Hey everyone, those of you who've tackled a full-house refresh or major overhaul—what stuff ended up mattering way more than you thought going in? I figured it'd mostly be about picking nice paint colors and maybe updating the kitchen layout, but after we did ours last year, the real game-changer was how much solid prep work and little details like proper sanding between coats actually defined the final look. We skimped a bit early on thinking "eh, it'll be fine," and nope—those uneven spots haunted us forever until we fixed them. Anyone else get blindsided by something like that? Curious what surprised you most once everything was done.
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Yeah, prep is huge, isn't it? For us the biggest eye-opener was realizing how critical it is to have pros who actually obsess over the small stuff instead of rushing through. We originally thought any decent crew could slap on paint and call it good, but the difference showed up in the clean lines, no brush marks, and everything holding up years later without peeling. Living in the area, we ended up going with some really solid painters and decorators south london who took their time masking off properly and fixing underlying issues first—it made the whole place feel so much more polished without us having to pay for super fancy extras. Totally shifted my view from "just get it painted" to valuing that careful approach. Still glad we didn't cut corners there.