OK, I think this was day 1000 of stripping the bannister. I had a moment - a very happy moment - when I thought I was done. And then I saw the last third under the stairs that still had to be done.

I tried to palm sander that my neighbour lent me last night. (I must reiterate that he is amazing.) Unfortunately, suck city.

I have a tiny piece left to do. And then Alex left again, afer having finally put on the phone jack plate and I suddenly felt the injustice and refused to continue. Instead, I made myself a hotdog and sat down to watch some HGTV.

I started dreaming out maybe getting on one of those shows and having someone else do all of this work. They seem to be able to all these amazing things in a weekend. Why the hell is it taking me weeks and weeks just to get painted and unpacked?

Seriously, those design shows should come HERE - we'd be great subjects!