Being a traditional Welsh farmhouse there’s lots of woodwork; including a tongue-&-groove ceiling upstairs. As you can imagine, in places it gets a bit dark at times.

Spurred on by B&Q’s offer of a half-price Paint Pod I deviated to DIY en route from a busy morning of gelato deliveries. Having stowed the hallowed instrument in my trolley I surveyed the available colours with dismay. I’d assumed said gadget could be used with the full range of Dulux paints: alas, no; & ‘Light & Space’ certainly isn’t available.

Thinking about the many walls I have to paint I reflected on how nigh-on impossible such a ‘useful’ gadget would prove to use. Most walls here are of rough-cast plaster, & bulge & bellow in all directions; not the easiest to smooth over with an automatic roller.

I put a little more careful, considered thought into what I wanted to achieve. Whilst the Paint Pod would have been ideal for our dark-&-dingy Dining Room, the whole house could do with a brightly-painted smile.

I stood there, perplexed by the wide array of brightly-coloured paints on offer. Albeit with limitations, the Paint Pod still beckoned. But my fretful mind worried that if it doesn’t prove popular & is withdrawn from the market (which as it’s already being offered at only half-price, seems likely) I was loathe to invest in a ‘fad’.

So I thought more carefully. Do dining rooms really have to be saturated with dark, oppressive colours….? These days ours is used more as an impromptu study, than a room for intimate ‘tete-a-tete’ meals.

So the Paint Pod has been shoved back on its DIY store shelf; & I’ve armed myself with a set of best-quality brushes along with a goodly pot of L&S ‘Coastal Glow’ which I know will prove just the tonic for our lovely old hallway.

And I also invested in a whole host of other ‘Light & Space’ sample pots – the cottage deserves not only a thorough spring clean but also a much-needed makeover. So here we go…!

But the house is only a suitably modest beginning. As you can imagine, we have loads of outbuildings here on the farm; most walls are whitewashed with doors & windowframes, a dark blood red.

You’ve inspired me to transform the Ffarm & dip into the light, alluring colours which decorate our ‘Lovespoon’ gelato pots – to brighten up the whole place, inside & out. No doubt not only Tony but a whole host of goats, sheep, ponies & poultry will thank you for it…!

So if ever you fancy a “busman’s holiday” feel free to take an excursion to Wales – where you can admire the bright & beautiful fruits of our labours, inspired by your ever-welcome advice.

We have done two rooms in our house, the least expensive ones…!!Now have to replace bathroom, completely gut the front room, and the kitchen, so I don’t think a few pots of paint, are going break the bank..

At the moment it is like living in a tin of mushroom soup, the people before definetely did not like anything else other than beige ha ha and like S.O.L….Numptys lived in my house before. everything is backwards. You have to go into the room shut the door in the dark and then thumble for the light switch.