New and improved?

Connolly Towers has been undergoing a bit of a facelift over the last couple of months.. Shortly before Christmas I stayed in a lovely hotel in Tipperary and was very much taken by the red bathroom in our room. I decided that when I got the chance I'd paint my own bathroom the same colour. On New Years Eve I began what turned out to be a redocration project that's taken the best part of 2 months to finish. Actually, truth be told, it's not quite finished yet but i'm going to take a little break for a while. Besides I need to get that shirt clean.

Having painted the bathroom walls, I figured that the ceiling could do with a fresh coat. Then the doors looked a bit shabby by comparison. But of course you can't just do one door, you've got to do all of them, don't you? Once the doors were done I realised I'd better paint the walls of the bedrooms but, wait, so long as I'm doing that why don't I pull up the carpets, sand the floors and varnish them? That'll only take a few minutes, right? Excitingly it was when i was doing the floors that I discovered that there used to be a fireplace in my bedroom but it's all been blocked up. Seriously, why would anyone do something like that? At some stage it'll be a little job for me to unblock that and out in a new fireplace. Or, more to the point, an old one. So, once the floors were done, I was able to paint the walls.. Oh and the ceilings too. And if I'm going to paint the walls of the Towers, I'd better paint the porch. And on and on and on. And let's see - it seems to me like there's hardly been a better time to get rid of those nasty curtains in the living toom. And the bedroom. And the blinds in the bathroom. And the kitchen.. Honestly it's just become an ongoing obsessions that I think is finally reaching the end of the line. I need to do a little work in the kitchen (painting the presses, changing the door handles and rearranging the shelves) and I should be done..

Now I wouldn't want anyone to think I did it all on my own. Actually - I'd love for people to think that I did it on my own but the truth is that Helen helped out an awful lot. It was her idea to sand the floors and although I always wanted to do it myself I needed a bit of guideance and know-how which she has lots of.. So credit where credit's due. And thanks - I couldn't have done it without her. Well done that girl.

It's been taking up all my weekends and most nights when I get home from work to so it's great to finally have most of the work done and at last i can take the opportunity to sit back, relax and enjoy all the hard work.. I reckon I'm all worked out at this stage.

What? Tidy up the garden? Oh for fu....