As I get better, I feel safer doing more and more — and some of those things are DIY jobs around the house. After my heart attack, I was told that I shouldn’t do anything physical for at least four weeks – I certainly didn’t ought to be climbing ladders!

So today I was delighted to be able to finish off the wall papering in the lounge!

Earlier in the summer, when my husband was still living with me, I’d papered the alcoves in the dining area (where my desk is). These are already full of my knickknacks and books – making the space feel like my own home for the first time ever: I have never decorated a space purely to my own taste before – that feels liberating – and the space feels cosy and safe.

When the husband moved out, I wanted to do the lounge area in a way that complemented the dining area since they are all one space.

I have wallpapered before, but not often: the husband almost always did things like that – he didn’t trust me to get it right. Besides, he wasn’t working so needed things to do. However, when I did DIY jobs he would give me lots of useful advice: he is quite a talent! I am grateful for his help then and now.

So taking this on myself was not just about paper on walls – it was about proving something to myself. It feels like such an achievement to decorate by myself for myself!

Things I have learnt about wall papering:

• Make sure that you have more than enough rolls of wallpaper with the same batch number on them: different batches may have differences in colour.
• Keep the wallpaper receipt because you can usually take back any unopened rolls.
• Don’t assume that anything in the house is straight! Use a plumbline or spirit level to find a true vertical and start papering from that. Most of the places I’ve lived have been over one hundred years old – even if the walls were flush once, they ain’t now!
• Make sure that you get the paste all over the paper – be especially heavy at the edges and corners.
• When cutting into the corners of walls where you’re not papering around the corner, mark the paper at the widest possible point and then cut parallel to the edge of the paper – don’t try to follow the nook down because you’ll probably end up with a wonky line which your eye will be able to see.
• When cutting into the corners of walls where you are papering around the corner, re-take the vertical on the new wall, but do your best to line up the two walls’ patterns.
• Measure and test for size multiple times before cutting. Yep. Nearly screwed up today with a piece that was exactly the right length.
• Leave excess at the top and bottom and trim it afterwards.
• Keep a small brush and pot of paste handy to re-stick any edges that haven’t adhered properly.

And there you go! A gay eunuch can hang wallpaper! Not bad for someone who wasn’t even trusted with a pasting brush, eh?

I’m sure there’s more, but that’s my tuppence worth.