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Archive for February, 2012

One of the biggest challenges in moving was getting our bed up to the top floor. It wouldn’t go up the stairs. Should you find yourself in the same position, I can now describe the solution.

First, collect your tools.  You will need:

1. A table.

2. Another table.

3. A rope.

4. A fine day.  Do not attempt this in the rain.

5. A strong helpful biker with a can-do attitude, a love of challenges, and a firm belief in the power of positive thinking.

Step one: Attach your rope to the bed, and place it on the edge of the first table. Hold it steady while you get the second table on top of the first, and then lift the bed up onto the second table.  Easy peasy.

Step two: Get a photo at this point, with which to impress your friends & family later.

Step three: Go up on the balcony, and pull on the rope.  A lot.  Make sure you have a photographer to capture the peculiar sight of a bed apparently standing on your veranda roof.  Piece of cake.

Step four: Pull some more.  It’s simple, isn’t it?

Step five: Keep pulling, then when the bed is withing reach, grab it and lift towards the balcony.

Step six: Lift and turn.

Et voila: Your bed is now on the correct floor and can be carried inside.  No problem!

I should finish this post with a big, loud, public THANK YOU to Mikael, without whom we would still be sleeping in the living room, wondering if we had to go out and buy another bed.  Our hero!

Bubbly non-champagne, and avocados with onion, creme fraiche and caviar (lumpfish, not the really fancy stuff)

There’s more moving to do tomorrow. It’s very chaotic. But we’re nearly there!

This is our lovely living room floor, oiled and lacquered and ready! They all look great and I’m glad we decided to do it before moving in.

Here are a few more pictures from the upstairs and downstairs halls, and the stairs.

Back at home, we are living in a jungle of boxes, packing like crazy ahead of the big move on saturday.

This is the upstairs hall floor now that the oil has soaked in.

And here is the staircase, half sanded.  The living room and downstairs hall floors have been sanded and are waiting for oil.

In other news, I put a first coat of paint in the office today. It was quite dark when I was done, so I didn’t take photos yet.

I love cooking on our wood-fired stove. bacony scrambled eggs are on the lunch menu today, and that pot is boiling water for our coffee!

This is the floor in our upstairs hall, newly sanded and oiled. Once the oil is cured it will be lacquered. Meanwhile the floor in the living room and downstairs hall are being sanded now in preparation for the same treatment. Here’s a few more photos that don’t quite do it justice!

Painting is underway … I have photographed around the edges of the chaos. We’re enjoying cooking lunches on the wood-fired stove and looking out at the fields with a hot cup of coffee in hand. This week should bring more painting, hopefully the floor sanding will begin, and surely a few more trips will be made with a full trailer of boxes and bits. We’re glad we bought ourselves a trailer!

View from the kitchen on a snowy day

A roaring fire in the entrance hall

Housewarming tulips, a beautiful gift from Anne & Ove

Today, it is ours.

Apologies for the blog silence – my mind has been a little occupied the last few weeks.  As of today we are the very proud owners of this beautiful house.  The next few weeks will be a flurry of painting, floor sanding, and moving.  Hopefully I’ll have time to write some updates now & then.