Another thing I have been up to

is renovating a house.

Dad asked me to try my hand at sales, wine sales. I don't really know if I'll like it, or more to the point if ll be any good, but I said I would give it a year - just not sure when the year starts.... - so... if that's not scary enough for someone as scared of staying still as myself, I also decided that I really should move out of home. Dad and I get along really well, but after a year living in his spare room I have decided I need a little space. And luckily enough there is a spare house up at the winery.

This house started out life identical to Dad's house, and all the other returned servicemen's houses in the area. Standard two bedroom house. Over the years it has been added to. It is difficult to find its resemblance to Dad's. There are an extra two bedrooms, which are handy as the house has been used for storage for the past 4 years. And well another couple of rooms added on all over the place. I like what they have done with the bathroom, aside from the dodgy job resulting in tiles falling off all over the place and the full length window. It was probably ok when it was only your family working the vineyard, but still.... And yes the whole place was covered in wall paper. I will never again be able to look at wall paper without wondering what dodgy DIY job lays beneath.

I should have taken photos before I started work, but the house was also full of furniture - it was the storage house after all - and I was too impatient to wait until it was all removed before starting work. I have learnt a lot in the past few weeks. Some wall paper is very easy to remove, some is not. Some holes are easy to fill some are not. Some gap fillers are easy to sand smooth, some are not. Some surfaces are easy to paint, some should have been prepared first.

I am doing the house up on the cheap. After deciding I would do it up and move into it, I found out when Dad was having a discussion with an architect that he plans to bulldoze the house in 2 years time. So there is a lot of gap filler being. I would probably be embarrassed if anyone takes a really good look at what I have done, but if it only has to last two years......