Thursday, 6 March 2014

We decorated....

We hadn't decorated since we moved in here over two years ago.....So during the half term holidays we started to decorate.....I say started as we are not quite finished yet....We still have the wallpaper to hang.....We will get round to it eventually!!

We started in the hallway and up the stairs which desperately needed doing!!

When Ellie is naughty she gets sent to sit on the stairs for a timeout and has a nasty habit of picking at the wall.....Grr! Also she had drawn on the wall and when I washed it off some of the paint came off....

We picked a coffee colour which has taken some getting used to as it's a lot darker than the biscuit colour we had but it does look lovely....It looks so much tidier and fresher....Ellie has been warned not to draw on the walls or pick at them....So far so good!!

Next up was the living room.....A fresh coat of white paint on the walls and the gloss work redone....Asda had a great deal on with their paint....A 5L tin of Dulux for £8 which was a great find as everywhere else was selling them for about £15.....

The kids were keen helpers....It was easier to let them be involved than try and keep them away from the paint....Everything looks so much brighter and cleaner....I was shocked when painting the radiator how yellow it looked when it was half painted....

I had decided on a purple theme and had looked at the curtains online and saw that most places were asking for about £30/£40 a set and we needed two sets.....I came up with the idea of dying our cream curtains purple.....Off to Wilkinsons I went and I bought some of the Dylon fabric dye for £4.99 a box.....

It was just a case of putting the dye powder in the washing machine, adding 500g of salt and the curtains then putting it on a 40 degree wash....Then washing them again with washing powder to get rid of the leftover dye.....I dyed the first set perfectly but the second set was thicker so had to do each curtain separately.....In then end it cost me just under £15 for the curtains.....A lot better than paying who knows how much for two new sets...

Cushions were next.....I had seen some cushion covers on Ebay for £2 each and needed 5 so would of cost £10 but I was wandering around a charity shop and saw some large cushions with bright pink covers for £2.50.....I bought another dye and turned them purple too.....They ended up matching the curtains perfectly even thought the photo makes them look a touch lighter....Stupid

Then onto the artwork for the walls....We already had a canvas with the kids and myself on but I was lucky enough to receive another from Canvas Design which I reviewed earlier on in the week...We picked up another couple of  canvases from Poundstretcher....The one above the sofa was £12.99 and the longer thin one was £6.99....Great prices considering we seen similar one's for about £20 each in other shops and online!!

So just the wallpaper to hang now....That is a job for Stu....I've told him I want it done by Easter or I will find a professional to do it....hehehe

It's like having a new home.....Everything looks so much nicer, cleaner and I just love it....Onto the kitchen next....I'm sure I've seen purple microwaves somewhere....

Post Comment Love


  1. Ohhhh you're making me feel bad! I so need to touch up so much of my house, it is making me get the decorating itch knowing you have done yours... it is spring after all... great excuse!

  2. Wow you've been busy! I love Dylon and recently died a fav pair of jeans bright pink. It's a great way of recycling what you have and gives things a whole new lease of life for not much cost. Glad you love your new look!

  3. You are doing so well saving so much money on your makeover. It's looking great. You are so right about how yellow everything looks once you start to gloss. We have tonnes of decorating to do but just can't seem to get the mojo for it. I'm pretending it's shabby chic!

  4. Looks like you've all been busy Kim! The makeover looks fab, and I love that 'family' photoframe! xx

  5. Ooh! I love decorating and looks like you guys did a fab job! :) #PoCoLo.

  6. Wow, I'm impressed! We've worked so hard on decorating too lately, but I never would have thought of dying the curtains. That's a great idea!

  7. This looks great - and what a fantastic idea to dye the curtains you have already, very savvy. Thank you for linking to PoCoLo x

  8. aw how lovely! Looks like you had fun as well which is the main thing, and getting everyone involved! :) x