Before, During and After -- Had my flat painted

Hiya!

It's a fascinating experience -- and a very dusty, havoc-causing one -- to have one's home painted, even if it's only two rooms. No, I didn't have to move everything out but the bookshelves had to be emptied and the wardrobe and the 'Jugendstil' sideboard, so that they could be shifted to the centre of the room.
Most interesting. Because: where do you put all that stuff until the job is done?
Well, some of it was thrown out and some of it went into boxes which went up to the attic.
I'm sure my family doctor would have been horrified to see me heaving three banana boxes full of National Geographic Magazines (not all at once, just one at a time) up two flights of steps and under the rooftiles in my attic space. I have an operated hernia and have been formally warned not to lift any heavy weights. But I was extra careful about how I did all the lifting and carrying. Also, my body seems to be in good trim (better than it ever was, I think), perhaps because I do a lot of yoga, cycle and walk literally every day and live three-and-a-half floors above ground level in a house that does not have a lift/elevator. It's excellent basic everyday fitness training -- completely free of charge!

Dark shadows above the radiator and in the corners; a horribly old-looking, sad hue of grey for the woodwork, the ghosts of pictures I'd hung up a few years ago -- I was not sorry to see them go! Took my camera out to photograph one of my rooms before, during and after the painter did his job. Here are the results.

BEFORE:AFTER (two days later):


BEFORE:

AFTER (two days later):
The plaster ceiling was shot through with cracks (I had never actually noticed them), which the painter proceeded to gauge out before he filled them in again. I caught him in the process, while the filler was still wet.

DURING:

The ghosts of past inhabitants are gone; the walls and ceiling are pristine; the woodwork is only a hint darker than the walls -- the rooms look twice the size of before. I'm really pleased.

The whole process also gave me the much-needed push to do a bit of rearranging. It feels like a new flat. I still catch myself of a morning striding across my bedroom to the wardrobe at the back. It now stands right next to the door, which is so much more practical. But I have yet to get used to its new position...

What is really nice about all this is that, being a tenant, I don't have to pay for any of this work -- well, in a way I've already paid for it with my rent. Good landlords make sure their flats always look nice -- it encourages tenants to take better care. Needless to say, I'd have preferred the renovation to have been done just before I moved in almost eight years ago, which would have saved me a lot of hassle. But I'm not complaining; by now the walls would probably have looked almost as bad...