how often do you redecorate your house

[elhlUI457897J]

Moved into a new place and had it all repainted in the summer. Honestly the hallway and living room look like they need painting already. Do have a pre schooler but still. How often does everyone else repaint their living rooms and other bits of the house?

I'd love to know this too. We moved in to a house that was freshly decorated and we didn't touch it. After 9 years it looked awful! I'd love to know what the norm is.

I think it differs depending on circumstances. Small houses/rooms equals more contact with walls, so they look scruffy quicker than in a larger house/room. Add in pets/children/smokers and things look tatty relatively quicker than if you have a home without them.
Simply decorated rooms always look cleaner and are easier to keep fresh looking than over complicated and fussy decor.

Everyone is different. We had a full refurb 10 years ago and haven’t touched it since! It does need doing though. Just so much work.

Surely it doesn't need re-painting after a few months? Try using a Magic Eraser if the walls are marked, it's brilliant at getting smudges off.

We painted most of the house when we moved in six years ago, and it's still fine except the woodwork on the stairs and doors which could do with freshening up. I clean the walls with the Magic Eraser when they need it. Not sure if it would be safe on dark paint though.

We last did our house 4 years ago and it needs doing again. The hall, stairs and landing has taken the most beating

Magic erasers are essentially just a bit of cif on a sponge, agree they are very handy for smudges though. Just buy a bottle of cif and clean the walls/house with it

@YellowHpok I had never thought of that 😮Will try that next time!

I redo 1 or 2 rooms every year so its never a huge job. I love decorating though so any excuse

What is a magic eraser? sounds amazing. our living room walls definitely need re-doing after 9 months. Our kid holds on to the walls walking down the stairs so you can still handprints everywhere.

Our walls are white. Easy to repaint but also to mark ;-)

Not often enough and it looks shit. I realised the other day from looking at fb memories that the lounge had been the same for about 12 years but I'm lacking the imagination to redo it (I did give some walls a fresh coat a few months ago but I'd like it totally different)

We've been in this house 15 years. I think it's been done twice (and was fresh when we moved in) so probably every 6-7 years?

I think the secret with decorating a hallway/stairs/landing - which sees a lot of traffic, is to not go too light. We opted for a mid-tone colour in ours. Was painted three years ago, and still looks as good now as it did then. Has minimal marks/signs of wear. I think light colours show up a lot more, especially grubby handprints 😬

Am going to sound a bit OTT here, but I budget to repaint the Kitchen, Living Room, Hall Stairs and Landing every 4 years, Bedrooms / Bathrooms every 5 and the outside (wooden windows) every three.

Of course it never quite works. Either there is no painter available or one of the rooms needs doing sooner than that or not at all.

But the budget is there for when it is needed.

Every five years max but there are some rooms like the sun room that never look like they need it as rarely get used and the hall that can look grubby and scuffed much quicker.

High traffic areas washable paint is your friend and magic erasers for scuffs and marks (don’t use on non scrubbable paint, in my experience you can then see where you’ve rubbed) would still probably decorate every 5 years.

We've never lived anywhere long enough to know, but...
We have leftover bits of all of our paint colours in the garage and I regularly (every couple of months) walk around the house touching up scuffs and chips. It only takes me 10 minutes. I hope that tides us over so that we're only properly redecorating after 10 years.

It doesn’t sound like, and they shouldn’t, need painting op. It sounds like they are just a bit dirty. Like your carpet, or cooker, walls need to be cleaned. You wouldn’t replace a carpet or cooker, as it was dirty, you’d just get it cleaned.

As pp said, a magic sponge should get most of it off. Try a small area first and next time you do decorate go for washable paint.

usually paint needs done every few years, five - eight, but not after nine months, it sounds more like you guys jist don’t clean the marks off when the kids make them, which is understandable as it’s a pain, but walls are no different to anything else in the house, they get dirty and need cleaning, especially with little kids or pets.

Newly decorated when moved in,lockdown repaint all through after 2.8 years,less than 2 years later and it needs doing again.

Relevant thread as My house is in dyer need of a repaint, last done about 8years ago. I’m holding out until my 18 month old turns 3- then I suspect a full refresh: paint, plug sockets changed, new stair carpet.

My children are late primary and secondary age now, but when they were younger I would have been touching up paintwork in living room, hall, kitchen regularly (like every 2 months) as even though I have scrubbable paint, it does scrub off when you clean it as often as I needed to! I just did my kitchen after 4 years and it really needed it. I'm going to touch up (large sections!) of hall now after 4 years but if it wasn't so awkward I'd get it re painted. Living room looks fine after 2 years. Bedrooms look fine after 6 years, just the odd touch up with paint and rub with a cloth and soapy water.

There is perfect, fine, and trashed. Accept it won't be perfect.

I wouldn't repaint so soon because it won't stay perfect next time either.

I repaint in bits, so I do a wall if it really needs it, not a full repaint. But more in the 5+ years.

My dh is a painter so rooms are done fairly frequently.

We don't have a handrail on our stairs so get grubby walls too. My absolute favourite house cleaning item for walls is something like this...

www.matalan.co.uk/product/detail/s2782097_c000/beldray-spray-window-wiper-33cm-x-26cm-x-10cm-green?gclid=Cj0KCQjwgYSTBhDKARIsAB8Kukvqbn65Gfc9MZ1bI1dvb2qj_dSScHQDkj9NoEwkf7X8ubp-33TF5E8aApbzEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

We do 2 rooms a year….so each room done every 4 years on average

Most rooms are every 10 years on average for us. The porch, hall, and stairs does need re-doing more frequently though - every 5yrs perhaps?

I would give it a wash and see how it comes up. If still no luck redecorate using a scrub-able paint.