The end is in sight.

We are having our hall, stairs and landing redecorated and have been living in what resembles the back room of a badly organised charity shop for a couple of weeks.   The chair hides goodness knows how many carrier bags of books from the shelves under the stairs.   I have spent this afternoon dusting them all and putting them back.  In the far corner is a pile of coats from the pegs round the corner at the bottom of the stairs. (see pic below, now full of tools)   I had no idea our hall housed so much stuff.  

The decorator's glory hole.  I must say, he is a very tidy worker and cleans up after himself as he goes.   But then he is my son-in-law so probably feels obliged to do so!

 There is still some final gloss painting to be done so our sad front door should soon be looking very much smarter.  Note the thick layer of dust on the little table.  Even though Bob very kindly kept all doors closed while he was sanding down the woodwork, it seeped into everywhere.  I didn't clear it up straight away as I knew there would be more to come, so wrote his name in it, all over the house!

It has taken a bit longer than anticipated as he had to fit our job around other work, but we don't mind as it is so nice to have work being done by someone we know and like.   You think to yourself  'it's only the hall and stairs', completely forgetting how many doors and door frames that includes, not to mention bannisters, etc.   There is far more work than the average room.  We should be home and dry by the end of the week and I'm sure I'll put my hand on the bannister rail before it's dry.

We went to a grandson's wedding on Saturday which was held in a beautiful old Cotswold hotel.  It was so nice to meet up with people we don't see very often, and to meet others we are just getting to know, not to mention the joy of so many of our own family coming together.  It was a truly lovely occasion.  Needless to say I forgot to take my camera!   Just about everyone else seemed to be snapping away so I'm bound to end up with one or two photos eventually.

We have been enjoying such lovely weather for some time now and I feel like a child again walking through crisp fallen leaves and trying not to scuffle!

As soon as the hall is back to normal I must turn my attention to the garden.  There is so much I want to do out there before the weather gets too cold and wet.  I am determined to get it in hand before winter sets in - it will make it more manageable next year.   What is it the naughty athletes take to help them come first?  I could do with some to help me get the garden into shape.