The point at which I ask why....

• why did I say yes to booking the plasterers in during halfterm?
• why did I say yes when they phoned last Tuesday morning and ask if they could come a day early, Thursday and Friday instead of Friday and Saturday?
• why did I insist that T go away climbing in Spain for a much needed break after a very stressful halfterm, while also saying yes to the above?
• why did someone think that woodchip wallpaper was a good invention? (unless they were a plasterer?!)
• WHY ON EARTH DID I START THIS?!

It's always halfway through big DIY jobs that I start asking myself questions like these - the point at which the house is filled with a horrendous mess and the end is definitely not in sight! Thankfully now the plasterers have finished skimming the lounge diner, the plaster is almost dry despite the horribly damp wet and my thoughts can turn to paint colours. Half of the dining room is still in the kitchen (good job we've got a big kitchen!) and our bedroom is filled with boxes of books, ornaments, DVDs, definitely not the oasis of calm I would like it to be, but the end is now in sight. Most of the plastering dust has now been cleared up but I expect that we will still find the remnants of it in December as it gets *everywhere*. The new sofas (2 two seaters, one of them a sofa bed) are due in about three and a half weeks, so I'd better choose those paint colours quickly! While I do, though, do you fancy a look at what I found under the woodchip?

The lounge diner was originally two separate rooms but the dividing wall was removed by a previous owner. We decorated in a deep red and also a mustard yellow above the picture rail ten years ago. Definitely time for a change! Obviously we're usually a bit tidier than this!

This was under the wallpaper above the sofa! Parts of it are missing and patched up with filler but you can tell that it was once really beautiful. I know the grand-daughter of the people who lived here during and just after the war. Apparently wallpaper was both scarce and expensive, so her Grandad painted the walls!

The painting of the ship was in the dining room, and the rest of the walls in there were painted with mock panelling. The two round scenes were either side of the fireplace in the sitting room. Such a shame that the plaster was so badly damaged and crumbling away, but at least I've got the photos. Every time a door opened or closed more plaster came off.

I may be a bit quiet here over the next couple of days as I'm popping back into hospital for a spot of day surgery tomorrow. They're going to sort out one of the scars under my chin left from February's surgery. It's horribly tight and uncomfortable at the moment, although apart from that everything is healing well. So tomorrow evening I may look as though I've been in a fight, but things should then improve!

A quick update - the surgery went well, and despite the stitches the mess under my chin actually looks better already! I'm feeling a bit battered and bruised, but should be back to normal (whatever that is!) by the end of the weekend.