I am
feeling good about my 2013 prediction that our London home will be its
lovable, liveable self by the 17th of March. Having thus far lived
through wearing, cleaning and occasionally inhaling layers of dust and a lot of eating out, Tim and I are now living in
more than one room and cooking meals regularly, even though the kitchen isn’t
quite complete. The cooker is connected, the refrigerator is still in the
centre of the room, and finding anything in the cupboards is a bit of a
challenge . . . but it’s all doable. (Cue sigh of relief.)
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| The kitchen in transformation |
I took the
day off from work today to sort out those cupboards—first to clean them top to
bottom of the dust that’s been collecting in and on top of them for six weeks
or so, and to start thinking about how to rearrange the contents. The cooker
has moved across the room, and there’s still a bit of indecision about where
the electric kettle and toaster will go . . . and we have the addition of
(I'm excited!) a cappuccino maker, a present from Tim’s mum, that also needs to
find a bit of counter space. Everything else will hide neatly in drawers or
behind closed doors. I am looking forward to a bright, clean, uncluttered
space. It’s not like it was wildly crowded or messy before, but I think we’ll
both be more cognisant of putting everything in its place.
I can’t
believe how exhausting it’s been today! Once Tim left this morning I got
started with emptying and/or wiping down every cabinet, preparing for this
weekend when I expect—I hope—we’ll move most of the spices, glasses, dishes,
cooking “stuff”, pots, pans and other assorted kitchen items into a permanent
new home. I already cheated a bit—I’ve moved the dishes and glasses into a glass-fronted cupboard. I also placed a few spices and cooking ingredients in
the cupboard nearest the cooker; it made sense at the time and can easily be
reshuffled to another cabinet. I realise two of the new cupboards don’t have
shelves in them, and need them! (A trip to Ikea may be in my future.)
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| The reception room |
I’ve also
made a few decisions, awaiting Tim’s consent, of bowls, mugs, and glasses that
can find their way to the charity shop. We certainly have more than we ever
use, even with guests, and I’m anxious to have a good chuck out rather than
simply put everything back. We’ve been doing quite a lot of that over the last
two months—I can make the first cut and Tim assesses the going-out pile, occasionally rescuing a pewter mug or a carpet croquet game. Slowly but surely
the clutter is diminishing. This weekend will be an opportunity to do another
blitz—poor Tim, I think it exhausts him emotionally, but he has found the
multiple trips to the dump cathartic. Certainly there’s less stuff and nothing
that’s been otherwise given away or tossed has been regretted. Possibly the old Tonka
truck, but it was in terrible shape!
The
reception rooms are now back in order, save for a bit of plastering /
repainting that needs to happen around the new electrical outlets. Fortunately
most of them are hidden behind something, or will be, so it doesn’t look
glaringly awful. The new wooden floor
looks lovely, as I’d imagined, and the cleaner has been around to remove this
week’s layer of dust—I’d been trying to keep up, knowing it was largely futile
yet wanting to keep it liveable. I dug out the photographs and dusted those off
as well. I know Tim is happy having his “office” back, though I’ll try to keep
the ever-growing stacks of briefs in some hidden cabinet rather than on view as
it’s the first room you see when you enter the house. (I’ve yet to win that
battle, LOL.)
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| The office |
It’s nice
to have a comfortable chair to sit in and no longer need to live out of the bedroom, formerly
the only untouched room in the house (though I might add the dust still managed
to proliferate on everything in there). The second bedroom is, well, a tip;
still lots of stuff from other places piled up, with its own layer of six-week
plaster and other dust lying atop every inch of space. I have a narrow walkway in
there to get to the two wardrobes that hold my clothes and shoes; I’ll admit to
occasionally knocking into china or wine bottles and cursing under my breath! I
know it will all be over soon and Tim will be serving drinks in honour of St
Patrick before too long.
Speaking of
events, I read that the groundhog saw his shadow so we’re in for six more weeks
of winter. We are experiencing a very mild season here in London; it has barely
reached freezing more than a handful of times and always in the late evening or
early morning, and while the days have been wet, wet, wet, they have been mostly
mild. I know the Northeast has been pummeled with snow, ice, and generally
horrid conditions; I can’t imagine that anymore after six winters in England
where the snow has come, but not every year and usually just with one occasion
every other winter. Sure, I miss it a little . . . but not as much as New York
pizza!
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| The new bedroom being painted |
I’ll look
forward to posting a few photos of us sipping something bubbly when all is said
and done . . . the list seems never ending but now it is filled with for the
most part the small things. Replace the carpet on the stairs; find a small
writing table and chair for the new bedroom; get blinds for the new French
doors.
March 17th.
St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, yes, and also of engineers . . . I’d
like to think we’ve applied the
principles of math (there’s been lots of measurements) and science (OK, that’s
a stretch) to develop a solution to a practical problem—how to make the best of
the space we have . . . with our patron saint looking down and smiling on us. We have chosen green (and white) tiles for the kitchen, after all.
And just
think, it’ll be just days short of the vernal equinox! I know we’re all awaiting
the return of spring. Bring it on.
