Decorating 101

I know absolutely nothing about renovating/painting/decorating a house. I've never done it. The two homes I grew up in never saw a lick of fresh paint when I lived in them and since then, I've lived in rental or company provided homes. The closest I've every come to painting anything is when I sanded and varnished silky oak and pine furniture a lifetime ago and when I painted a couple of cupboards from my childhood for Meg when she was a baby. So what we're about to do is a big deal for me. Of course I will need to research the how, why, where, what and when of the whole process. Anything less just won't do, not for my personality at least. I need to know exactly what I'm going to do before I begin; none of this "making it up as we go along" for me. Sometimes I wish I could live a more daring life but I'd need to organise it first!!

Meg and I went to town this morning to look at paint colour cards. Meg took the task so seriously that she proceeded to enthusiastically choose one of nearly every colour on the four available stands. Her arms could barely keep up; from the corner of my eye I could see her frenetically grabbing paint cards as if her life depended on it....I, on the other hand, worked in a more methodical and considered manner, choosing colours I actually liked rather than because "they were just there"! No brochure was safe either. If it had a paint can/a kitchen/a bath tub on the front of it, it was whisked away and was ours! This is just a small sample of what we ended up with.

We went down to the house and proceeded to hold the cards against the wall to see what we thought.Meg's room currently looks like this; a cute room for a little girl but perhaps in need of a revamp for a 24 year old. She has chosen a light pink for the walls with a grey for the trimmings.

This is Drew's room; The bows need to go.

 We tried a few different blues but didn't decide on anything until he is home to choose for himself.

This is our room; I quite like the colour and the band of wallpaper. I'd happily leave it like this, but won't.

This is what the dining/kitchen/lounge looks like; I like this too. The walls do need a freshen up so we've decided to use colours that will lighten the entire area.

So far, this is what we've picked but they haven't really photographed that well. Ilike the earthy tones and they will go well with all our wooden furniture and the polished floors.

We'll go with the Cream Stone and Warm Beige in our room and the laundry, hallway, toilet and office. Not sure yet about the bathroom as it will be fully renovated.

 No stove - a cooktop and wall oven.