Decoraters, and persuasion

Hello! Hope you are all having a good week. This week we had the decoraters in to give us a quote for some work at the house. They have quoted us for:

• Sripping the hall and stairs of the woodchip and covering the artex underneath, then painting the whole lot.
• Sripping the dining room and relining, painting the walls and ceiling.
• Painting 3 walls in the lounge and papering one with a feature paper.

Total quoted: £1300

My other half wants to go ahead and get them to do the lot, however that is a huge chunk from the budget and I only really wanted to get someone in for the stairs and hall because we couldn't sort the artex ourselves. I understand why he wants to go ahead as it would lighten the load on us, and the results will be near perfect.

So please please give me your opinions on this, would you pay the total price, have the lot done, save time, and have perfect results but then have a reduced budget for furnishings, carpet and appliances. OR would you have the hall and stairs only done for around £500 and live with some imperfections as a result of doing it yourself in the other rooms, but then have more budget left? HELP!

On another note I am completely in love with the idea of finding some beautiful old furniture like this:

This picture is from design*sponge, which is a great home interior blog you should check out. I just love the character in pieces like these drawers the author found.

My idea would be to get a couple of chests of drawers, a wardrobe and 2 bedsides from the same era, but not neccessarily matching, then paint them up to match. Now I think thats kinda cute and quirky (and it would save a heck of a lot of £'s). And can I just reinforce the fact that I LOVE THIS IDEA.

But last night other half said he doesn't want our house to end up "looking like a charity shop", so now I'm not sure whether he doesn't really like the things I have already restyled :(, or whether he just meant I need to find pieces that match, which is easier said than done!

And he wants to go to ikea on Sunday to pick out some brand spanking new furniture. They do have one I like called Hemnes, but I dont want white, as much as I love white I realllllllly want to get me some grey furniture for the bedroom. And I know they do a grey but online it doesn't look a very nice colour, although I may fall in love with it when I see it. But my point is that this will be a lot more expensive, and I really wanted to try upcycling some old stuff.

Ohhh rant over, please give me your opinions on whether I should go ahead with the decoraters, and if/ how I could persuade other half to let me pick out some furniture.

Help!!!

Much love,

Becky x

P.s Well done if you read all that