Finished

I finished painting the living room this morning with some help from the children which was much appreciated. I had to tinker with the colour in this to try and get it looking right as the late evening sunlight, filtered through the blinds was making it more vibrant than it really is.

I enjoyed the decorating as it also gave me chance for a right good spring clean and clear out. the kids have caught the bug too and asked to go to homebase so they could also do their rooms. I let them choose colours, with just a little bit of input from me, they both selected well and worked hard to finish 2 coats on one wall each, which is no mean feat with our high ceilings. Freya had the added challenge of having to remove a million posters and pictures before she could even start but she worked much harder than I would have expected given her exhaustion on return from Italy.

They both still have some more to do but as long as they can manage one wall at a time, just pulling out the furniture, then putting it back at the end of the day, I don't mind.

At one point it felt like the whole house was a bomb site but after I got the living room in order, gutted out the hall and tidied up the kitchen it was much better. I cleared a wee unit I have in the hall which is really only for gift wrap, stationery, souvenirs and party tricks, I found some treasure, threw out loads of things I don't need and vowed never to buy another bottle gift bag as I currently have 13!

The best bit was when I found the two number cubes for our Christmas countdown reindeer, one was 'lost' 4 years ago so we could only count down in random single digits and the other was 'lost' 2 years ago so this year we didn't use him at all (Freya had 3 iPhone apps counting down since October anyway!) I'm pleased he has been restored an can resume full service the December.

After my exertions I spent the evening reclining on the sofa with some knitting and the iplayer on jubilee mode. Very relaxing.