How often do you decorate?

Well done Auntyflo. That was our attitude when we got married - buy quality items to last. We didn't succeed though as a lot of our stuff was secondhand and did wear out. I thinker had been married 30 years when the last of the secondhand stuff went.

Our lovely painter is out in the kitchen painting away now.

Paddyann, what on earth do you do with your furniture, that it needs replacing so frequently? We bought our dining room furniture, G plan, sideboard ( they are back in fashion) table and chairs, in 1961, just before we married. At the same time we bought a triple G plan wardrobe. All still in very good condition. The chairs were reupholstered a few years ago. Our two cream leather sofas are now 14 years old, and so comfy.
It costs a fortune to replace and renew, so ours are staying, at the moment.

The house was completely redecorated when we moved in 7 years ago and is starting to look a bit tired now. Needs a good coat of looking at first...hmm.

I read once that that it is most common for people to 'do over' rooms every seven years and when I moved into my present house I found four layers of wallpaper which equated to the 28 years' occupation of the former owners.

We do rooms receiving more frequent traffic about every seven or eight years and spare rooms a bit less frequently.

Often I do a quick makeover where I will paint the window sills or tops of the skirtings and cover any marks and scratches with paint. This usually produces a very good effect and puts off a major makeover for another year. I have to paint my bathroom window sills every four months because of condensation and mould.

Also, it is easier sometimes to paint, e.g., skirtings, than wash them. This new water based paint dries in a an hour and it looks fabulous.

That said, I love a major decorating project!

I read once that you need to do two rooms a year (aaggh!) The average three bedroom house with bathroom, dining and living room, kitchen and hallway has eight areas to do, and will therefore get redecorated every four years. You might add to that a downstairs cloakroom if you have one and a utility room, which then means it's every five years for each room. I wanted to lay down in a darkened room when I read that . Our house needs a complete redo right now - that won't be happening!

Gosh this is lovely, enlightening and a pet theme of mine. I am midstream in my 'project' of doing the house from top to bottom room by room. Just finished No 5 until yesterday when I noticed I hadn't replaced the curtains. Dilemma.....I don't dislike the present ones but they don't REALLY match and it seems a shame not to complete the room in question. Mmmmmmm. Downside is how much I hate making the selection. Ugh! Was on to room 6 (paintwork all prepared an half of it already glossed) when I noticed this. Handyman arriving tomorrow to do the ceiling and then when I finish the gloss a decorator will do the walls (paper stumbled upon quite by accident when I was looking for something else. Hallelujah!). Then carpet - another pain but narrowed by wallpaper colours and this time I may even notice the curtains! Should say this was last done 20 years ago. Nothing as awful as you may think (I'm not a messy liver) but everywhere was just plain tired. Just as you all may now be from reading this.........!

I don't believe it paddyann, "only buy new furniture every 6-7 years"!!! . You must be loaded!
we only replace stuff as it wears out - the house never looks shabby but 'lived-in' . hate the present chalk paints that were in the house when we moved in 4 years ago. they show up every fingerprint and child having dragged its hands along the wall, and can't be washed either... Hoping to repaint where these horrible paints are with good plastic emulsions. unfortunately, at the moment we are dealing with subsidence issues, so need to wait until all that is done before bothering. and for once, we shall employ someone else to do the job!!!

Generally on election night - I find that shouting at the telly really speeds up painting

Gutted and redecorated our lounge two years ago after 23 years. Had new ceiling, log burner installed, all new plaster, new wooden floor and new sofas. It cost a small fortune so never want to decorate again. DH does most of the work but can't stand the upheaval. Dining room and son's old bedroom need doing now but can't bear the thought.

When I can no longer stand looking at it!

We've been in our house for 3 years and have completely redecorated apart from bathrooms. They're both tiled floor to ceiling and whilst the tiles are not our choice they have been beautifully fitted. Abs straight and even grouting lines! It seems a shame to take them off or panel over although we are considering this for the ensuite. Had summer house done last year as we converted it to DH's office.

We completely decorated our last house, over 2 years, prior to selling it. All in pale neutral colours.
We decorated the study in the new house, as it had been the son's bedroom, navy blue with yellow paintwork. Surprisingly we preferred white! We also toned down a red and white feature wall, in the dining room with a subtle pale green pattern.
I think that's enough for a few years!

Our suite is 40 years old. It has been recovered and reconfigured a couple of times. We still have our 40 year old dining table which is in pieces in the garage and comes out when someone needs it.

Rubysong our bedroom is the last room in the house to have woodchip. I suspect it will be the first room the new owners decorate.

Main living area downstairs every 5 or 6 years. The DC bedrooms were done as they grew. One had a space theme for 10 years. They have been redecorated in neutral colours as the DC have left home.

Both bathrooms have been completely redone. They will see us out if we stay here or help to sell if we move. Cost quite a bit to do,

Our bedroom was last decorated in 1997......That's the next project. Followed by new kitchen.

Only buy new furniture every 5 to 6 years'

When we came here in'86 we put woodchip in DS2's bedroom and (probably) gave it a coat of white emulsion. He proceeded to cover the walls with posters, photos of dogs, motorbikes, cars, lady tennis players, bands etc. For the next twenty years or so. When he left home the posters came down and the room became our guest room. I painted over the woodchip with cheery yellow paint and it is a lovely room. I love woodchip; I know that is controversial but this is an old cottage with uneven walls and the woodchip is great in there.

As little as possible, I am alerts if to paint, hate it , I had my new home decorated before I moved in and it will not be done again whilst I live here

That's a good bargain Charleygirl. I'm getting my kitchen at cost price because my builder is a friend who's just setting up in business and I will give him lots of word-of-mouth recommendations if he does a good job. I'm confident he will because I've seen his own house!

As little as possible now! We have lived in this house for 18 years now and in that time the Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen and Bathroom have all been decorated twice and the bedrooms and downstairs cloakroom have been done once.

I am in the process of having major work done inside and out. I was not too sure about the kitchen/diner work because of cost but when the builder said he would add painting the entire inside of the house for free, I agreed.

I'm considering doing away with curtains in the living room because we almost never draw them. I think it will make the room feel bigger and lighter. We have venetian blinds for privacy so I'll see how we get along without curtains when they come down for the decorating. I need a new CH system (boiler is limping on both legs and my fingers are crossed it will keep going until the warmer weather). I will also have a new kitchen, which is a good 10 years overdue. I plan to shut off the living room from the tiny dining room and knock through to form a kitchen-diner. I will reinstate the utility room that we knocked through into the kitchen 25 years ago. The back door, boiler, washing machine and dryer will be in there so that will lessen the impact on the kitchen and the dogs won't tread dirt into the kitchen any more. It's fairly exciting but scary too. ? I plan these things for years before I finally get round to doing it but now I'm determined! ? All our internal walls are stud partition so that makes things easier...for our builder!

Fortunately we both love decorating ( well, I love it and he likes it)
When we moved here 3 years ago everything had to be done, kitchen, bathrooms, windows, floor raised in conservatory, boiler moved to loft etc
We did it all with the help from a couple of friends. Some weeks ago I did our bedroom again while OH was in Spain. We have decorated daughters 3 bedrooms this year.

Not at all advocating that this is the best way to do it, but we find that once we start, it shows up other rooms.