Normally at this time of year we’re rushing to get Halloween built, all of our plans coming together and hopefully something good coming out at the end of it.. not so much this year.

As I’ve mentioned, we started redecorating our front room, this wasn’t a small task and as well as it taking up all of our time, it swallowed all of our money too! It’s at a stopping point right now, we’ll pick it up again when we can. but it’s looking good.

Last time I dropped in everything was covered in plastic awaiting ceiling work. Thankfully scraping the ceiling wasn’t too bad, the work of a couple of hours for the two of us (if you weren’t previously aware, spray the ceiling with water first to moisten the drywall then it’ll scrape off in big ribbons). The following evening we re-textured the ceiling, spraying it with a drywall compound and then knocking it down. The following couple of evenings painting it white. It looks good, it’s much less obnoxious and we can’t wait to get the rest of the house done up the same way.

Then the plastic came off the walls and we got to painting. We chose provence cream (aka pale yellow!) for the hallway and coral gold for the front room. On the bare walls the coral gold looked very… bright, the high wattage halogen work lights we were using didn’t help either. But with our usual lights and natural light coming in the window it seems much softer, and it’s a nice warm welcome into the house.

We steam cleaned the carpets while the floor was clear which of course summoned the much needed rain… so our nice clean carpets became covered in muddy paw prints.. I think it became a game for Es to run outside and see how far inside she could get before we got to her feet with the towel!

Then the bookcases went up, I cannot tell you how happy this made me! Furniture was moved in (putting out my back in the process – it’s sore but much better now) and the books went up on the shelves along with some knick-knacks to fill the gaps until we buy more books *grins* Yes, I am wearing a brace while I sorted the books, you’re correct, I probably shouldn’t have done that with a bad back. But I did it anyway, I was in my element sorting them all out and getting them “just-so” I would have stopped if it hurt too bad… promise!

So all that is left is ceiling molding, skirting boards and molding around the doors. We intend to do a stained wood. And we’re also going to make a media cabinet to store the computer and wii etc, and sit the tv on top, right now we’re using the coffee table, the table it was sat on has become an end table for the sofa.

Es did admirably throughout all of this and thoroughly enjoyed it when she had no obstacles in her way when racing round the living room. She’s doing well now,  she’ll be 10 months next weekend – almost a year!

This is her classic pose, we liken it to a child stretched out with a colouring book!

So we’re finally working on Halloween now, there’ll be no backdrop this year, and I have no idea what my costume will be. But we’re getting there!