Blimey, where did that time go?

I'm a little shocked to realise that SBB and I have been back for two weeks. We went away on holiday to Cyprus and it was lovely. It was thoroughly relaxing and I came back feeling happy and content (of course that feeling promptly disappeared after being back at work for 10 minutes but that's another story!)

Ah, Cyprus... I miss you already.

But, being back in England means only one thing: time to get back to work at the flat. We decided to 'ease ourselves in' by tackling the living room. You may remember the before pictures from a previous post but more recently the living has looked more... well. Messy.

We'd cleared almost all the stuff out a while back so it was pretty empty while I filled in shelf holes and prepped the woodwork. Then I got to the window sill of the large window (the window in the photo above).

I scraped it.
I sanded it.
And yet... the paint could still be peeled off. So...
I scraped it.
And sanded it.
And STILL I could peel paint off. Like this:

So. So. Frustrating. I must have done the scrape/sand combo about four times before we went away. I was almost ready to give up - to say 'to hell with it' and just prime it - but I was determined not to be beaten.

So the other night whilst SBB and my Dad were drilling holes for the kitchen spotlights I tackled the window sill once and for all. And finally after a LOT of scraping.....

Ta Da!!
I just need to go over the really stubborn bits with sandpaper just to soften the edges then it's priming and painting time!

Also, we painted the walls:

Just excuse the fridge in the middle of the room (which is an entirely rational place to keep a fridge, don't you think?). I think the light magnolia really makes the room look bigger - much better than the blue even though I loved it at the time.

I really feel like we're getting somewhere now, even though it's just paintwork. The only room that hasn't been touched is the bedroom. Apart from the hallway, but that doesn't count as a room, does it? Hopefully we can start putting in the kitchen soon which will not only mean we're one step farther on but I'll also be able to go to Ikea to buy some accessories!