We bought an older home and had been doing a lot to update it. Then the Great Recession hit. When that ended, we started having a family.
When we bought our home, we’d planned to be in five to seven years then buy a larger home and start a family. But the Great Recession happened, and I took a 40% pay cut just to keep my job. I’m the primary income in our home, so it was an especially rough time.
Shortly after the Great Recession, we started our family. Those of you with children are not surprised home improvement projects were all but completely ignored during this time.
But the girls are getting older. We’ve considered moving, but things with my husband’s career are in flux, so we thought it best to limit the amount of chaos if at all possible. That means staying in our current home.
I am not good at interior design. Color and how it works eludes me. I’ve tried hiring some interior designers, but none want to work with a limited budget. So, I’m trying to tackle it myself.
To make the projects easier and more doable, I’m starting with my oldest daughter’s room. She’s at the cusp age where she’s no longer a preschooler, but she’s not a teen, either. She wants a Zelda room, because of course she does. Couldn’t be anything easy like Frozen or something.
Neither my husband or I are very handy, so we’re going to be hiring contractors as needed to try to avoid the worst mishaps.
But after ten years, the house needs to be updated. We’re going to start in one room and go from there.
Wish me luck! I’m going to need it!
Have you ever tackled this kind of project? If so, *please* share any tips and pointers!
I’ve done interior decorating professionally and I have an older home too and have done lots of home upgrades, ALWAYS on a budget. A few tips I have: 1st, try to keep wall colors and window coverings neutral and use accessories to create the “theme” since changing accessories is much easier and cheaper & less time, esp in kids rooms since they outgrow them so fast. Accessories as in bedding, wall decor, etc. My go to color is eggshell white. Painting walls is costly and time consuming, which brings me to #2 Use good paint. I always use Pittsburg Paint. It costs a little more up front but one coat does the job and you can practically scrub it clean, it’s tough stuff and can last 10+ years. #3 Changing out light fixtures and lightswitch/plug coverings can do wonders for upgrading a room, small details make an impact. #4 Resale/antique/ junk shops are great places to find those accessories on the cheap- lamps, framed pictures, misc. decor and non-upholsterd furniture like bed-end benches/side tables, etc. Also discount retailers like Big Lots or Ross always have great steals. #4 Area rugs and a few matching throw pillows can completely change the feel of a bedroom or living room without having to do any major work. If it’s mostly just cosmetic work you’re doing like walls, flooring, decor, etc. and want to shoot me a few pics of the spaces you want to redo, I’d be happy to put in my 2 cents with some ideas. Good luck with your renovations! 🙂
Thank you!
I have a list, because of course I Do!
We are:
Painting trim white.
Painting walls pale purple
Buying a wall decal
Taking off closet doors and replacing with curtain
Updating window coverings
New area rug and bedspread
Hyrule pillow
Hmmm, I know there’s more. I need to find my list!
“Luck!”
Before you begin, um, what are you planning on doing with the owner of the room [daughter] while the renovations take place? I ask this because Murphy’s Law states that anything that can go wrong will…especially in home renovation. This means the wild enthusiasm the Daughter has at the start will be gone by Day 2. -cough- That’s it. We’re always here for you. 🙂
Thanks!
We let her camp in the living room one night and her sister’s another night.
She loved it!
My only experiences of projects like this are bad. The last time I removed wallpaper the plaster came off, and when I tried to fix the wall with more plaster the result was a rather rough looking wall! Also, painting is much harder than it looks. Even with two coats our wall ended up with white lines where the paint cracked. I think wallpapering is harder, but the results are usually better 🙂
Interesting. We don’t have plaster, we have drywall. The wallpaper we took down was really ugly. Made me never want it again!