DIM in Progress 01

I am over the decorating threshold in that work has re-started over the last week or two and preparation of the dining room is now complete.  Tomorrow there will be more painting, also Monday and perhaps Tuesday and then the room is finished.  

I feel I am on a roll and this must be maintained. 

The lounge challenge presents itself after the kitchen and dining room, which are warm-ups in comparison, and I do not underestimate this mammoth task.  Nor the expense.  Last decorated in June 2002 – the date is clear, since I stopped work long enough to watch key World Cup games, including Beckham’s rehabilitatory performance for England against Argentina – some say the room is long overdue. 

A replacement carpet is being discussed, as are new sofas.  Also that probably means curtains and what D2 describes as “accessories” and I call “cushions and such”.

Gone will be the recent experiences of fifty quid for a room *sighs*, but first we have to get over the colour choice problem.  A small team of consultants has been engaged (comprising all the family member females over the age of eighteen who live in or visit our house) and the decision rests there.     

Yesterday went quite well.  I put a large tube of glue on the floor, knelt on it to hold it steady and cut the nozzle tip off with a Stanley knife.  Cue a spurt of contents across the floor until I took my weight off the tube.  Another rookie error akin to sitting on the tree branch through which one is sawing.  Still, the glue job worked and all the corners and edges of the old wallpaper, curling away from the wall like the stereotype image of a British Rail or transport caff sandwich, are stuck down. 

Next, I opened my sealed tub of ready-mixed plaster and applied it to the bare and crumbling patches of wall within the cupboard I am renovating.  

The plaster fell off. 

I re-applied to a dampened surface, but found I couldn’t smooth it down properly because of the limited space, so . . .

Most of it fell off. 

So in the end I slapped it on barehanded like Neolithic man daubing the wattle of his hut, with plenty of fingertip pressure and dabbing with damp cloth and . . . 

It stayed in place.  The surface will be rustic in appearance, but when dry will take a coat of paint and who cares that much about the interior of the boiler cupboard?

Job done, but another trade struck off the list of those I might try as I seek practical DIM competence.