buying older home - renovations and redecorations chat

[Alien]

We hope to get keys for our forever home next week, or the week after. We are buying nearly 40 year old house in great location, great general condition considering the age. However decoration is really not our style, there is different very loud pattern carpets every room, wallpaper etc. Last time we bought new home and wanted everything very quick and regretted not taking our time to be honest

Do we start top to bottom when trying to decide what to do? Example lifting the carpets and removing the wallpaper from spare room so we can see if the walls are fit for paint or need work done, and the floors are ok? Or do we tackle the most used rooms first.

Any tips/lessons from your home redecoration/light renovation project. No structural issues or big things as windows need to be replaced in the house but the layout of kitchen/utility/dinning room could be looked at some point. The issue is without decision, I don't want to invest in expensive flooring in the living room either as it could have impact if we decide to take some walls off.

[Lisa123wm]

We’re moving today (only exchanged on Wednesday!) - hence me being up at this hour.
First job for us is fitting all new radiators upstairs, painting walls and then fitting new carpets.
Then we’ll move downstairs.

ETA - ours is also around 40 years old and doesn’t need much work doing. Just cosmetic stuff. The living room is fine and all walls are just plastered, so all we need to do is paint.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

I suppose I am looking at this as a Tradesman more than an interior designer. I would take things slowly and get moved in first and consider the financial impact of my decisions first before making hasty decisions that I may later regret.

For example I wouldn't spend big money on a lounge if I wanted to do mucky work in the hall that may end up causing damage/dirt to a newly renovated lounge.

My first action would be to have an electrical check as if a rewire is needed that will cause horrendous upheaval to every room. If it's ok I would get the lounge done to a nice standard. Being able to sit and relax in a nice room is so important.

Take your time would be my motto.

Exciting times as a 'forever house' is great fun. Best of luck

[marypoppins38]

Personally speaking, and as a designer, I would live with it exactly how it is for a while. You will get a feeling for how the flow of the rooms work and ideas on what you would like to create. I always advise clients to think about not just how you want the space to work now, but have a think about how your families needs may change in the next 10-20 years. A big open living space may be perfect now but in years to come will you have older teens etc that will want to go off and watch tv, do homework, have fiends over etc. Would it be better to have separate rooms? I wouldn’t start with a spare room. Take your time and spend your money on the rooms you are going to use most. Spare rooms can be done in time and on a lesser budget.
Another thing you could do is get yourself a mood board (a blank PowerPoint slide is great). Whenever you see something you like, a particular style of furniture, a shade of a colour, the pattern of fabric, the way a group of ornaments have been placed... in fact pretty much anything that catches your interest and you feel a little inspiration from. When you go back to look at it you will see a general trend running through the board. This should be the styling for how you want your space to look. Some things will work, others won’t, but it will give you something to work from and have your ideas down on paper so to speak.
Hope this helps a little. If you need any further advice then I am always around on here, just drop me a message. I am happy to help, I love projects like this. Good luck!

[jdybnsn]

If its really offensive I'd do a quick paint over of the existing wallpaper, take up the carpets and put down some cheap Ikea rugs... then as others have suggested, sit back and think about the project room by room, going forward...

PS Totally agree about the electrics, and if its an old house, I'd consider insulating the walls & floors (as well as the loft) first.

[fluffychicken]

Weve renovated our house it all needed replastering so we painted everything white and then lived with it for a while before decidig how we wanted each room. I am glad we did as some rooms are very different from how I originally envisaged.

[Tinkerbell]

Originally Posted by Mr Tom Morrow

I suppose I am looking at this as a Tradesman more than an interior designer. I would take things slowly and get moved in first and consider the financial impact of my decisions first before making hasty decisions that I may later regret.

For example I wouldn't spend big money on a lounge if I wanted to do mucky work in the hall that may end up causing damage/dirt to a newly renovated lounge.

My first action would be to have an electrical check as if a rewire is needed that will cause horrendous upheaval to every room. If it's ok I would get the lounge done to a nice standard. Being able to sit and relax in a nice room is so important.

Take your time would be my motto.

Exciting times as a 'forever house' is great fun. Best of luck

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Exactly this, maybe it’s an age thing

Bit different to OP but you get my drift

When we moved here to our house in Spain it was, well TBH a ruin. Leaking roof, no guttering, no power, no water We did the basics to start, power, water roof and removed the wildlife!
So house clean with water and power. Then we lived in it, complete with sludge brown walls, dodgy floor tiles, a small twin burner, camp stove and a bucket for a sink for six months whilst we got used to the flow of the house and to decide exactly who we wanted to live. Six years later, the interior is finished, we took our time to get it how we wanted and within a strict budget. Others we know, moved, decorated made rash decisions so they had a palace to move into and now can’t change anything as they’ve not got the money.


So yes OP

Unless the walls and carpets are flea infested etc I’d move in, sit back, relax and visit shops, read magazines and get a feel for exactly how you visualise each room in relation to how you live and steer away from “fashionable” trends pick classic trends that’ll see you through a life time. We did this with our last home in the U.K. if it’s your forever home, then there is no rush
Exciting times starting anew, good luck

[Alien]

There is smell of stale in the house. That's why we thought carpets should go as they hold smell

[marypoppins38]

Originally Posted by Alien

There is smell of stale in the house. That's why we thought carpets should go as they hold smell

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Have you tried lifting them to see what is underneath? If its wooden boards you could sand and wax quite cheaply until you decide what to do. You could also be really lucky and find its parquet!

[Mr Tom Morrow]

Originally Posted by marypoppins38

Have you tried lifting them to see what is underneath? If its wooden boards you could sand and wax quite cheaply until you decide what to do. You could also be really lucky and find its parquet!

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Or have 1" thick herringbone teak block flooring like we have and cover it with fitted carpets.