How to Redecorate Your Living Room

Redecorating your house is never easy, there’s a lot to consider and a lot of hard work to do before you can sit back, crack open a beer and admire the finished product – but it’s worth it when you finally get to do it. Whether you’re in the mood to redesign your living room or just want to give your house a bit of a makeover, if you get the DIY itch you’re going to have to scratch it sooner or later.

This Instructable will guide you through all the ins and outs of helping you redecorate your living room. After moving house more than once and having my sons throw wobblers, cricket balls and eventually grow up in our second house I’ve been forced up and down a ladder more times than I can remember now. We’ve managed to redecorate our living room three times, the wife dictates most of the process and I facilitate her need for wallpaper, paint, new curtains, or whatever else takes her fancy next season.

First things first you need to get rid of everything in the room that could be damaged by a rogue flick of paint or a dropped hammer. If you can’t get the big pieces of furniture out of the room like couches and tables, then it’s best to cover them up with a couple of old bed sheets to protect them. Now that you’ve got everything out of the room you’re going to have a much better idea of the job in hand. It’s one thing deciding to redecorate but it’s another thing altogether when you get everything out of the room and actually see how much work needs to be done.

Pay particular attention to picture rails and skirting boards as well as doors, light sockets, switches and lighting.

- Are they damaged?
- Do they need replacing?
- Will they tie in with the design of the room that you have in mind?

You’ll also need to have a look at the state of the walls themselves, and whether or not they need re-plastering. This is not a job that I would recommend doing yourself, plastering is an art form in its own right – get the man in to do it for you. To get good proper look at the walls you’ll need to get any paper that’s already up, off the walls. The best way of doing this is with a steamer which can be rented from any good tool hire shop. Once you’ve got the paper off the wall you want to be looking for any signs or damp or cracks that need attention. Do not ignore them.  There is nothing more frustrating than thinking ‘ahh it’ll be fine, I can just paint over that’ only for the crack to resurface in the paint you laid down a month before – nightmare.

Get your tape measure out and measure everything. Windows, walls, chimney breast (if you have one) skirting boards and picture rails and anything else you have in your room that you’ll need to navigate around whilst you decorate.

Once you’ve cleared everything out and measured the room it’s time to get the walls sorted. It’s always a good idea to sort the walls out first rather than the floor. There’s nothing worse than just installing a lovely wooden floor or a brand new thick carpet and spilling a bucket of paint over it or dropping a tub of wallpaper paste – you will kick yourself.

When wallpapering always be wary of patterned wallpaper when you’re putting it up. If you don’t get the patterns to match up exactly all the way around the room exactly then you could end up sitting down in your newly decorated living room and going a little cross eyed.

Top Tip – Measure twice cut once

- Take a look around your local hardware store for paper underlay which can be used to sort out any bumps in your wall and give your paper a great finish when it’s up.

- Be wary of air bubbles and squeeze them out as soon as you can. If you can’t get them out straight away then it’s time to take it down and start all over again.

If you’re going down the painting route then you’ll make life a little easier for yourself. Avoid using a paintbrush – you’ll be there forever. What you need is a good thick roller and a smaller paintbrush for the fiddly bits like round the skirting boards and windows.

With flooring you’ve got three options really, natural wood, carpet or laminate. Laminates are great because they’re easy to clean and come in a range of styles and qualities depending on what kind of budget you have to spend on your flooring. Some of the more expensive laminates are fantastically detailed and very wood like while some of the cheaper ones are a little flimsy, damage easily and don’t hold heat very well either.

Once you’ve ripped up and binned your old carpet you’re going to have to a better idea off what you’ve got to play with. If the floorboards are a bit tatty and are in bad condition you might need to get a couple of them replaced before laying down some carpet or laminate. However, if you strike lucky and find yourself with some vintage floorboards that need a bit of TLC, then you’re on to a winner. Get back down to the hire shop and grab a power sander and go to work on those floorboards. Although these are the loudest and most horrible machines to use in the world – the results are well worth it.

Now you’ve got the floor sorted and the walls are looking a healthy colour once again, it’s time to get some of your old furniture back into the room. You may have decided to chuck some of them and hit the shops for some new, up to date and modern upholstery. Whatever you decide to furnish your living room with make sure that:

1) It fits in the room (go back to your measurements and take them with you to the showroom)
2) It fits in with the general feel of the room.

There’s nothing worse than picking out an ultra-modern corner couch which looks great in the showroom but barely fits in your living room.

Now you’ve got all the big bits done it’s time to get down to the aesthetics of the room that will bring it all together. Book cases, rugs, cushions, throws, light fittings, lamps, and everything else that goes with them. Don’t scrimp on these things, these can often be the finishing touches that really make all your hard work worthwhile and make the room a comfortable and relaxing place to live in. Once you’ve done that, put the T.V back in and get a beer out the fridge – time to enjoy all your hard work.