Decorating your home can bring a new lease of life to your home, however, the one thing I discovered when we started our home renovation is just how much time it took up.
I genuinely thought, oh once the walls are up it will only take us a few weeks to decorate the rooms. Little did I realise how much effort went into filling, sanding, painting, lining paper, more painting and a feature wall.
After what felt like a bit of a lifetime of living in a building site, I really appreciated the effort it took to transform a room. It was made worse as we were both still working full-time whilst trying to decorate and live on the living room floor whilst the work took place!
Whilst trying to hold down a job, it can be difficult to find free time to decorate your home. As often as not you’ll come back tired after a hard day’s work and will want to slump down and relax rather than do anything more constructive. Not that a good relax is not constructive because it recharges the batteries, but you may fret about the types of jobs you’d like to get done in the home and just haven’t got around to.
In fact, it’s easier than you think to get things done if you plan what you want to do and then tackle the work in bite-size pieces. If you’re not happy with the way your home looks take a little time to look at your options and you’ll find that you can achieve much more than you might have thought possible.
Have a plan
To start with, focus on the area or areas that you would most like to change. If you have several rooms that you would like to get a makeover, prioritise rather than do a bit here and a bit there. You could easily get frustrated if you don’t really think you’re achieving much this way. Far better to decide where you’re going to start, what you want to do and then move on to the next space when you’ve finished the first series of jobs.
Small jobs can make a real difference
Let’s say you want to paint a room to spruce it up and give it a new look. The options are to clear everything out and attack it in one go, which you may well not have the time or energy to do or do it one step at a time. Clear space around one wall at a time and decorate each one to suit your timescale.
You can save a lot of time by using masking tape on the ceiling and floor, so you don’t have to touch up the inevitable unwanted paint marks that will happen if you don’t. It’s important not to rush your painting but for larger surfaces use a roller to cover them and a paintbrush to get into the tricky corners to make everything look good.
If you’re doing all the walls in the same colour, you don’t need to use masking tape where they join as you can easily roll over any splashes, but you may prefer to use tape anyway, especially if you’re going to take a couple of weeks or so to get the room finished.
If you’re painting a ceiling, you should cover the floor with dust sheets. That saves you having to do the remedial work of cleaning off paint splashes and it will save you a lot of time.
Creating a comfortable room
Your living space is going to be your most used room, so aim to make it as comfortable as possible. Decorating doesn’t just mean fresh paint, think about your floor coverings as well. If you have a wooden floor add rugs to complement the wall and ceiling decor. Install a comfortable sofa and chairs, enough for everyone to relax, and use throws and cushions to bring out different colours.
Think too about your window coverings. Curtains are often considered to be the best way of letting in or shutting out the light, but they can be cumbersome and don’t give as much control as you might like.
Shutters are a good alternative because they provide clean lines to a room and are very easy to keep clean, just needing the occasional dust and a wipe down with a damp cloth. Shutters can also be made to measure too, which means if you have an odd size window, there is no faffing around with it!
You can get shutters in a wide range of materials and colours, and you get the ability to easily control the amount of light you let into your rooms, especially if you buy shutters with louvres that can be opened and closed to suit. It’s worth considering installing them in several rooms, but especially the bathroom as they take up little space and can just be wiped down when there is condensation left after a shower or bath.
Be imaginative
Decorating your house doesn’t have to be expensive. Use pictures or photographs on walls to brighten a room and provide some focal points both for yourself and visitors and don’t worry about taking your time. Work at your own pace to create an attractive home that you want.
