Up your nose

The second coat of Satinwood went on a treat with far fewer drips than yesterday and in far less time. As well as covering the streaks, slight colour variations caused by different levels of filler and rough edges where the original paint had flaked off were all covered up.

The second task of the day was to prime the skirting. No matter how thoroughly I stir primer for some reason it's never thorough enough, so I was halfway round the room when I noticed it was now going on white, whereas it had started off translucent.

I retraced my steps and overpainted the earlier boards.

The other downside to primer is the smell. I'd hate to see a list of the volatile organic compounds it contains but I could almost feel my lungs shrivelling up as I painted, despite having both windows open. It became so bad that Nikki rushed upstairs to tell me our next door neighbour had left his gas on again. The chemicals make the gas cooker smell like kerosene when the oven is on. And oh! How it gets to the back of your nose and stays there like...well...a bad smell.

By the time I'd finished I had a thumping headache and even after driving the girls home to Yorkshire and arriving back at the house I could still smell that pungent organic spirit smell.