I’ve found ‘prep’ is actually more work than painting

If I ever said I couldn’t do something as a child, my parents’ response would be ‘there’s no such thing as can’t’.

So I’ve always had a kind of ‘can-do’ attitude, even if I actually find some things a bit of a struggle (sorry mum and dad, but I can’t be good at everything).

Anyway, with this attitude in mind and with our house needing a bit of a spruce-up (bearing in mind we’ve been living in it for nearly eight years with very little TLC) and with no work in London, I’ve made it my personal mission to improve the outside space.

Goodness knows why I didn’t have this idea in the summer, when it would have actually been a pleasure to spend so much time outside.

But that’s me, always doing things too late. Still, better late than never.

So I’ve been back and forth to the DIY store, getting the bits and bobs I need to start painting the walls of the garden and driveway.

In my head this all sounded like a relatively simple idea, but in reality it’s a lot harder.

Not only do you need the paint and the brushes, but you also need dust sheets and masking tape and also white spirit to clean the brushes at the end of the day.

But you know what, I’m actually rather proud of myself. Apologies for sounding sexist (and to all my feminist readers out there, I’m with you on burning the bras and standing up for equal rights) but, as I said to my husband Matt, traditionally there aren’t many wives who would take on the role of DIY person around the home.

I’ve painted all of the driveway walls a nice brilliant white (sunglasses are now required, because it really is ‘brilliant’ white) and am half-way through doing the garden walls.

There’s only one slight problem – the whole ‘prep’ thing has become a bit of a bore.

It’s actually more work than the physical act of painting, so I’ve kind of scrapped that part.

We now have a very ‘artistic’ tiled garden, all speckled with white paint.

Still, as I said earlier, you can’t be good at everything can you?