I'VE JUST finished stripping and I'm exhausted. It's harder than it looks and it took all weekend.

In a way it was therapeutic, for the first few hours at least, but then it became repetitive.

Yes, stripping wallpaper is one of the less enjoyable areas of DIY - especially when the 15 layers of lining paper hiding underneath the vinyl are harder to scrape off than Joan Rivers' slap.

The final count was three layers of wallpaper and four of lining paper on each wall.

However, me and my trusty scraper and bucket of warm water persevered and slowly the bare plaster began to emerge. As did the holes in the plaster, the rawl plugs, and the nails that had been left in the wall and papered over.

At least I know what I'm dealing with - nothing a good dollop of filler won't fix. The next step is to sand down the paintwork which will, no doubt, be helped by the large tin of paint stripper that I plan on saturating it with until the paint practically disappears of its own accord.

This interior decorating lark is big in the UK, with lots of television programmes devoted to getting us living in the epitome of style, making our own cushion covers out of old duvet covers and knocking up shelving units in an afternoon in the back garden.

I'm a sucker for these shows; I absorb all the hints and tips, storing them for when I have a house with a 14-square foot bathroom and floor-to-ceiling windows in every room.

For the moment, I'm going to use the knowledge I've gained to try to improve the, er, unique' decoration in place.

DIY can be successful but sometimes it goes horribly wrong (my hallway and stairs are testament to that fact) and, despite the best-laid plans, it can end up looking as if a demented chimpanzee has been at work.

Even though it may be easier to call in the professionals, we insist we can do the job ourselves, even if it takes three times as long, ends up costing just as much and causes a serious domestic dispute.

Which it inevitably does, whether it's arguing over meadowgrass or wheatfield for the walls, or the most effective way to apply the paint (pad, roller or brush?), or simply getting under each other's feet.

Then there are the accidents. The NHS estimates that more than 200,000 accidents a year are caused by DIY - 41,000 to do with ladders. Some are caused by sheer stupidity, while a small number are freak accidents that no amount of health and safety guidelines could have prevented.

Speaking of guidelines, these have been tightened up to prevent any enthusiast or competent amateur from fitting new electrics. Although, I'm not entirely sure if that's for the safety of the fitter or the people who subsequently use said electrics.

I'm always sceptical about getting tradesmen in to do work. I put them in the same category as mechanics: always distrust them until they prove otherwise. This may be unfair, but there always seem to be more dodgy tradesmen than decent ones.

Thankfully, I helped out with decorating when I was wee (dropping the pasting brush into the bucket full of wallpaper paste and those sorts of useful things) so I have a fairly good working knowledge.

However, I know when to admit defeat and get a professional in to do the work, just so long as they don't mind me standing over the them acting like the gaffer watching everything.

Still, when it's all done we can stand back and admire all our hard work, and enjoy the feeling that comes with sitting in a newly-decorated room.

That is, until one of you utters the words: "Do you think we should change the colour?"