A new broom sweeps clean!

I suppose it's always the case when one moves house that the urge to put your own stamp on the place kicks in. In our case it didn't so much 'kick' in as threaten to choke us. The smell of nicotine was everywhere and opening the doors and windows didn't even begin to touch the problem.

A quick trip to Intermarche, our local - well, loosely speaking, local - supermarket, was the turning point in our fight against the all-pervasive smell. We came home equipped with several bottles of Apta X-Trem POWER DEGRAISSANT and set to work with bucket and sponge.

The first squirt of Apta X-Trem was a 'road to Damascus' moment; rivulets of brown, nasty stuff ran down the walls and dripped from the ceiling. Walls which we thought were a subtle shade of latte turned out to have been brilliant white in a former life.

I became an Apta junkie right there and then. I wouldn't hear a bad word spoken against it. In fact,  I'd have killed for the less.

Our main pastime became 'Spot where I'm up to', closely followed by 'Can you see what it is yet?' - the latter when we drew pictures and messages in the grime.

Yes; OK... it's CHEESY, but I think it proves my point!

Then at last came the day we'd waited for. We awoke not to the now familiar smell of nicotine but to the aroma of Apta X-Trem! We'd cracked it. The painting could begin at last.

Whack it on Col !!!

It wasn't long before we finished the lounge.