This is a collaborative post
We have reached that point where we feel like the whole house needs redecorating. Again.
You know how you seem to have a splurge and gets loads done, are delighted with it, and then a few years later, you need to do it all again? Yep, that’s where we are now. I’d say at the moment, the only two ‘rooms’ I am happy with are the bathroom, as we re-did that last summer, and the garden – yes, I do count that as a room. And when I say garden, I do mean back garden as we’ve work to do to the front of the house. And of course as any gardener will know, it’s by no means finished out there, I will be working on it all summer, but that’s always a pleasure and work in progress. Anyway, this all leaves us with lots of work to do inside this year, which has brought me to writing this post, for two reasons. Firstly, to get it all clear in my mind and secondly, as I would welcome any opinions, from the logistics to the best places to buy to the designs. So here are our home interiors plans for 2019, room by room…
The Hall, Stairs and Landing
I will start here as this part is easy. It’s all white now and it will be all white again soon. From floor to ceiling white, but of course white shows up marks and scuffs, hence it needs repainting again. I like it like this, though, and it is easy to do as it is all one colour. It’s all of the gloss work that takes the time with this one. We are also thinking of hiring a sander and getting our floorboards sanded down and re-varnished as we’ve not done that since we bought the house (just the 14 years ago!).
The Living Room
This is the one that is currently taking up most of my thinking. We like the idea of using a really dark blue in here, probably just all along the one wall, the one with our fire place on it. But then that’s as far as we have got. Do we then go grey with the other walls? Do we go cream? We could also do with new carpet in there, so what would that look like? We’re open to new sofas, too, so again more decisions. It’s currently all wallpapered, and as our house is late 19th century, the walls are not the best so we always need to think about that with the patterns that we choose, and it might also mean that when we remove the current paper there’s some plaster work that needs doing.
Aside from all of this, how will I find it with a really dark wall? I tend to love light and airy spaces and lighter, warm colours, so will this work out? I think a darker wall could actually make it more dramatic and cosy, and I do really like the look. Much to think about it here.
The Home Office/Playroom
This is the room that I work in so it has my desk and shelving units and drawers. It then has a wall of drawers full of toys for the kids. It then has a wall taken up entirely by the guinea pigs cage. It’s a multipurpose space! It needs repainting and I would love to get rid of the toys and have a wall of bookshelves instead. Of course, the toys need to go somewhere and there are a few too many to fit into the kids’ rooms at the moment. But I am pretty good at clearing stuff out and rehoming toys, so the plan is to continue to do this until I can move the toys out, or potentially move them into the kitchen space (see further down) and then I can really think about how to rearrange this room and repaint it. I would like a bright colour as a feature wall and the laminate flooring and rug are still good in there.
Little Man’s Bedroom
This room is a priority now. We decorated it when I was pregnant with Little Man, so it was around seven years ago that we did this. The walls will need plastering in here, so it’s case of booking that job in and bracing ourselves for the dust. I’ll probably try to do this over a school holiday so that we can go away for a few days whilst it is being done. The room is currently wallpapered as the walls were not good enough to paint, but I think we will just paint it with newly plastered walls. It is white at the moment, but I am thinking of going for a colour on one wall, and then lighter colours all around the rest of the room. The carpet is still OK in there, so it’ll then be a case of changing up a few bits and bobs like the soft furnishings to freshen it up for him.
Boo’s Bedroom
We did this room around 3-4 years ago, and gave it new carpet, paint and furniture. It’s not desperate, a coat of paint should be all it needs. But Boo has also been asking for a bunk bed, so when we decide what to do about that, we will tackle this room. It has lots of wardrobe space, a big bookshelf and a desk with lots of storage, so on a practical level, she has all that she needs.
Our Bedroom
You just know that this will be the last room that we get round to doing, don’t you? The carpet needs changing, but we have huge, heavy wardrobes that we stand no chance of moving so I can’t see us changing it. Is there a way around this? Have any of you simply carpeted up to furniture like this? I then like two opposite ends of the scale for this one, either light, bright and airy, or dark and cosy. Our furniture is a dark wood with high gloss black, so I am leaning towards embracing the darkness and going darker. It is currently a kind of dusky mauve, I might go grey. Hmm, still pondering.
The Kitchen
We have a fairly large kitchen, and we extended around 12 years ago so we have a bright dining space attached to it. The units are all still good, though we’re thinking we might replace the kitchen doors at some stage. We gave it a bit of a makeover and painted the room a vintage white a few years ago and it does make it a lovely clean and light space, as the sun floods in to it. I am thinking of repainting it a similar colour again as I like it light in there. The question is whether to rearrange it and make the one side more of a living area, popping a sofa in there and moving furniture about. We could also potentially, connect it more with the office/playroom as that opens directly onto it. If we did that, it would change the whole back of the house and how we currently use our space. Hmm, it’s a big project, but I am trying to see the house through fresh eyes and consider every possibility before we commit to any changes.
Which all leaves me here, pondering. Aside from the easy decision around the hallway, I am not quite ready to start these projects as I am still trying to figure out what I want to do in each room. All opinions and help will be very welcome, and in the meantime, you’ll find me over on Pinterest and wandering around B&Q, Ikea and sofa shops!
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post
Once you start its endless isnt it? We are planning a conservatory and new kitchen this year, I have visions of how it will all look but it will be so much work which I am dreading. But then you look at the rest of the house and like you its all ready for doing again x
It is! We are making progress, but everything has a knock on effect on something else! Best of luck with your plans, I look forward to seeing them x