of a ramble really but I wondered if anyone else has done this exercise on a limited budget and what made the most difference?

Our "new build" dates from 2000 but our developer was very old school so I suspect we have /had a similar spec.
I changed the brass swirly rope effect internal door handles a couple of years ago and it made a big difference for not much money. I actually used b&q handles and was quite happy with them. Especially for the price plus they also did matching handle with integral lock for bathroom, they don't seem to do the same one anymore.
Over the last few years, I have also gradually replaced the matching brass rope edged switches and sockets. Much dearer exercise as have to use an electrician as we have no idea about electrics!
I was round at neighbours recently who still have original hardware, and yes. It looks very dated.

Definitely lose the over bed cupboards.
Just changing the wardrobe knobs can make a big difference

Paint woodwork with ‘satinwood’ paint, not gloss.

Bathrooms - yes you can probably replace just the fittings if you’re happy with the tiles. Check replacements carefully to ensureitll look ok.

Thanks, WhereDoesThisToiletGo. I have already changed the knobs on the wardrobes to porcelain ones, and that was a good stop gap. We have done the sockets piecemeal as we have decorated. I'd forgotten about the rope edged brass ones, they were horrible!
KDK, I'll have a bit of a practice with satinwood, I suspect it will be an improvement.

You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs, if you really want to de-ninetyfie your house you are going to have to put up with some disruption, your tiles sound dated to me, a half hearted refurb with dated border tiles won’t look good against new flooring and fittings. Artex ceilings need to go. I suspect you have lightweight regency panel white doors to go with the swirly brass handles, one of the best ways to add some up to date style and gravitas is change them for solid wood either painted or stained depending on the look you want to go for, In my opinion the cheap white panel doors scream the 1990’s the difference quality internal doors make is amazing.

I'm finding this post really interesting as my house is the same and I want to modernise it as it looks dated and 'cheap'.

@Poorlyplants you make a very good point re the lightweight regency panel white doors! I said this very thing to a friend the other day, no matter what I do those doors just scream nineties.

Some food for thought! I suppose we have to think about when we will move. If it is in 5 years time I need to get all the things done that a "normal person" would find unattractive. If we decide to stay forever then I just need to satisfy me and DH. It doesn't bode well that the identical house next door has just been sold and it has been totally gutted, though they had original everything.
If I start saying I quite like our doors and tiles I fear you will think I'm just some old biddie with no taste, but honestly the tiles are fine and not of their period entirely. What about the Artex?

I hate artex. I think my house was used to train people in the 'art' of artex as every room is different. And all of the ceilings are horrid and dated. But I've put off getting them sorted as a plasterer looked at them and because some of the patterns are very raised they would need to be plaster boarded over and then skimmed

Ugh the doors. I agree, would love to change ours, including a few wardrobe doors, we would have 16 door to replace though! We changed all the light fittings and handles pretty much the first thing we did when we moved in in early 2000's, the house is early 1990's.

Other things we did immediately, a new kitchen, and ripped out all the pelmets, in every, bloody, room! Also removed decorative paper borders, from every, bloody, room! Removed a revolting brick fireplace, and replaced all the carpets, for a mix of wooden flooring downstairs, and new carpets upstairs. Then lived with everything else for 18 years.

We have recently just upgraded our bathroom, and en-suite. OP, I think you need to gut. We went for it. We had peachy tiles, white panelled fully fitted cupboards, a spa bath. It all needed to go. We took out a wardrobe to get extra space in the bathroom, and replaced everything. We also replaced the water tank and boiler. What a difference. They are now modern, warm, efficient, and we use less hot water and heating.

Our next job is to replace the old conservatory roof with new updated panels, better for heat and warmth, and glare.

After that...... not sure what needs doing next. We still have sliding mirror doors in the two spare rooms, I would love to get rid of those too.

Always so much to do. (We were very lucky we didn't have artex - thankful for small mercies).

Oh - I forgot. A really random thing we have recently done. We have an integral garage, and there was the old standard up and over metal door. Drafty and leaked for years. We just changed that for a roller job, with insulation. My God, what a difference. The kitchen is warmer, the garage is obviously warmer, but the two bedrooms upstairs, which are over the garage are also considerably warmer. Sorry DD's, should have done that one years ago.

@ExConstance

Some food for thought! I suppose we have to think about when we will move. If it is in 5 years time I need to get all the things done that a "normal person" would find unattractive. If we decide to stay forever then I just need to satisfy me and DH. It doesn't bode well that the identical house next door has just been sold and it has been totally gutted, though they had original everything. If I start saying I quite like our doors and tiles I fear you will think I'm just some old biddie with no taste, but honestly the tiles are fine and not of their period entirely. What about the Artex?

Ha ha, I suspect I'm an "old Biddy" like you OP! I don't want my home to look like it belongs to a 30 year old, just update it a bit. Replacing bathrooms is expensive. We redid our ensuite completely 3 years ago, and it's lovely. The family bath and guest shower room are OK, at least the sanitary ware is white, but it's honestly not worth the money and upheaval to update them. They are both fully tiled so a big job.

I think colour can help update a home as you decorate.
Our builder painted ours throughout in a very warm off white, I originally repainted in some more definite shades, different in each room.
More recently we've repainted kitchen /family room, hall and landing, and our bedroom back to neutral, but it's a cool- but not grey- white. That's definitely a more modern look.

Little things like how you use what you already have can update your home.
I don't follow the trend of constantly buying new "decor items" for our house, but a friend gave me advice on grouping items together rather than dotted around. Similarly she suggested not having one picture on each wall, but maybe hang several all on one wall.

I've got a similar house to yours. It's 60s built but was made over in the 90s.
I've changed the door handles and light switches. I've painted absolutely every wall and bit of wood in Dulux Timeless, which give a very neutral feel. I'm studiously ignoring the artexed ceilings as they are in decent condition and actually don't draw the eye as everything is white....I think a strong colour on the wall emphasis the ceiling.
If you're not changing the tiles do you need to change the bathrooms? Unless they are on their last legs leave alone, or go the full hog and get an up to date tiled look.
Ultimately if / when you sell it won't all be to someone's exact taste anyway, so you can leave some bits undone and they'll feel like they are getting a bit of a project but not too much.
If you put in a 12k bathroom that someone hates it may put them off as they feel they can't rip out and replace.

I shall cast a critical eye over it tonight. I'm thinking to get the artex skimmed in the hall/landing as we will be having someone in to decorate that in any event. Timeless already picked as the colour! Might get our bedroom ceiling skimmed too as I want to have a bedroom I really like to wake up in the morning in once I'm retired. I suppose it depends on cost for the bathroom and ensuites. I'm also thinking that Metro tiling already looks a bit dated to me and I'm not keen on the limestone or marble look anyway. I've also had another look at the B&Q door handles and there are some better ones on line than in our local branch. I've got some pictures to hang on the stairway, some original pieces of art and some prints which will look good and maybe convey the fact(?) that we are people with taste even if the remaining bits of the 90's don't.

If it helps mid century is very in style now so maybe 90s will be back in a few years 😂

The artex has to go OP. It’s is nothing short of horrible. Honestly nothing you do to a room will look good if has artex ceilings.

I think I know that…..Eddie the Eagle skimmed the kitchen ceiling - really - he still does plastering round here. Perhaps I can get him back for some more.

Eddie is a legend!!

Def get rid of the artex and mmm border you say for the tiles? Think that's quite dated as are big tiles.

@ExConstance

Some food for thought! I suppose we have to think about when we will move. If it is in 5 years time I need to get all the things done that a "normal person" would find unattractive. If we decide to stay forever then I just need to satisfy me and DH. It doesn't bode well that the identical house next door has just been sold and it has been totally gutted, though they had original everything. If I start saying I quite like our doors and tiles I fear you will think I'm just some old biddie with no taste, but honestly the tiles are fine and not of their period entirely. What about the Artex?

^ this is the thing: as you are not going to 100% renovate your house, I think you should totally ignore what other people/buyers in 5 years time might think & go for your own taste

Your future buyers might rip out your latest update as it’s not to their taste!

For me, the bathroom tiles sound off putting (I dislike borders) but I think tiles it’s hard to appeal to the masses!

It also would not bother me if one room had a different carpet (as long as there was a door). I’d rip up all but a brand new carpet anyway (paranoid about moths).

The swirly handles - change for you. Agree the overhead wardrobes sound v dated too but make those changes for you

My (1920s) house has v 90s ‘arches’ between rooms: builders mocked them, but I love them - make your changes for you as you can’t tell what the next person will be wanting!

If you've got one eye on selling, I'd get rid of the artex. I'm currently househunting and every time I see it I factor in the cost of the plaster skim into my offer. Absolutely no one I know likes it (not even my parents, who are the least trendy people around!)

Fitted wardrobes over the bed are incredibly dated too. I'd rip out and replace with a freestanding wardrobe you can take with you.

If you're going to change the hardware and the flooring in the bathroom, get the tiling done at the same time. Borders are very dated nowadays.

Internal door handles - easily replaced so I don't even look at them as a buyer, so change them for you if you wish.

Our house was built in the early 90s - every time we've decorated a room over the past five years it's included skimming over the artex - also installing extra sockets as there are nowhere near as many as needed nowadays. One issue we did encounter with artex skimming - we had a leak in a ceiling a few months ago that had been skimmed - the insurers insisted on asbestos testing before their builder could start the repairs which delayed the works until the test results came in. At least we've got the certificate now for future reference though.

You didn't mention internal doors. We're de-80sing our house and replacing all of the internal doors (from faux victorian white to modern oak) transformed it.

We used hardware direct for our handles good prices and a huge range. We’ve just changed our doors but it wasn’t cheap. We did It because we have extra doors due to a new room and I wanted them to match.

Our last house had B&Q handles, they looked good and we're good quality though we bought them years ago so maybe stock has changed.

Our new house we bought door handles online, can't remember the name or the site. Brilliant quality, look great and worked out quite cheap compared to current B&Q cost.

I would get rid of the artex, especially if you are painting everywhere! Will make a huge difference. We have some artex remaining in our house and I detest it, but so far we've spent all our money on other things.

I think a good bathroom will make a huge difference! Your ruling sounds very dated. We just got our smallest bathroom renovated. I think it's a waste of money to change all the sanitary wear and shower but keep old tiles. I would do the bathroom in full. We got tiles we loved that were in a 40% sale which helped keep the price down