How to plan redecorating a room
Redecorating goes faster when you buy everything in one trip. Enter the room size once, open each step you're doing, and tap Add to job under each result. The job gives you one shopping list to take to the shop or send to your decorator.
- Prep first: fill cracks, sand, and wash walls down. Allow a filler, sandpaper and masking tape in your budget.
- Top down: ceiling, walls, then woodwork. Paint skirting before fitting it if it's new.
- Floor last: fit new flooring once the painting is finished.
What a 4m × 3m bedroom needs
With 2.4m ceilings, one door and one window:
- Paint: about 30m² of walls, so roughly 5.5 litres for two coats, plus about 2.2 litres for the ceiling.
- Wallpaper (if you paper instead): about 8 standard rolls including a spare, more with a large pattern repeat. Or just 2–3 rolls for one feature wall.
- Skirting: about 13m after the doorway, so 4 lengths of 4.2m MDF, one per wall with no joins.
- Flooring: 12m² plus 10% is about 6 packs of 2.22m² laminate, with underlay and beading.
Each step above opens with your room size filled in, so you only need to check the details, such as tin sizes, pattern repeat and pack coverage, before saving it to the job.
A realistic timetable
For one person, an average bedroom usually takes a long weekend: a day for clearing, filling, sanding and masking, a day to paint the ceiling and walls (two coats need drying time in between), and another day for woodwork and new skirting. Allow a further day for flooring. Wallpapering, new plaster or lots of repairs add time, and new plaster must be fully dry before painting.
Shopping list extras people forget
- Dust sheets, masking tape and a roller tray with spare sleeves.
- Filler, a filling knife, sandpaper and sugar soap for washing walls.
- Decorator's caulk for skirting and frames, plus primer or undercoat for new woodwork.
- Door bars and beading for the new floor.
Common mistakes
- Skipping preparation. Paint won't hide cracks or grease. It shows them up.
- Buying paint in several trips. Mixed colours can vary between batches. Buy it all at once.
- Laying the floor first. Drips and ladders damage new flooring. Do it last.
Plastering first? Use the plaster calculator for skim coats. If the room needs a new wall, see the stud wall room planner.