Archives for "Indoor Decor"

“What a lovely long weekend it was” commented Lulu as I walked into my office. “Yes” I replied, “such beautiful weather for June.” “What did you get up to?” asked Lulu. “I hope you made use of these last few sunny days”. “I went to war against mould Lulu. I went to war”.

A sunny, long weekend should be used for a great escape to somewhere serene. A lovely weekend away with friends and wine and sleep ins. Alas, mine was far more mouldy than that. It involved ladders, scrubbing and many buckets of warm, soapy water. I was waging war against black mould that can cause respiratory diseases and allergies or worse, destroy my décor and make your house smell like an old pub. And my mould had done just that. My family were all sick and my home had an odour.

I have never been a fan of Mr Mould in any colour or form. Not even blue-veined cheese sauce does it for me. Mould, whether black, blue or green makes me see red. It seems to come out of nowhere showing up in hard to reach spots like between bathroom tiles, behind built in cupboards and on ceiling boards. When I see mould I want to shout and run away. I feel that climbing a 2m ladder to scrub the ornices with a toothbrush is close to torture and should not be required of any domestic servant. And so scrub and research I did.

Scrubbing can involve anything that mould hates – a solution of diluted bleach; hydrogen peroxide; white wine vinegar or lemon juice is recommended. Mould loves damp, dark places so when decorating consider decreasing the clutter and increasing the air-flow to bring natural light and air into your home. Structural changes may need to be considered such as adding large windows, skylights or extractor fans which are particularly useful in the bathroom and kitchen where steam condenses.

“And how is your little one? Is she getting better?” continued Lulu a little disinterested in my mouldy tales. “She is doing much better thanks. This antibiotic she is on seems to have done the trick” I replied. “Aren’t antibiotics made from mould?” beamed Lulu as this was more a statement than a question. I had thought that my mould was causing my family to get sick… could it be causing them to get better?

It turns out there may be a few in the medical fraternity who do actually love mould. “Oh I just love mould” I imagine Alexander Fleming exclaiming on September 28^th, 1928 in his laborarotory in the basement of St Mary’s Hospial in London. Actually, he probably didn’t excalim that. It turns out he was a little messy and/or forgetful and left a petri dish fill of Stapphalococcus bacteria out over night only to find it full of blue-green mould the next morning. He probably exclaimed politely “Oh deary me, my poor petri dish” before noticing that the mould was eating the bacteria. At this point he was accredited with discovering the first magical antibiotics known as Penicillin which has since saved many lives and made many drug companies richer than oil tycoons.

Okay so like most detested pests there is a use for the stuff. My toddlers tonsils are clear and so are my walls and ceilings for now. Mould may you remain in petri dishes and aid in decay in compost heaps everywhere, but from my home, be gone!