Update on the Front Room

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In May, I wrote a post about how we were going to decorate the front room, that used to look like this:

Two months on, and dear readers, the progress has been so very slow. Our first major delay was that we discovered that the joists underneath the floor had rotted. The whole room used to shake when Orla danced, which we knew was a bad sign.The whole floor had to be removed and new joists had to be put in place. For a couple of weeks our front room was a literal pit.

The good news is that we put a new floor down, on top of band new joists, with extra insulation. Already the room feels warmer, and more stable. Once that was done we went on holiday which again delayed us by a couple of weeks.

Since then we have stripped the room of wallpaper, plastered up the gaps, scrubbed down the walls and spent what feels like three years sanding down the woodwork. There is a lot of woodwork to deal with; a picture rail, a dado rain, skirting board, window frame, doorway, door and one ornate fireplace. There are so many fiddly bits, and curved lines that this has taken an age! I mean look at the nooks and crannies in this fireplace…

That is a lot of fiddly sanding work right there! I’m consoling my snagged fingernails with the thought of how bright and beautiful this is going to look when it is painted a gleaming white!

So here is what the room looks like today:

It has been frustrating to work so slowly. I feel a bit like one of those couples from Grand Designs living in a caravan for two years whilst their build is delayed again and again. But we are doing the work ourselves as much as possible which means fitting it around work, parenting and church. C’est la vie!

On the plus side, Orla has enjoyed riding her scooter in the near empty room, we’ve had an extra month to save for a carpet and wallpaper, and best of all the prepping stage is nearly over. We are going to give the room a really good clean to get rid of all the dust and then we can finally start painting all that sanded-down woodwork!

I can’t wait!

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