It’s December, the cows are dry ( they are having a rest from milking before they start calving in February) so that means my husband is in from work at a reasonable time (6.30ish) rather than the usual 9pm. Now I usually leave it until January before I start getting him to do those jobs around the house that have been waiting for him but that means there is only a couple of weeks before he is back working long hours again so this year I’ve started cracking the whip a bit earlier!
I got him to remove the sink and old units in the utility last January and I painted it. Unfortunately, the cows started calving before he did any more so I think I’ve been a very tolerant wife for the last 11 months! Tolerant or mad – not sure which. The new worktop was delivered today so that will start taking shape next week.
Excuse the quality of these photos but my camera wasn’t charged so I just took a couple of quick photos with the iphone. It all needs to be tidied up along with the new blinds (waiting to be hung) but here’s the wallpaper up in the downstairs loo.
It’ll need a coat of varnish to protect it from water splashes. If you are wondering what the wallpaper design is – it’s Zepherine in crocus by Designers Guild – it’s great for using on its own as it is extra wide at 68.5cm.
There is a cloakroom leading to the downstairs loo from the hall, it is basically just a walk through. There is an alcove that was traditionally used for storing coats but I’ve decided to make
more of a feature of it and got Brian to wallpaper the back of the alcove with this Palmieri wallpaper in slate – again by Designers Guild.
The plan is to place about 3 shelves there with some white and glass accessories to profile nicely against the wallpaper.
What about all those coats? Where are they? Well, the ones that are rarely used are in the spare room wardrobe. Our more frequently used coats can now hang on the back of the door now that these coat hooks have been put up 
Do you find you have a quiet time of the year when you or your partner can catch up on the decorating and those jobs that have been waiting? Unfortunately ours is in the depths of winter and the dark evenings aren’t the most inspiring for getting started.
We’re putting up our Christmas tree today. We have had an artificial tree (which is reasonably realistic and nice) for the last number of years because I’m allergic to pine. When we moved here, the house was surrounded by a small forest of evergreen pine trees and as my eczema became steadily worse, we discovered that I was allergic to the trees. We always intended cutting them down as they make the house so dark but then getting rid of them became a priority. It seemed a bit silly that Christmas to bring in a tree that I was allergic to!
I’ve missed the smell of the pine though. I have childhood memories of tiptoeing down the stairs and smelling the pine from our tree in the hall. This year I asked Brian to bring in a small real tree, I was thinking of something that would be 2-3 feet high and I was going to let the children decorate it with these miniature decorations and fairy decorations but he brought in one that is 8 foot high!
Have you got your decorations up? We’ll get the tree for the living room up tonight and then get everything else done at the weekend including the real tree in the hall. It’s been some time since we left putting the decorations up so late but it actually makes me feel more Christmassy rather than seeing them up for ages and ages.
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