For walls I think a cheaper paint like Dulux will be fine, and they do have a Trade Diamond Matt paint which is very hardwearing but it costs twice as much as the basic Dulux. I’ve used the diamond Matt in my bathroom and it is hardwearing so worth the price. I found their Bathroom range chipped a lot so I wouldn’t recommend it. Look at online shop The Paint Shop for supplies as they have the whole range of colours which are not easy to get in regular stores. I do like Farrow & Ball and Little Green for their gorgeous colours and they do cover well. I covered a navy wall in two coats recently with an F&B paint.

Agree with Sonia. Paint it all with Dulux trade and then you can add some colours with F&B, Lick or the likes of Little Greene when budget allows. You will need water resistant paint for the bathroom and kitchen although with the kitchen it depends on the layout. An open plan kitchen with a lot of sun ingress would not necessarily need water resistant paint. If you included a few pics of rooms we could advise you better. My house which is only a couple of years old was all painted white and then the previous owners added colour in some rooms as they desired.

I agree with Jonathan about painting everything white being a bit lazy but I suffer from decision fatigue especially on the back of building works. I prefer to work in small bites as with a large house it can be overwhelming and you have to live in chaos as you move furniture around to clear the area for painting. Great points about the woodwork and prepping though. He could write a guide it is so comprehensive:). I would also add that cleaning the walls with sugar soap is also essential for a good finish. My last house was all F&B with lots of white. I would really rather pay for excellent paint than a decorator and I've employed quite a few. I'm stiill looking for one that does a good job or that I can stand having around for more than a week. The ones where I live are much hyped and seriously unreliable. I have used Little Greene, Mylands, Paint and Paper library and I still revert to F&B. Not sure why the brand new brands like Lick, Cassandra Ellis (Atelier Ellis), etc. think they can charge the same as the established brands from the get go.

Interesting that some decorators hate Farrow & Ball. I don’t understand why. My last decorator said don’t buy F&B but buy Johnson who colour match. He said F&B are rubbish. I said hard luck I’ve bought the paint already so he had to use it! He had to eat his words as it went on really well and really good coverage too. As I’ve already said their paint covered a navy wall in 2 coats. The new colour was Oval Room Blue. He was quite a grumpy git but a tidy decorator, so I’ll let him off.

I love Mylands and Little Greene - neither have done too well in our bathroom though.. We’ve just used Johnstones Trade Durable Matt in the kitchen and main bathroom, but colour matched. Our decorator recommended it, and it seems really well thought of on the decorating forums. It’s scrubbable. We also considered Crown Clean Extreme Matt too - but apparently colour matching isn’t great. If you want to colour match, Brewers are good, but slightly cheaper is Decorating Centre Online.

Thank you so much for your comments - still haven't read them all fully.

I had planned for all of the painting to be completed by a painter decorator - however we have just been presented with an unexpected bill and so now looking at doing some of the more straightforward painting myself (namely wall) in attempt to save some money.

Dulux is mentioned a lot by folks but what about their value brand Armstead?

Do yourself a favour and buy some huge tubs of Dulux trade in a neutral colour. It really is the best value. I don't know Armstead. I paint all my houses myself and lots of neighbours in Winchester did theirs too. I would never hire a decorator now unless I really couldn't reach something. You will be more careful moving and covering your own furniture and at least when you need a break like a day off you don't have to explain it to your tradie. When I was fed up I would go out for the day, so liberating. You can work at your own pace. My only caveat is spend a bit more on good brushes like Purdie (if you can still get them), I have had mine for 15 years and I still use them. They never lose bristles and a decent roller sleeve (+ a few extras) so you can wash one out and carry on with another while it is drying. My neighbour once painted his whole house in 2 weekends before their baby was due. It was a four bedroom semi detached. He had a full time professional job too. It can be done. Good luck.

We have paint the whole house 105sqm before we move in, there is no furniture. Decorator said it will take 10 days.

10 days seems a lot to me. What condition is it in as in do you need to do all the woodwork as well as emulsion the walls? With no furniture its a perfect time to paint. It depends on you and what level of finish you can live with. When do you move in? I would just take a breath and think about how to tackle it. Would you be able to continue once you have moved in? Is there any other work to be done before final painting?

I always used to do my own painting, but now I’m older and more arthritic I do employ a decorator. The last time I did I just got them to do the walls only as the woodwork was still in good condition. Walls are relatively quick and easy to do, but the woodwork does need more prep and you have to be more precise if you want a good finish. My last lot of decorating, 1 bedroom, kitchen and hall, stairs and landing, took 2 men 4 days and cost £900, but one time I had the living room painted by a very conscientious decorator who did a lot of prep by filling holes and sanding down for ages and it cost £600. Just depends on how much prep they do as to how long it will take. May be worth getting a couple more quotes, but doing it yourself certainly is the cheapest option.

Hi Isla, that includes all woodwork and all the preparation which as you know can take some time. Especially given that there were about 200 picture hooks. House is 1939 lived in by previous couple for 52 years. Wall/Ceilings are in fairly good shape picture hooks excepted.

Sonia had a whole range of quotes from £2.5k (guy we are using) and to £11.5k, if his work is not of a sufficiently good standard I will sack him.

I think it is most certainly a 10 day job and an individual who can paint a whole house in less time is not doing the same job. My Mums decorator was quick because she moved into a brand new house everything was already perfect and the painter was just changing the wall colour. But given yours is a 10 day job £11k is laughable unless he has also quoted to paint the outside and that quote includes all the paint plus scaffolding

Isla I included some pics of the kitchen design, the French Windows face south.

£2500 is about £250 a day for labour which is about right. It's not like these people are degree qualified or anything. If you're lucky they have NVQ's. I think that's reasonable as I assume you are buying the paint yourself. I would buy the best quality paint you can afford as otherwise it's a complete waste of money on the labour. Go to a Brewers if you have one for paint quality advice or try the Paint Shed as Sonia suggested. Quick delivery and really efficient.

Simon, how did you get the decorator’s details? Was it a recommendation or one of those Checkatrade type websites? I would ask him for pictures of his work. If he’s on Facebook many trades share pictures of their work on there along with reviews which can help, but not all trades use social media. I wouldn’t use Checkatrade or any of those websites as there’s a lot of charlatans on there. What area do you live in? We may be able to recommend some decorators. I’m in Herts.

Yes checkatrade, he has been around to quote and i insisted upon a couple of references who I spoke with over the phone.

I just hired a fantastic scaffolding company off Checkatrade after the locals tried to rip me off. I have had better results from Checkatrade then some of my local recommendations. If you have spoken to references then you should be ok as long as they were genuine. It's alright for Sonia she has great connections...:))

Hi all, painting will be commencing later this week. Decorator will be on site initially but i may decide to take on some of the painting myself.

I was talking to the guy the other day and something he said rang alarms bells a little. I mentioned that we don't have any running water in the house and asked whether it would cause him an issue - he said no. I asked wouldn't he need some water to sugar soap the walls and he said it is not generally neccesary (unless a wall was greasy) sanding should suffice. Any thoughts on this please?

I think we have decided to use Crown Extreme Matt paint for the kitchen and eggshell for the bathroom (has been newly plastered). Question is what about the other walls should I also use Extreme matt or just standard matt? We don't have young kids or for that matter kids living at at home. Is it really worth paying the extra to have the scrubable option. Also I assume a standard matt is fine for the ceiling?

In terms of colour (and with the excetion of the kitchen/bathroom) we planned to go the brilliant white option but reading some of the comments above I am unsure now and thing maybe we should go off white?

Thank for all your very useful thoughts/comments to date.

PS note woodwork will be satin white.

Hi Sarah, he is standing the walls. I would have thought he would washing the walls, having said that I have been reading that paint sticks better to the walls these days. I assume he will cleans his brush/roller at home. There is an outside tap.

Eggshell is used on woodwork, not walls. It has a slight sheen which looks awful on walls and shows up any lumps. Don’t use it on the walls please. For most walls matt paint is fine. You can also get silk emulsion but it’s not that popular as it’s a bit shiny and highlights any imperfections. The only rooms that may need something wipeable is the kitchen and bathroom and maybe a hall. I’ve used Brilliant White matt for all my ceilings. It does tone down with time especially in a sunny room. If you have bare plaster anywhere it is best to use a mist coat first, basically watered down emulsion. If there’s going to be a lot of sanding, it will create a huge amount of dust, so I would wipe down the walls afterwards, especially the skirting boards where a lot of it will land. Painting a dusty wall would not give a good finish. Hope all goes well.

Thanks for all your comments, have to say I am getting mightily confused about the paint to use in the bathroom.

"Not only is eggshell paint durable but it is good for bathroom walls and suits the walls that are bumpy, damaged, or warped."

We use eggshell on the walls at work (school) - it’s bomb proof and scrubbable BUT it has a sheen (less shiny than satin finish, but still a definite sheen). It looks very institutional on walls!!! At home, I like a matt finish. I’ve just used Johnstones Durable Matt - which is similar to Crown Clean Extreme (has equal reviews). You can buy it in big 10 litre tubs and can be colour matched too. Johnstones are known for being good at colour matching. The new extreme / durable matts can be used on woodwork too.

Simon who is that quote by?

Really Sarah? I’ve always only ever used it on woodwork. Every day’s a school day!

Make sure you put a mist coat on any fresh plaster. I’ve used a range of paints over the years I think if you ask in store what they’d recommend they normally pretty good at telling you. I do think you get what you pay for, but some of their own brand paints are really good now so definitely worth trying out a slightly cheaper alternative. The main thing is prep-make sure there’s no dust about and you’ve got a clean brush always pour paint into a caddy so you can quickly cover the paint to stop any dust getting in and give it a good mix.

Over a year late HU