Every door, skirting run and architrave in the house was in old oil gloss, well yellowed in the north-facing rooms. Moving to water-based eggshell meant sanding all of it back far enough to key, then knotting, undercoating and finishing — which is where eleven of the fifteen days went.

Worth it. Three years on, water-based stays the colour it was put on at, and oil would already be going the colour of weak tea in the back bedrooms.