WWYD Redecorating Dilemma

[robbie3982]

DH and I just bought a house recently and are in the midst of redecorating.

Here''s where my dilemma comes in:

It''s a 3 bedroom house and we plan on having 2 kids. As of right now we''d like to have both by the time we''re 30 and we''re thinking it''d be best to have them be about 2 years apart. I just turned 25. Assuming we wait the absolute longest possible time to start having kids, that means we''d have our first some time in 2010/2011.

All 3 bedrooms need to be redecorated to some extent. Currently we have it set up so that one extra bedroom is our office and the other is a guest room. The guest room has wallpaper on 2 walls. It''s pink and white and really not bad at all (especially when you compare it to the wallpaper in the rest of the house!), but even if we have a little girl, I''d want to redecorate the room and get rid of the wallpaper (I HATE wallpaper). Originally I was thinking I''d like to decorate the room in blues and browns, but now I''m thinking, is it really worth it to decorate the room now when it will need to be redecorated again in 2 years?! I would need to buy new bedding and while we''d still be able to use it when we have guests (we''ll be getting 4 new couches and I plan on making sure they''re all sleeper sofas) I''m just not sure if it''s worth it to go out and buy all this coordinating stuff when in a couple years it won''t really coordinate with anything anymore...We already have bedding for the room, it''s just not in the colors I''d want to do (it''s blue, but a navy) and it definitely doesn''t go with the pink and white wallpaper.

Next room dilemma:

The office (the 3rd bedroom that we''re currently using as an office) needs to be redecorated badly. It has hideous wood paneling (not even real wood) and is just blegh. This room probably wouldn''t be a kids room until 2013, but possibly even later if we have 2 boys or 2 girls since we might have them share a room until they''re older and need more privacy. DH and I both have computer desks, but they''re small and mismatched. I do all the paperwork/bill paying and I have papers scattered all over my tiny desk. It''s driving me nuts! I really want to get a nice big L-shaped desk that we can both use. I''d love to have storage that looks nice too. Currently we have an ugly filing cabinet that breaks almost every time I open a drawer. I''d love to go to a furniture store and pick out some brand new furniture for this room (hello nice real wood desk!), but I don''t know what will happen to it once we have kid #2 which will be in just 5 years. Should I just get some cheapie furniture for this room since we probably won''t have it all that long?

 

[Erin]

Five years is a long, long, long time to not be happy, comfortable, and organized in your home office.
Really play up your home office and make the pink wallpaper room a guest room and don''t worry about tearing the wallpaper down until you''re ready to make it a child''s room.

 

[lyra]

Removing wallpaper isn''t as bad as it might seem. I was the one who always did it in our houses. I''d devote a day per wallpapered room. So start with that. I''d also tackle that not real wall panelling. I have no idea what that means. Then you''ll have 2 "clean" rooms that will probably require some bit of wall repair (spackle and sand). I''d paint the "nursery" a neutral shade and consider it primer for the final colour. I''d do the office more to what you''d prefer now. Painting and repainting is relatively painless once you have the walls in good shape. Since you don''t know what will happen to the furniture once you require that 3rd room, I''d go for matchy cheapie for now. I wish I could tackle your wallpaper for you!

 

[robbie3982]

Starset, that''s true. I guess I should just stick with cheap, but functional furniture for the office.

Lyra, the best way I can describe paneling is to tell you to think of the walls of a log cabin. That''s the feeling this room gives. Blegh. I kind of want to just rip it all down, but I''m worried about what the walls are like behind it. Maybe they put it up to hide something? We''ve actually been really lucky so far in the wallpaper department The hall and main bathroom came down very easily. The living room is proving to be horrible though. Blegh. It was covered in this weird burlap-like paper that doesn''t want to come off all in one piece and it leaves pieces of straw all over the wall. The in-laws are actually over there right now working on it some more and DH says it''s going better today. I wish you could help with the wallpaper too! LOL. I think you''re probably right about the cheapie furniture. I just really thought we''d be done buying cheap stuff once we finally got a house

.

 

[pennquaker09]

I have a somewhat different approach, but if if the budget is tight, just do one thing at a time. Baby steps!

Since you''re using the home office, I would make sure to get that room the way you want it. Have you ever heard of The Container Store? They have some great office components and the price points are not really high, so I think it might be a great place to look. The desk that I have in mind is actually two sided, so you''ll both have a side and will be able to keep your things separate. I can''t think of the name of the desk at this particular moment, but there is a store in Cherry Hill and I go there quite a bit so I''ll get the name when I''m there.

Normally, when walls are paneled, there is nothing behind them. It kind of depends. The worst case scenario would require you to put up drywall. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it''s not that great if a situation either. No matter what you decide to do, I would get rid of the paneling now. And even though your children are a few years away, where would your office be moved when your children take over those rooms?


What else would need to be done to the rooms other than removing wallpaper and painting? Do you need flooring or anything of that nature?

 

[Sabine]

Hmm...having seen the house in person, I would say tackle the office first, and do take the time/money to redo the walls (whatever that entails) because I just don''t think it''d be easy to work in that room the way it is, and dh will need to be working in there, right? As for the desk, can you find something midrange? And once you have kids, even if that room isnt'' an office, won''t you be moving the office stuff somewhere? Maybe you could splurge on one nice item (the desk) since you will be using it for many years.

I''d leave the pink room the way it is for now, and get to it when you have the time/money. It may not look coordinated, but it''s functional, and you and dh won''t be using it enough to be bothered by the colors.

 

[Sabine]

Oh, I meant to add, it''s great to hear that the wallpaper is coming down in the rest of the house! Sorry the thatched wall is being such a pain! Wish I was there to help!