When the "Master of the Household" is away on business or on holidays away from me, I usually put my energy on house decoration. The changes are sometimes very small and insignificant but sometimes very dramatic.

Once I painted the wall of the small entrance bright blue, hung some nice pictures on the wall and put a new carpet on the entrance floor without him seeing the change. He said he was tired on his return and just passed through the entrance. A lame excuse, I think.

In January he flew to Thailand for two weeks for diving - that should give me enough time for some major changes in the house. So, where do we spend 6 to 8 hours every single day? In the bedroom - he would at least need a better excuse this time.

I started by tearing the old pale creamy colour wallpaper - it was definitely easier said than done. It took me two very long evenings to do the job, but you seldom get a chance to tear anything so it was a sort of a therapeutic experience.

So far so good. As I needed help with hanging the new wallpaper on the wall I decided to ask my sister to help me. As she is very good with details she would make sure that nothing would get missed. And I was right. The pattern of the new wallpaper was a bit challenging and a few details needed to be looked into when cutting it and hanging it on the wall. And on top of it we had fun catching up, eating and drinking some wine.

OK - I now had my new wallpaper. It was time for the next move. The bedside tables needed a new colour to match the wallpaper. Light grey.

Now I only had to have new curtains and pillowcases...

And even the dead tired diver could spot the difference!