Hi SRS,

If I remember correctly the seven stages are/were:

1. Get rid of thousands of books which had accumulated over the years. Some went to charity shops and some I managed to sell (for 'peanuts' - but I did get something for them). This was the hardest phase of all. COMPLETED

2. Get all of the windows in the house double-glazed - not just some of them (the incomplete double-glazing was my own silly fault). COMPLETED

3. Get the house electrics sorted out. Turned out that the house didn't need re-wiring, as I had feared. The electrician told me that I needed a new fuse-box (or 'consumer unit' as they now appear to be called in the UK) and a couple of sockets re-positioned. COMPLETED

4. Get the two spare-rooms (previously full of books) decorated, carpeted and furnished to create a spare bedroom and an office. COMPLETED

5. Get the loft turned into storage space (I deliberately left this to stage 5. in order to avoid the temptation of storing lots of books up there). COMPLETED

6. Get the downstairs dining room re-decorated. I'm now in the process of obtaining quotes. PENDING

7. Get the front room re-decorated. The theory is that once the dining room is finished I can temporarily move the front room furniture (including a much lighter TV) into there in order to make decorating easier. PENDING

Note that I'm paying other people to do the work (a) because I'm hopeless at DIY and (b) because I'm hoping for a better finish.

So, hopefully, should be finished by about September. Wish me luck!