Decorating Before You Move In, in Coventry
Just got the keys to a house in Coventry and want it decorated before the furniture arrives?
This guide covers whether to decorate before you move in, and what order the work happens in. It also covers what it costs.
Work through these six before you book a decorator for your move.
- Should I decorate before moving in, or live in it first?
- How far ahead of completion should you book?
- What order does the work happen in?
- How long will an empty three-bed take?
- What does it cost on a Coventry three-bed?
- Can work start before I’ve even completed?
Call 024 7542 6652 today and speak to Ryan, the local decorator who covers empty-house jobs across Coventry.
Reviews From Coventry Customers
The place is now like a new house.
I am immensely grateful for his expertise and dedication regarding his work.
Definitely recommend.
How Godiva Decorators Works
Godiva Decorators works with a local, Coventry-based painter and decorator. When you call, you speak to Ryan directly, and you arrange the quote and the work with him.
- Call and speak to Ryan — the decorator who does the work, not a call centre.
- Tell him about the job — the rooms, the timing and anything you are unsure about.
- He visits and sends a written quote setting out the work before anything is booked.
- You agree the work directly with Ryan, including the schedule and the final walkthrough.
Why Choose Godiva Decorators
Local to Coventry
Your decorator knows the housing stock, the parking and the permit zones.
Written Quotes
A site visit and a written quote before any work is booked in.
Empty-House Ready
Key handling and access agreed in advance so the work never stops.
One Point of Contact
Ryan is your contact from the first call through to handover.
Should You Decorate Before You Move In, or Live In It First?
Most people default to living in a house before decorating, but timing changes the work. An empty house is usually quicker and less disruptive because the decorator can work without moving furniture each day. Ask Ryan for a timetable based on the rooms and their condition.
Nothing has to be moved, covered or reassembled at the end of each day. The argument for waiting is different in kind. You do not yet know how the light moves through the rooms, or where the furniture will sit. You do not know which walls you will look at each evening.
Waiting buys certainty about colour. Going early buys a cheaper, quicker job.
The practical split most people land on is straightforward. Do the structural, disruptive and hard-to-reach work in the empty weeks. Hold back the decisions that depend on furniture.
- Empty weeks — ceilings, woodwork, hallways, stairs and landings.
- Wait for furniture — a feature wall in the living room, the main bedroom colour, or a fitted alcove shade.
The room tells you what it wants once the furniture is in it.
How Far Ahead of Completion Should You Book?
Timing the booking matters as much as timing the work. A decorator may be booked several weeks ahead, while the empty window between completion and moving day can be short. Ask about availability before completion so you can reserve a provisional start date.
The sequence that works starts at the survey or second-viewing stage. Get a decorator to the property then, and take a written quote off the back of it. Hold a provisional start date that firms up once the completion date does.
Provisional dates are normal in this trade because chains move. What matters is being in the diary at all. A date that shifts by a week is an inconvenience; a job that was never booked is a month.
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Speak to Ryan about your completion date and get a provisional start booked in.
What Do You Decorate First, Floors, Kitchen or Walls?
Dust and debris work comes first. New flooring normally goes in after the main decorating work. In between, the stages run in this order:
- Dust and debris work
- Plaster
- Decorating
- Flooring
- Furniture
Skirting boards are painted before the floor goes down. Radiators come off the wall rather than being cut around. A new kitchen is fitted after the walls are painted but before the final coat of woodwork.
On an average Coventry three-bed, that order looks like this. Two days for prep and any patch plastering. Three days of painting walls, ceilings and woodwork. A day for the new flooring. A final day once the furniture arrives. Missing a step out of order almost always costs a return visit.
This page keeps only that five-stage order.
Want the reasoning behind that order, stage by stage? It is on the page about the order to decorate a house in.
How Long Does an Empty Three-Bed Take?
An empty three-bed decorates faster than an occupied one, for three reasons. There is no furniture to move or protect, and no masking around what stays in place. Every wall is reachable from day one.
Full access avoids repeated furniture moving and daily setup.
Curious how the timing changes bed by bed? The breakdown, and what stretches it, is on the page about how long it takes to decorate a house.
What Does It Cost on a Coventry Three-Bed?
Cost follows room count, ceiling height and condition, not postcode. The honest way to quote it is a site visit rather than a number typed into a page.
Preparation is often the largest share of the labour on an older Coventry house. Access and surface condition can affect the timetable more than the paint itself. An empty house can reduce time spent moving and protecting belongings.
Four factors change that figure more than anything else:
- Room count before room size. A small fourth bedroom still costs a day of setting up, cutting in and two coats.
- The state of the walls. Filling, caulking and sanding is the biggest single variable on a house built before about 1940.
- Ceilings and woodwork. Ceilings and detailed woodwork add labour. Original doors, skirting, architraves and stairs can take time on a period property.
- Colour change and bare plaster. Dark to light is a third coat. Bare plaster needs a mist coat and drying time before the first proper coat.
Decorating the whole house rather than room by room? The cost comparison is on the page about decorating a whole house in Coventry.
Those four factors decide the final number, not a fixed room rate. Godiva Decorators prices empty house decorating in Coventry from a site visit, not a guess.
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Get the empty weeks quoted before you complete.
Can They Start Before You Have Completed?
Not usually, and not without the current owner’s written agreement, because until completion it is not your house. What does happen, often, is that the survey visit and the written quote are done before completion. That way work can start the same week the keys change hands.
That sequencing changes what a four-week window contains. Instead of two weeks of waiting at the front, it holds eight days of work.
Once the keys are yours, an empty house is the easiest kind of job to run. Nothing has to stop for anyone. Access is the only thing to settle in advance:
- A key
- A way in and out
- An alarm code
- An agreed rule about who locks up
Agree those upfront and the work never has to stop.
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Tell Ryan your access arrangements and get the work into the diary.
Decorating Before Moving In FAQs
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