Painting, woodstaining and wall paper stripping when preggers.

[Chrysanthamum]

Hi, I really feel like dolling up our house on a budget, which just means a lick of paint here and there inside and out and maybe stripping the walls of wall paper- its currently lime green wood chip. Is it sensible to do thie at 23 weeks pregnant or should I grin, bear it and wait?

Don't see why not. I would wonder what is behind the woodchip and whether you will be able to continue on a budget once it comes off (may need lots of replastering) but I don't think there is anything intrinsically harmful about decorating (I've no medical qualifications to justify this view). You can use eco-paints if you are worried about fumes.

If you just use water or steam to get the wallpaper off there's no reason that would cause you any harm, and I'm not aware of any worries about modern paints - the only things you'd need to be wary of would be scraping off very old paint (1960s or earlier) which can have lead in it. And I'd avoid any strong chemicals for removing paint or wallpaper.

But I'd suggest doing a smallish bit at a time in case you find it more tiring than you expect, as you won't want to feel pressured into finishing it, specially with the bump getting bigger and hotter weather coming.

Cheers, I should get going then. Do you think we'll have a good summer this year? i'm in Scotland too and every summer I've stayed here (due to pregnancies) has been miserable. Its looking good so far though.

I'm not betting on hot weather, just remembering the internal-furnace effect of a bump

I know but i've got my inflatable paddling pool for the back garden. The luxury of it all... Shine on!