I've had my house on the market for some time now. The housing market is slow, I've been told, and I've followed all the advice of neutralising the decorating so prospective buyers can see themselves living there. All rubbish if you ask me, it doesn't seem to be making a difference to the viewers. I have to say, I like the new decorating but it seems I am the only one.

Ok, so the outside could do with some attention, but what do they expect? The condition of the exterior paint is reflected in the asking price. And I can't be expected to do everything - I want to sell it, not protect it for the rest of my life. There'll be enough of that to do on my new place - which I'll lose if I don't sell this place soon.

My new place is a project that I've been waiting to undertake for a long time. It's an old run down bungalow that just has something about it that appeals to me. I had never seen the inside but when the old man that lived there died, my chance came along.

The inside of the bungalow needs some modernising, as does the outside, and as I want to stay there and see out the rest of my natural, then it will need protecting with an appropriate wall covering that will last. I do not intend to keep doing it!

Anyway, back to the immediate problem of selling on my current property. I've finally caved in and agreed with the agents to take a long, hard look at the exterior paint and decide what I'm going to do to give the wall covering more curb appeal.

I thought maybe a quick spruce up with the shell pink exterior paint from last time I did it would suffice but I've rooted about in the shed, found the tin and found it has rusted shut. Surely it's not that long since I last paid any attention to the wall covering? I'm normally quite house proud and I like to think this extends to the outside as well.

I have researched some help for the problem and found that this particular shade of shell pink exterior paint is no longer available. I always liked it but obviously not a popular choice among the general public. It would seem wall coverings have recently taken a more technological step in advancement of late.

It's no longer acceptable to just whack some exterior paint on the outside of your house each year. Of course, the mould shows through by the following year but that is to be expected, these paints trap moisture underneath and mould is a natural occurrence in such circumstances.

Apparently, this is not so anymore. A new wall covering is now on the market that stops mould, protects the very fabric of the building and resembles exterior paint. On top of this, it won't need re-doing for years to come! This is specially made for the modern world of people that are far too busy maintaining themselves to concern themselves with maintaining their wall covering. If only I could have invented this.

I have thought long and hard about whether or not it would be worth my while proceeding with this method of sprucing up my home and come to the conclusion that if I can't sell my home, I can't move on with my own plans and I really don't want to lose the bungalow I have my heart set on.

With this in mind, I arrange for the wall covering to be applied the following week. I have to say the house looks so smart afterwards that I am a little reluctant to leave. This new product looks just the same as exterior paint but, I am assured, will last a lot longer. While this won't benefit me, it does make a good selling point and a buyer is secured within a week.

Soon enough, I am in my new bungalow but I did spend long enough in the old house to know that this is the wall covering I will be using here. It looks great, repairs and protects and pampers to my need for house proud status.