Remember the lemurs wallpaper that Mr B&T agreed to for the hall, stairs and landing? It's something I love so much and got so excited about that I was telling everyone about it, particularly as I was so surprised that he was happy to go with it. Colourful, bright, patterened wallpaper is not what my husband tends to go for, he being of the magnolia brigade! And then this happened ...

I'd love to be reporting on kitchen progress, but I'll be honest, I need to give myself a kick up the backside with it. I started to feel really despondent that I couldn't get the tiling done and so I lost interest. Which has left me feeling really low. A half done kitchen really doesn't look good. But I'm glad to report that things are moving again ... though I may not be finished for Christmas as this is my busiest time of year. So I'll be able to report more in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, I promised you more on the hall, stairs and landing. Look what we found under the layers of wallpaper ...

Remember how I'm doing the kitchen transformation? Well, I just seem to be encountering a catalogue of problems. Not with the paint, that's gorgeous, and in fact, other than my time, there's no problem with me and the part I'm playing. All our problems are with the tradesmen because for once I'm asking them to do small jobs for me. Obviously, at a time of year when they've got big jobs on for people, my small jobs are not the ones they want to do. I've got a feeling I may be learning how to tile when I'm off between Christmas and New year. And so I'm moving on to report on the hall stairs and landing transformation is going. Here goes ...

I'm so disappointed I haven't been able to complete my kitchen transformation during the One Room Challenge period. Sadly I caught a very determined bug that has hung on for 2 weeks now. Whilst I've not been too poorly to work, I've come home from the workshop each evening so fatigued that I've just had no energy to carry on working on the kitchen. 

However I'm far enough along that there's no stopping here. I'll be continuing with the project over the next few weeks, at least I will as soon as I feel better.

I'm so glad about one thing though ...

You've made the decision that it's time to move, time to take your family (human or fur, or just yourself) and set up home somewhere new. It's exciting, and you've been hunting through properties for sale on the net, getting your head around what's out there in your budget. The agents have been round, valued your house, taken the photographs, written the blurb, sent around a few prospective buyers ... but nothing has happened. Months have gone by and you're getting frustrated that houses you like the look of are selling and you're just not getting a sniff with your house. Sound familiar? What on earth do you need to do to get that sale so that you can move?

I've been renovating houses since the late 1980's when my then boyfriend (now husband of 30 years) and I moved into a flat that covered the whole upstairs of a falling down house. Anyone who knows Ormskirk in West Lancashire, the house used to be where the traffic lights now are on St Helens Road, right opposite The Cricketers. We got the flat for dirt cheap rent because it was in such a state and so we set about giving it a bit of TLC. A year later and ...

I'm excited to report that progress has been steady this last week and I'm onto the all important painting - you know, the bit that will actually make my kitchen look like it's been transformed! And you know what ...

It's great having a plan, but sometimes the plan just doesn't go ... well, to plan. And that's been the story of this week. For starters ...

Week 1 of the One Room Challenge is done, and we're onto Week 2. There's always that bit in a room transformation where you don't feel like you're making progress - at least, if you're doing the job right that's generally how you feel. And that's because the 3 P Pyramid of Interior Design is in play - Plan, Prepare, Project Manage. I've been working hard all week on the kitchen and other than a few visible white splodges on the wall, you can't actually see much difference! And that's because ...

And so the challenge begins. One Room Challenge has joined forces with Better Homes and Gardens for the October 2018 room transformations, and as a guest participant I'm starting today with telling you all about the room I'm hoping to get fully transformed over the next 6 weeks, and my planning for getting it done. I'm going to use this post a little bit like a reminder to myself of my shopping list and the stages I've got to go through to get everything done.
I may live to regret this but ...