In your opinion, what is the FIRST priority when decorating a new home
teenytinyhouse
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Oxford Cottage · More Info
Picture for illustration.
I'm in the process of selling up and buying with my partner, and it will be my third house purchase, and his second. One lesson we've learned is that the FIRST room to get done in the new house will be our bedroom. I never got around to it in either of my last houses and always regretted it. Dammit, I'm going to have new wardrobes, nice wallpaper and pretty paint in my bedroom this time! <<ahem>>
After all the practical stuff like rewiring etc, what is your first decorating priority? Do you do the bedrooms, or focus on the public areas? Luxurious bath the first thing so you can cope with the rest? Or a new kitchen? Or do you maybe crack on with the garden first?
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teenytinyhouse
4 years agoRelated Discussions
New build house decoration
Comments (6)Our first house was a lot like yours, so I know what you're stuggling with. If you do want to change the wood finish (I assume its on window frames, doors and skirting boards?) be prepared for a hell of a lot of work. Its not simply a case of a quick paint job, it will all need sanding down evenly, then the right undercoat, etc. Unless you can do this or get down professionally, I would leave well alone. You do need to counter all that brown and not so much with just light colours - that way tends to just lead to a very light/dark slightly stark nineties look. As a professional designer (now, many years later, after art school etc) I would say, introduce colour. Cath Kidston would be an excellant way to go, also Pip Studios. I have seen her bright fabric curtains put in rooms with dark windows and they tend to then look retro rather than just old fashioned. Have a look on ebay for fabrics or curtains readymade. Collect pictures, think about the feel you're after, make a few moodboards, borrow or buy Cath Kidston books to get initial ideas. If you are imaginative, you are sure to make a much more creative scheme than starting from scratch with white paint. Use what you have already to work from and make something far more individual that still looks like its meant to all be together. Good luck!...See MoreHow old were you when you bought your first home?
Comments (119)I was 24 and my husband to be 32, back in 1978, we paid £19,500 for a 3 bed terrace in south London. Our eldest son bought in 2001 when he was 19 and on a small Royal Navy salary whist at university, sadly he sold it to pay for his wedding and hasn't got back on the ladder since. Our middle son bought aged 23 and our daughter with her then boyfriend bought their first flat at 21 and 22 straight from university in 2008 with one of the last 100% mortgages, they move next week into their third property aged 29 & 30. It's always difficult to get on the ladder but the sooner you start the better. We all live in Surrey by the way and nobody has been funded by the bank of mum and dad....See MoreHow do you maintain your garden when you're short on time?
Comments (13)Weekly? Oh, how I wish it were only weekly. I'm out there nearly every day culling the three-cornered leek that has reappeared as a thick blanket despite me culling it in the first spring I was here, in my new house, then finding it had reappeared hugely aggressively last year and now, in my third spring, it's even thicker and even more widespread - and is now not only in the flower beds but also in the lawn, thick along the edge, scattered within it. Front and back. It takes about two hours to clear about a square yard - digging under the bulbs; banging off the (very good, I've been told) soil in which there are always several earthworms which I need to hang on to (obviously); then picking out the tiniest bulbs left behind. I don't think I can ever finish it this year - as happened last year - which means the problem will go on for decades. I don't really have the time (I need to work, I need a life beyond digging and clearing). The only solution I can think of is to bring in help but my budget won't allow that. I value having lawn so paving it over isn't an option. I will have less planting space, which will eventually mean less weeding, but it's not something I can do right now - I've too much to do to bring the indoors up to date. I disagree with Jo DP. The previous owners had a keep it wild policy and now I have this big problem with a massively invasive plant. And, yes, I have tried using it in recipes - it really isn't worth the effort of keeping it under control (to have a limited supply). I'm an experienced and adventurous cook and three-cornered leek is an overrated ingredient, even though it's free and in my garden....See MoreWhat are your opinions on the "built in bedhead"
Comments (11)@Joanna Biddolph The random pouffes lol.... are all there because the house is a building site. The left one came with my suite even though didnt want it but it has storage, the middle chair is my sons that I re-upholstered for him and since building his bedroom right now, theres no-where for it, and the right one I bought for £5 YEARS ago and re-covered it... Classic G-Plan. Theyre all going and will make just one simple one (based on the left one) . @celerygirl I cant say I am a massive fan of overhead storage, and we dont need that much, although your last image looks cosy and love the red/white contrast. All mean either replacing or painting the bedsides too. The back and right walls are kind of stud, theyre drywall over 400mm thick solid external walls, 2x1" frame with foam board insulation and plasterboard. Theyre not very good. This room was full of damp due to leaky plumbing and bathroom at the end. All the pipes run around the bottom by the floor inside these walls all around the right hand side and back wall. Although the damp has gone and the fresh paint has held for a year, the plumbing is being re-done throughout the house, and its likely to mean a radiator will be going on the left side, backing onto relocated bathroom, OR a tall slim one to the right, next to the window, fed by pipes from above. Ive removed several dry-walls in this house, so building a framework, boarding and plastering is not really scary any more, nor is putting power and lights in whether its drywall or solid - the solid walls are preferable to channel because the finish is better and easier than channeling plasterboard tbh. You see I got impatient and bought carpet, this being the ONLY carpet in the house, the rest being buggered parquet or concrete with bits of underlay in places, its because the dimensions of the floor may change if I take drywall out, and a door for the en-suite to be cut, that I cant even lay this one floor right for now, and left it oversized. Project houses for you.... sufficed to say, dust is the last on my list of worries...See Moreteenytinyhouse
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