Any one else still doing their own decorating?

I do all my own decorating and my garden.I am 74.

trisher

I painted my bedroom-well everything I could reach. I'm 76 and don't climb steps anymore. DSs kindly finished top edges and ceiling. I find painting quite relaxing.

Well done, trisher

As an aside, I'm amazed that you're 76. I have a ridiculous habit of thinking I can guess people's ages on here and I had you down as being mid 40s.

Obviously I am useless at guessing ages!

I’m fortunate in that my OH loves painting and decorating. Worrying though when at 62 yrs of age he still wants to climb 30 foot up a ladder with a brush in one hand and a tin of paint in the other to paint the guttering and facias!

I patted myself on the back for painting the ceiling and three walls of my bedroom, and wallpapering the fourth wall, but you put me to shame, TanaMa. I'm a mere 82 yo.

Get yourself a Brush Mate and ditch the trays. I only use a small roller now after breaking a bone in my hand

Chewbacca and MerylStreep

Never heard of Brush Mate so I looked it up. Looks like quite a good system. I just wrap brushes in kitchen foil, keeps them wet for a couple of days. I also use old Chinese takeaway plastic containers for holding paint when up a ladder. I can get a small roller in them and I then throw them away if I can't be bothered to wash up, which isn't very climate friendly I know.

Up until I moved back to the UK I did all my own DIY , gardening and decorating Now I am almost 75 I find I can't do ladders any longer, as don't feel stable ! SO I now get everything done ! Finding someone to do the small odd jobs (ceiling downlighters replacing etc) is difficult but I have found some, and most jobs are probably better done now that I cant get down to floor level either very easily ........I like to think I might be helping keep the trades going (call out charges are quite high though !) but needs must .....

It's the moving of furniture that I find impossible. I'm 84 and capable of rollering a few walls - but who will shift the furniture and put it back for me?
So I live on a house that is badly in need of decorating. There is no answer.

I love decorating, I find it really relaxing.
My husband can't understand why I enjoy it so much, I thought when I had my hip replacement 5 years ago, I'd have to give up, but not a chance! I just have to be a bit more careful .
I got my granddaughter to help me paint my bathroom just before Christmas, she enjoyed it that much she has take a 2 year painting and decorating course at college when she leaves high school in the summer!
I'm 63 this year, and have 3 projects planned, I'm not as fast as I used to be, but, I'm a lot more careful :-)
Long may it continue.

Cheapest way to employ a decorator is to get him to do two rooms, so he can flit between rooms. Be prepared for a very long wait for a good professional. I am 74 and have already bought a neat harris corner roller and a metre pole for the future, I think my new build will need corners fixing over time and I will be able to do them myself without standing on steps

I like to do my own decorating but have always drawn the line with the hall, stairs and landing. Ceilings will be added to the list soon…

Btw it takes at least 4-5 days to do a room properly. Ist day is prep, second is ceiling and walls if the same colour, 3rd day is second coat, 4th day is wood prep and 1st coat, 5th day is final wood coat. My painter actually did light sanding between coats. His charge was £160 a (very full) day and his only break was an hour at lunchtime, paint was extra, I provided the expensive eco mineral paint, he provided dulux diamond matt for the wood. He was worth every penny and worked incredibly hard

I painted my bedroom-well everything I could reach. I'm 76 and don't climb steps anymore. DSs kindly finished top edges and ceiling. I find painting quite relaxing.

I have had a decorator in over the past few months, to paint the full interior, just one room left to do and that will be this week. He has been utterly amazing, so skilled and meticulous, worth waiting for as he had to keep other clients happy.

I have used a very special mineral paint in a lovely warm white, used previously in our last home, walls and ceilings in the same paint. Completely love it, I have many pictures, don`t need or want coloured paint or paper

There is method in this, the paint touches up wonderfully eg I could roller a wall in the future and there would be no change of tone. So yes, I will do what is needed myself in the future, will not need to do any ceiling but I can certainly keep walls nice, one at a time.

The downside to getting someone in was having to clear the rooms, I did it all myself, using sliders and felt pads, very very thankful that I had quickstep down on the floors, even the big heavy furniture moved, once I levered the corners up for the sliders. So right now, 2 rooms are full of temporary storage for the last room, I will be so grateful to get my house back in order. It has taken a long time overall. Upside, when doing it yourself, is that you don`t have to wait

I still do all mine, but I'm really starting to feel it. I did my 6ft garden fence yesterday and all that bending up and down had me aching last night. This morning I had to practically roll myself out of my bed. I have decorated my bungalow over the last 2 years when I renovated it, so hopefully should do me a while.

I had a painter and decorator to do my hall, landing, staircase. He didn't do a good job.

I did everything else in the house and although I'm blowing my own trumpet, I did a better job than the decorator. I won't pay anyone to decorate for me again until I'm unable to do it.

We did have the kitchen, hall ,staircase & landing painted by professional decorators last summer but DH (73) an I (70)did repaint our bedroom just before Christmas. Would not take on downstairs rooms as the ceilings are higher and it is too uncomfortable to do them.

Well done TanaMa

I like decorating but doing it with arthritis wrecked my back and, post spinal op, cannot wield the roller. The DH used to join in but became more and more reluctant until he finally stopped helping about four years ago.

Faced with picking up a paintbrush, he has paid another chap £650 to paint two small bedrooms.

£650! It could have been done in two days. Now I know the exact price of idleness. Not that I care as I am not doing it myself.

Grannynannywanny - I remember that episode of Mr Pastry - I thought he was so funny.

This morning we put up 2 pieces of ceiling paper (very heavy duty lining paper), temper not good; stiff neck and varifocals didn’t help. The rest will happen over the next few days.

Haven’t stopped decorating etc for 8 months. While painting skirting boards I have bugged up my knee, it affects everything. X-ray 2 weeks ago and waiting for results so I can talk to GP to get referral. Moral of the tale: just go to A&E do not suffer for 5 months - it’s not going to improve.

When we moved I really wanted to get a decorator in but they were all booked up into this year. The positive side is that I have re-discovered the joy of wallpapering, and how I dislike doing woodwork and ceilings.

This pm we have moved and stacked 2 pallet loads of logs ready for next winter (buy now before price hikes).

I always did all the decorating. When at the age of sixty four after my husband died I came back from Spain to the bungalow that had been let out for twelve years. It was in very bad state and it took me three months to get it in good decorative order and put up shelves and tile the bathroom and restore the furniture be.fore tackling the garden. I never employed anyone until I was well into my eighties because I found the ceilings difficult.

We are still doing DIY but when we downsize (hopefully this year if we finish all our jobs) we have decided to stop and pay someone. My husband is 65 and I am coming up 61 with a lifetime of DIYing under our belts. Now everything takes us 3 times longer and we hurt for weeks afterwards so we are going to grow old disgracefully.

I have always been the main decorator in our homes over the years. I have enjoyed it up until now, but this last weekend and the one before, was spent decorating the bedroom and lounge, whilst suffering a painful back, so I think it is time at my age (66) to do what a lot of friends do and get the decorators in, once the utility room has been done!!

Chewbacca
Get yourself a Brush Mate and ditch the trays. I only use a small roller now after breaking a bone in my hand.
I use the roller straight from the tin.

TanaMa
Well done you ???? I doubt if I’ll ever stop.

I love decorating, at 75 I seem a little slower going up and down the ladder ,but I still get the satisfaction of completing a room.
I’ve always done the decorating …my x husband was usually on the golf course. I like to watch DIY programmes to get tips.