House work (no, not housework)

My focus currently is getting my house ready to sell. A while back I was starting to feel quite panicky (which is unusual for me) about how much work was needed to get the house in a decent state for sale. Someone suggested I have a working bee which I hadn't really considered. I am definitely not good at asking for help - am far too independent for my own good sometimes. But, I took the advice and set a date and asked friends and family if they would be able to come and help me.

Well, Saturday dawned wet, cold and miserable but I got myself sorted, did some baking and crossed my fingers. In the end I had 13 people come and lend a hand.

Three very hardy souls had a preference to working outside in the garden. I thought they were very brave as the conditions were pretty awful out there. They did a marvellous job pruning trees, clearing out garden beds and water-blasting the house and deck.

Everyone else helped inside. By the end of the day the lounge ceiling was painted, the walls were prepared and the first coat of paint on, the bathroom ceiling and walls were prepared and undercoated, the hallway topcoat was complete and my kitchen cupboards were cleaned out and organised.

The kitchen crew did a fantastic job getting lunch cooked and served. I couldn't quite believe the generosity of people giving up their time to help me out - it certainly gave me the warm fuzzies as well as a huge sense of relief that the bulk of the work was done.

On Sunday my sons, their girlfriends and one of their friends came back and continued to help. So, by the end of the day the lounge walls were finished, two coats of paint were on the skirting boards in the lounge, the bathroom ceiling and walls were complete and a whole pile of rubbish had disappeared to the tip. A soak in the spa at the end of the day and Chinese takeaways for dinner finished the day off quite nicely.

I still have a long list of things that need to be done but none of the tasks are huge. By the end of next weekend I reckon I'll have 90% of it finished so hopefully we'll be taking photos next week and advertising the house for sale.

As soon as the photos are done I'll put up another post of before and after photos.