House makeover over

The homemakeover isn't complete but it's over. Jeremy's allergy to fine dust has put flaking, smudgy walls into a wider, and possibly more realistic, perspective.

Today, Vince, the homemakeover guru, and Superman, my father-in-law, plastered, sanded and painted as much as their arms would allow until four in the afternoon. Then Mum's friend Mary arrived to help me fight the blanket of dust covering everything and everywhere.

The stairs are still a sour white and the hall a smudgy peach but they'll have to stay that way for good long while. The flaking powder blue paint of the dining room and kitchen is hardly visible anymore.

The war on dust took over five hours.

Tomorrow my son will return home.