Need to vent.

Forget wallpaper. It is more modern to paint the wall, even if you paint over existing wallpaper. I always paint a wall and it is clean and bright and no old fashioned wallpaper.
Much quicker and easier than wallpaper.

Good luck..

Either try it yourself...wallpapering is not as difficult as you might think...look on YouTube. Or to really annoy him get someone in to do it...

If he's staying up til 3am every night, and this is unusual for him, maybe he's fretting about something? I'd ask him if he was ok before getting cross.

If you can't afford a decorator then painting the walls is a lot easier than wall-papering (and arguably more chic). Get a gorgeous, slightly mad colour and maybe just go for it? And uneven bits, just hang lots of pictures. Me, I'd pay someone and I'd take myself out of the house while the DH is home. Let him look after himself - he's not a child. Good luck!

Age UK will help you find a decorator at a reasonable price. Then put aside money from you housekeeping budget and go onto thrift meals. When your husband asks what is happening you can explain that the decorator will be coming before christmas and you are ensuring that you have the money for his bill.

all the very best with this one.

I wouldn’t even bother to mention it to him, certainly not fall out about it. Just phone a decorator, get the job done, and do something more enjoyable with your free week!

I have one like that. Started our bathroom 5 years ago - still not fninished. Hallway a year ago - still waiting. It is infuriating! He kicks off though if I suggest paying someone to come in!

How about one of your DC doing the wallpapering as a thank you for doing 6 days a week of childcare? I nearly spat my tea out!

I feel for you..

I agree with those who say, get the decorator in!

He really can’t object to the cost, if he can’t be bothered to do it himself!

My husband and I both work, so I get a decorator in, and have done for years, just do it! You’ll feel so much better!

Oh dear, you have my sympathy.
I have the opposite problem, we hardly dare mention a DIY job to DH as he will start on it almost there and then. When it comes to decorating he will want to go choose paint/paper and plan the start.

Oh gillybob! That's gorgeous! "Out of the mouths of babes " aye?

Bopeep14. I completely understand your need to vent. I can also imagine how it has lasted 5years while he said he would do it. People who have not experienced this might find it hard to imagine. My late husband had complete control over us - the children and me. What we ate, where we went, who we saw etc. If he could control our thoughts he would. As for the house? It was his! If it was in bad repair and I dared ask if it might get sorted out, he would say he was going to do it. He was always angry but denied he was angry yet we were scared of him.
When I eventually came home with paint and brushes and began to paint the hall, my middle daughter helping, he sat in the front room and seemed to be furious but said nothing. We were both scared and in that "silly" mood you get when you are frightened, singing and making jokes to keep ourselves going. He did not say a single word about our decorating. It made a world of a difference to the whole house as the hallway and stairs had been painted brown!
But some men cast an atmosphere that can hold up progress for a long time.......

I should add, by never doing anything he didn't pay for any of the materials or tools either. He never gave me a penny so I had to work for everything I bought.

Bopeep14 He's not depressed is he?

That said, my late husband never did anything and made our lives very miserable. The first few years were reasonably ok then he just got worse until he did nothing. After a while of misery I realised there was only one way forward. When I was able-bodied I just did all the decorating myself. He didn't even wash a paintbrush.

Cant you just paint the walls?

I think the 5 years is a clue....he just not that into it and never likely to be, people do not really change! Get a couple of quotes for the job.....ask him which one to choose and then just go for it. Or, as others said, do it yourself you never know you might enjoy it.

I've always done the decorating and most of the DIY and gardening. I hadn't really a clue to start off with, but my husband was self employed and worked extremely long hours so rather than wait for him to have the time to do anything I decided to do it myself. I began to enjoy it and can honestly say DIY is my hobby, which is just as well as he was injured in a road accident. As for Franbern 'boasting' about being able to do the DIY, that's no more boasting, ditzyme, than you 'boasting' about being able to afford to pay for it.

Thanks for all your comments. Just needed to vent about it. There is no way I could ever afford to get someone in to do it. Can I just add I do all the painting of woodwork I just don’t do ceilings and don’t wallpaper. I painted the woodwork 5 years ago but obviously will need doing again.
I have a stressful job too I look after grandchild 6 days a week so it’s not just him who’s off work this week.

Mmmmm....maybe not everyone’s as clever as you are Franbern..

My 2nd husband was allegedly a builder/decorator and after living in a house with numerous half finished “projects” I vowed that I would never do it again. It does sound as if this is dragging you down a bit, so some plain speaking is needed with him, and if you cannot do the DIY yourself, get someone in.... life is too short !

My DH is a bit the same. The thing thats worked the best is being really nice to him. I tell him he needs to relax , never mind the wall paper, bring him cups of coffee , cook nice dinners lunches , do nice things for myself in the morning , ask him if he’s ok , smile , after couple of days he feels bad and does it. If that didn’t work I’d pay someone to do it while he’s at work but pick the paper I liked lol.

If like me you are nervous about standing on ladders, buy a home scaffolding. I did so, and it makes the world of difference to painting and decorating.

Like you, I would wait to doomsday if I waited for DH to get round to it. Like henetha's husband usually mine comes and joins in, if I start things myself.

If for health reasons you cannot decorate, then getting a quotation might be a good idea.

In your place, I would be less bothered by the fact that the work isn't getting done this week, than by the fact that your husband said he would do it and has not explained why he isn't doing it.

My guess is he is too tired and promised to do the work because he felt you were nagging. Don't please misunderstand me, I am sure you didn't nag, but a husband who doesn't want to do something feels we are nagging!

I would sit down and tell him that you feel it is too much for him to be using his holiday on home improvements, so you have rung three firms for quotations or that you are going to start it yourself next week when he is back at work.

My usual ploy to get things done is to start the job myself usually watched over and deliberately do it wrong and he then takes over. Excellent plan!

This was not me boasting. Statement of fact and matter of necessity. Started off doing the decorating when hubbie became disabled. He talked me thru the first wall papering effort.
As time went on, and we were existing on benefits, there was no spare money for decorators, so I just got books from the library and taught myself. Made a few errors, but quickly learned from them.
It is only in recent years with mobility problems that I have stopped being able to do the decorating.
For the first time in my life I had a decorator to paint the landing and hallway in my house ready to put on the market.
It just annoyed me that the poster was complaining that her hubbie dared to use his weeks holiday time to......relax!! How dare he, and if he is in a good job, then why not get professionals in to do the wallpapering.
But if she is reasonably fit and healthy do it herself. Found putting up wallpaper one of the easiest decorating jobs, as it very quickly takes up so much of the wall space.
Only jobs involving, electricity, gas and plumbing I would not do myself.

Great tactic, Henetha. Gillybob what a fabulous story!

I wallpapered my DD's small bedroom when I was a single parent but wouldn't do it now as I can't climb steps due to problems with my balance.

My ex was terrible at putting off jobs but if I started it would spur him into action. I could & did emulsion walls, my ex was away overnight with his job one night each week, he came home & I had emulsioned two rooms & I had a toddler at home

My DH was a perfectionist who needed a gentle shove kick up the @rse to get started, he wallpapered, did all the gloss paint but I was allowed to emulsion after he'd done the edges .

Now widowed I need to decorate my home, it was newly painted when I moved in 4 years ago. I am only going to emulsion the walls & hopefully if DiL is well enough she will help me. DD as her hands full with DGS2

I would not have put up with a hallway undecorated for 5 years, do it yourself, nag H or get the Professionals in. My DF was a Painter & Decorator but our house was always the last place to be done