The first three quarters....

Today marked the start of our renovating.... it all started with me finally getting so fed up with our yucky curtains that I felt the need to change them. And then I kept looking at the cracks in the wallpaper, the stains on the ceiling and the general horribleness that comes with a house that has never been renovated in 16 years and felt the urge to get the living area re-papered. And then when we were looking at curtains there were none that we liked, but liked the idea of blinds that can be pulled up out of the way during the daytime and remove the need for horrible net curtains. But, we have the problem that we have very big sliding doors in the living room which you can feel the outside cold air through and therefore need thick curtains to keep out the cold in winter. So... finally getting to the point.... we decided to get the big cold doors double glazed - therefore allowing us to get the blinds we wanted without freezing in winter. Can you see the difference in the photos? - the first is the before, the second is the after - not exactly obvious to look at, but you can definitely feel the difference! Unfortunately only three of the four doors have been replaced as the final sheet was broken in transit and as they are custom made the replacement won't be here for another week or so - just in time for the weather to really warm up and therefore not be necessary!
Next stage is to remove the air conditioner that hasn't been used for about 10 years and put it into one of the cottage bedrooms to prevent the sauna effect in summer.... then the wallpaper and finally the origin problem - the curtains!