Plastering on the hallway started today.

As of next week, when the job is expected to be complete, we will have re-plastered every single wall in this house since moving in 3 years ago.

It’s taken a lot of patience. A lot of moving furniture around. And a lot of money. To be honest, that’s why it’s taken so long. We just didn’t have one lump sum of cash to throw at the problem, but we’ve got there. We finally did it.

This final room will mark the end of our “brickwork life”, and closing a chapter on renovating and living in dust.

For the most part, we’ve tried to DIY what we can to keep costs down and keep things moving when payday seemed like a faraway notion. We need to decorate, but we need to eat too! So, yes, budgetary reasons were key, but I’d also be lying if I didn’t say it’s almost become a hobby too. Obviously the DIY stuff more for Joe than myself, and the fact that he took time out of his weekend lately to visit a Screwfix Live event I think shows how much his interest has grown. (Screws…yay?)

There are some areas where I feel DIY isn’t your best bet though and it’s time to call in the professionals. Some people may wish to tackle plastering themselves and that’s flippin’ awesome – I can’t imagine the amount of money you saved and the satisfaction you must get from being able to say: “I did that.”