OK, so maybe saying it's the worst mistake we've ever made is a little extreme but honestly, it has to have been one of the most exhausting, soul-sucking, mind-numbing experiences we have had since we moved to sunny Sweden.
It could be threatened as corporal punishment and all crime, petty or otherwise, would plummet overnight.
What am I talking about? Iâm talking about painting the exterior of your idyllic wooden Swedish house.
We purchased our home back in 2020, and we knew it needed a bit of cosmetic work to reach its potential. The exterior hadn't been treated in at least 15 years, so we had it on our list of jobs to do. It wasn't the straightforward job we thought it would be.
It really isn't as easy as giving it a quick lick of paint and standing back to admire your handiwork.
No, it is way more boring and backbreaking than that. Because the house had been neglected for so long, the old paint had become very weather damaged and was in the process of cracking and peeling away from the wood.
So we couldn't simply apply a new coat but rather we had to remove as much of the old paint as possible. With a scraping tool. About two inches wide. Now you feel my pain, right?
At first my husband and I set about this task with gusto, playing music to jolly ourselves along and enjoying the sunny, warm weather.
As I have a fear of heights, I took the lower level and Jonathan trundled up his ladders to deal with the upper floor. He has definitely had most of the hard work. Balancing on ladders, several meters off the ground with this tedious chore is enough to break any man.
Iâm not sure how he has managed to endure it, and I am in awe of his determination and ability to balance, scrape, hold on for dear life, bake in the hot sun, have paint flakes missile directly into his eyes despite wearing safety specs, and not lose his will to live.
Weeks later and we have just about completed two sides of our home.
It has turned from an ugly, flaking dirty yellow to a bright, beautiful and fresh cream with white accents and a sage green front door.
Why only two sides? It is all we can manage this year. We haven't been able to reseal and paint the windows, but this can now wait until next summer. As for the other two sides, they wait until the summer after.
Any lessons learnt?
When you tell a Swede that you're about to undertake a task and they either laugh hysterically or pat you on the back with a solemn look on their face and a tear in their eye, heed it as a warning and proceed with caution!
This is a column and the views are the author's own.