Moving into your new property - when to decorate?

[NoushieMin]

We are buying a fairly large house, although it’s in decent condition we will want to put down new carpets and paint the whole property to make it feel a bit fresher. We will also want to have built in wardrobes put into the bedrooms and then eventually put in a new kitchen and possibly move the door on the living room (but not quite sure if the best way to tackle the living room wall/door issue).

What I have been wondering is in what order should we do things. Part of me want to paint and do the carpets before we even move in as I feel it will be easier with no furniture in the house (we can as we have a second d property to stay in temporarily). Would this be sensible?

I’m assuming we should live in the house for a while before making any final decisions about the kitchen and living room?

when would be the best time to get the fitted wardrobes put in, before moving in?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

If you can stay elsewhere, I’d use the empty house for the dustiest and most disruptive work first. Before painting or carpeting, settle the kitchen design and any possible door or wall changes, then do structural/plumbing/electrical work, plastering, fitted wardrobes and other joinery. Paint after that, with ceilings and woodwork before walls. Lay carpets and other final flooring last so they do not get marked or have to be lifted. I’d also live with the rooms for a little while before committing to built-ins or moving a doorway, as the way you use the house can be different from what the empty rooms suggest.

Building work (building wardrobes, moving doors, new kitchen) then it’s painting (which may involve plastering etc) then floor, though you may have to touch up the walls if marked.

Live first and wait and then plan.

For us, we moved in and did nothing for 8 weeks. Then we got the fence in the garden done. Concrete posts and stuff. Then 8 weeks after that decking phase 1 done. 8 months later we did main hall way, upstairs and downstairs bathroom. We then spent 6 months building raised bed and doing the garden. Now we are moving on to some bigger project work but we have a relaxing garden to sit in every day

Speaking as someone who is currently having to spend loads of time shifting things from room to room to redecorate…. Get as much done before you move in as you can!! Especially for rooms where you have furniture that’s difficult to store elsewhere eg sofas, dining tables etc. We’re now either going to have to wait until next summer to replace our living/dining room flooring or hire a marquee / pay for self storage because there isn’t enough space to put the furniture somewhere else inside the house.

We fully decorated and had new bedroom carpets fitted before moving in. Since then we’ve had new windows fitted changed the fireplaces had carpet in the lounge flooring done in the dining room and hallway while living here. Luckily there was minimal damage to the paint work when windows were done and we just touched it back up.

It's definitely going to be easier to do works and decorating without furniture and easier for you too to not have to live in disarray. However there are benefits to living there first before making decisions on layout, where to put lights and sockets etc.

Wait until Spring to decorate. The light is poor and getting worse at this time of year. Live in the place and get a feeling for it and what you think will work best before expending effort and money on decorating. Obviously if something is shabby or dirty then you probably want to make it look better, but I wouldn't rush to get everywhere redecorated.

Agree on this. Also: the things we thought we needed to do weren't actually the things that annoyed us after we had been there a while.

Glad we waited 18 months before doing an extension, as it ws entirely different from what we thought we had wanted. Same with the kitchen.

If you can stay elsewhere then far easier to get it all done before moving in.

We are about to do this as well. Like you OP we have another house to stay in while we do the work. Our plans before moving in are to redo the flooring in open plan kitchen/ dining room. Refit the kitchen and utility room, involving electrical work ( plus any elsewhere ). Whilst that goes on, painting the bedrooms. We’ve gutted 3 houses before, lived in 2 while the work went on, it no fun and very wearing!

We have DC with ADHD so my answer would be to wait until theyve grown up and moved out because you can't have nice things.

How likely is moving the door? Because if you do that, its redecorating the livingroom and hall.l again.

If the door is unlikely to move, id paint and carpet before you move in - mainly for simplicity. The official line is you should live in a place for awhile before changing anything, but an empty house is soo much simpler. Putting down new carpets in several rooms is a logistical nightmare with furniture!

I have seen a trend for people to buy a turnkey or near turnkey house and gut it before they move in. Then 12 months later half of it is being redone because the light doesn't work or they don't use the house in the way they expected. It can be a very expensive mistake and it amazes me, when the common cry is houses are too expensive, that this has become so normalised.

Unless the house is a modernisation job (as in no heating, kitchen etc) live with it first to work out how you use it and how the light falls at differing times.