Thanks. I was thinking of interior decorating actually!
Regarding the six-word phrase, I have almost all the letters (three clues to go, ;plus one additional iffy, but obvious, initial) and it still doesn't even start to look like making sense!
Thanks, teenieleek. That explains why I had a letter over. The message appears to be clear (reference the down clue), but what one changes still isn't, even with all the letters. Still, one clue left to do ...