And it's only February

My New Year's resolutions seem to have sunk without trace, but it is possible to keep going back to them.  They were good ideas for a reason, so I just need to keep picking myself up, dusting myself down and keep going.

I still haven't done a stock take of the tins.  Or the packets.  On the other hand, I have less of both as I am being slightly cannier about buying.

I need to watch the pennies, but I am currently cuing up stuff that will cost.  The living room and study have not been decorated since before we moved in in 1994.  They are being decorated, starting next week.  As the two rooms are going to all be in the same colour and style, it is going to be done at the same time.  It will be a logistical nightmare - but done once!  Hopefully I can then ignore it for another twenty years.

So far we are looking at around £250 to decorate the two rooms, plus another £600 for the floors.  That is, we paint the ceilings, strip all the wallpaper, put up a dado rail (to make the papering easier in tall rooms), put up lining paper and paint it and put in two new lights.  The dado rail has cost just under £100 for twenty one metres of wooden dado (including postage).  As it isn't fashionable it was hard to find anything half way decent.  It looks like this...

... or rather, hopefully it will look like this when it arrives.  Then there are two lights at a total of around £60, plus fitting.  We already have a supply of magnolia (paint of choice) and we are not planning on getting expensive lining paper.  

I should add, we are not planning on getting many new accessories.  We already have the curtains and curtain poles, we have appropriate mirrors and pictures, and we have appropriate bits and bobs for ornaments.  Our decorating style is going for less, not more.  However we have ventured a ridiculous amount on two new waste paper baskets.  These ones had better work!