We’re well into our second weekend of painting now for what we’d originally hoped would be an easy job for an single weekend.

First order of the day was to ditch the last of the pink – namely the carpet. Thankfully the felt underlay beneath seemed in reasonable condition so that would be saved for reuse.

A job I despise almost at much as painting ceilings is sanding skirting board. I just have no idea how you’re meant to get into all the grooves. For the most part I used my electric mouse sander which always seems to sound like it’s about to pack up and die. This is technically my ‘new’ mouse sander as my previous had given up on me whilst sanding skirting boards in a previous life. Maybe it’s me and I’m just using them wrong, or maybe this is just a hint not to use Black and Decker sanders. By the time I’d finished the sanding, I could hardly hear anything above the ringing in my ears, but thankfully there was still enough time to get a coat of primer onto the windowsill and start glossing the skirting.

Painting the tops of old skirting against old plaster has always challenged me. I started off without masking, but could only manage an amateur finish. So out came the masking tape. The remaining 2 corners of the room, above the skirting and round the door frames were masked off and I slopped on the paint.

By the end of the weekend, we were pretty much ready for the carpet and to put the furniture back – just the masking tape to peel off.

..and true to all my previous experiences of masking off walls, off came the paint and voila the pink beneath was enacting it’s evil revenge. Why does this happen?! Have I bought the wrong masking tape? Oh well, thankfully the F&B paint on the walls is proving extremely forgiving when touching up areas, so that’ll be something to sort out when the carpets in.

1 Weekends job had taken almost exactly 2, but at least it was finished and we still liked the colour!