OK, so last weekend was spent in a haze of horror-filled house. Not in an emotional way, but in a physical one - we had Angus' youngest brother round on Saturday to help us move furniture, as I am out of furniture moving commission and we have to start to try to get ready for things. We're emptying the room used today as Angus' study/Jeff's room, and I gave up my study to Angus (which is only fair, as he's got almost no paternity leave and I will be off work for about 4 months.) We can't do too much-although the nursery needs doing, Jeff is still very sensitive, so we're only moving PCs and such out of his room but waiting to move the rest of it until his weekend visit two weeks from now concludes (and yes, we're both worried about how he's going to be when he gets here). So until he goes home on September 23, the nursery stuff remains hidden under beds, in cabinets, and it occasinally stresses me out, especially since yesterday one of the babies engaged.

But such is life.

Anyway, the house was the single biggest disaster zone I had ever seen as a result of the furniture move. All of our shoes were under the kitchen table (Why, you might ask? Why not? Isn't under the kitchen table a perfect place for all footwear to congregate?) Cables for computers, laptops, chargers, what have you were snaked over every available surface. The house was caked with dust, as Angus is very particular about cables and such and insists that cables are run through the walls, not along the floors and thus holes were drilled. One whole couch is buried under goods that have made their way to ebay (it may be a pain, but the money will come in handy). It was hell.

And then we got a letter from the council - in order to process our request for an extension they had to come do a site survey.

That day.

Cue frantic tidying.

I mean, I know they're looking at the structure, not the cleanliness of the house, but somehow I couldn't stand the idea of someone thinking that we actually live like this. I remember reading in The Grapes of Wrath how Ma Joad needed to sweep her house just before they walk out of it and into the Dust Bowl, as she can't bear anyone thinking she wasn't a good housekeeper. That'd be me then. I'm Ma Joad.

So we worked hard and the house is much better.

My "study" is done. I bought a 100 year-old school desk, the kind with the double lids and the inkwells. It looked like this:

I re-finished it. I sanded it and painted it (had to be done, it had water damage). I had lots of help.

And now all the kit goes inside the desk and the monitor hangs on the wall and I love my little desk. I only paid £7.00 for it, too, so I love it even more.

In Angus' study we got rid of our IKEA glasstop and trestles and bought ourselves a grown-up desk which we got from a family clearing out their attic. Angus' new desk is an Edwardian desk, a proper, heavy antique. I think it looks stunning, although the top of it needs refinishing, which Angus is working on (there's a cable on the floor there, which is now safely tucked inside a wall).

We've refinished other things, too. When Melissa was here we bought a chest of drawers for Melissa's room. Melissa picked them out from a shop, and they were seriously fugly. So fugly that even though they were old, they cost almost nothing, as they were, in Angus' words, "covered in Grandma dust".

Melissa herself refinished them.

It's in her room now and I think it looks great (even if she did nick my Barbola mirror to go on top of it).

(If you see a theme here of us adopting furniture that's not only very old but in very bad shape, buying it on the cheap, and then fixing it up, then you're not far off. We love doing this kind of thing, and it's somehow more endearing to know that you worked hard restoring some furniture and that you'll have it for a long time. Hell, this is a theme in our whole fucking house - rescued second-hand relationship, rescued second-hand dog, rescued second-hand cat...give us your tired and your neglected, your huddled masses yearning to be rebuilt inside and out.)

While Melissa re-finished her cupboard and while Angus was whipping up a frenzy in the kitchen cabling, I had some oiling to do. My beloved Seymour did not last the horrible wet summer. Even though Seymour had been oiled religiously and protected to some degree, the rain was too much for him. Seymour warped and split. Seymour rotted. Seymour was returned to the shop for a full refund.

And Seymour was replaced by this beauty:

It was love at first sight for me. Seymour II is triangular. I love that. Seymour II wanted to come home with me. So I oiled Seymour II and he's outside right now, not remotely bothered about the rain.

It was meant to be.

I also took a table I've had for about 10 years and gave it a paint job, it's now got a renewed lease on life and will be used outside in cooperation with Seymour II.

Before (and freshly primed):

During:

And...um...there's no "after" pic as it's not done yet. We chose bright cheerful colors-the table is a lime green, and the chairs are a pale orange. I know it sounds like we're on LSD or something, but we based it on these colors, from a lifeguard hut we love on South Beach:

Maybe I'll finish it up this weekend, it just needs some touch-ups to the top of the table. In general I'm off large projects or anything involving lifting, but running a paintbrush back and forth is manageable.

We got a lot of projects done, and the house is in far better shape than it was. But a lot of projects aren't going to get done now - there's a cabinet we bought from our favorite antique shop that is going to remain in the shed, until we can get around to it.

We'd also intended to create some in-built shelves and paint the floor of the study (yes, I know that's strange. The floor is actually wood, and original, but the previous owner lacquered the fuck out of the floor. She used to lacquer it monthly and the stain is so far in the wood that it simply needs repainting or replacing. As the lacquer wasn't great quality stuff either, every little scratch or mark shows up. So we're going to paint it. Someday.) but we're simply running out of time. We have guests here mid-September, then Melissa and Jeff, and then hopefully we can whip the nursery into shape in time for the babies to arrive (they're not getting much-the spare bed moved out, the walls painted a new color, a cabinet moved in and their crib assembled). So the study really has to wait.

And this is where we're at. In between projects, hanging out, trying to get the house in some kind of order but not really knowing what that order is.

Thus endeth what you might possibly regard as my most uninteresting post to date.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 09:42 AM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
Post contains 1261 words, total size 8 kb.

1 Eh. Still more interesting than the vast majority of my posts

Posted by: Z. Hendirez at September 07, 2007 09:10 AM (otB//)

2 Noooo, not uninteresting to me! Being in an apartment myself, I have to live vicariously through the home improvement projects of others. Thus my addiction to HGTV. That bright green is HOT. Love love love. I share Angus' horror of exposed cable and hate that I can't drill through the walls here. Got one snaking from the living room past the coat closet into the bedroom right now, but it's just the only option I've got unless I want to have an entire wall of the living room swallowed up by computer desks (I don't). Alas, poor Seymour. He was a beauty, but at least Seymour II looks very capable of standing up to the rain. Plus, as you said: Triangular! So cool.

Posted by: ilyka at September 07, 2007 09:42 AM (UztB4)

3 This is the sort of thing that I'd love to do, but am too lazy to actually do. Now I'm thoroughly interested in the process your city council has in place. I can understand a site inspection before work begins. This is actually standard. But why in the world do they need to do a site inspection as part of the approval process? Didn't your architect have a site plan with the drawings?

Posted by: ~Easy at September 07, 2007 10:53 AM (WdRDV)

4 Easy-they do have a site plan with the architects drawings, but the councils want to come photograph where the work will be and the outlying area, in case what the plans aren't showing is that we are thus going to block a neighbor's view or something (we're not.) Very exhausting. Ilyka-the not wanting an entire wall taken up by computers is what we don't want, either. I mean, we're ok with being geeks and all, but we'd really rather not advertise it.

Posted by: Helen at September 07, 2007 10:57 AM (BXpy2)

5 I love Seymour II!! "give us your tired and your neglected, your huddled masses yearning to be rebuilt inside and out" Spectacular, your a rescuer :-)

Posted by: Angela at September 07, 2007 11:30 AM (DGWM7)

6 Love the lime green/orange chair combo-it is perfect. I too buy old furniture and refinish it-drives the husband nuts. But to me everything has its own story and personality, and you are right-sometimes it is just meant to be. Sorry to hear about Seymour, but Seymour II is a beauty. How is your walking since the engagment? I remember with my first she engaged about a month before I had her-I was literally shuffling with my legs spread out to hip distance-almost like a squat. I looked totally stupid, and about a week before I had her I thought for sure everytime I stood she was going to drop out; ditto on the toilet. I always listened for a big splash when I sat. When I finally saw all 9lbs 8ozs of her and her ginormous head, I knew why I had been so uncomfortable!

Posted by: Teresa at September 07, 2007 12:21 PM (/B1Oo)

7 Im in the same OM-F the baby is coming I must get all projects done. At 34 wks I re caulked the bathtub and painted the pantry- the PANTRY- who paints the interior of a pantry. *raises hand* Its getting quite difficut to get around this inflexable mound in my middle so Im backing off a bit. Though husband wants to add a coat of stain to the deck this weekend, i may do more in the way of supervising than hands and knees painting. All looks fantastic- my favorite is your desk, what a great find. Im also jelous of all of your proper tools! Hope your weekend is a good one.

Posted by: Christina at September 07, 2007 12:30 PM (FXxJ1)

8 I am kind of amused that I knew what the link to the "favorite antique shop" was going to be before I clicked on it. I have clearly been paying attention. Love the way your desks came out!

Posted by: RP at September 07, 2007 12:38 PM (op1yW)

9 *nods head* OK. That actually makes sense. Hopefully no one will decide that your addition will disturb the migration path of the red throated dung beetles and make you do further studies

Posted by: ~Easy at September 07, 2007 12:49 PM (IVGWz)

10 Nesting much? When I was 8 months along with Emma I decided that it was time to unpack all of those boxes that made their way with me from Minnesota to Delaware to Dallas (and two apartment moves within Dallas). Boxes emptied while I sat on the floor figuring it was close enough to bedrest without going insane. Boxes that were packed up again when Emma was 3 months old so we could move back to Minnesota. Also, had issues with things not being clean enough with all 3 pregnancies toward the end. I can't imagine how you're getting through living with dust and clutter during this time of nesting. You're one hell of a strong woman! I love Seymour II even though Seymour the First gave me and the husband many ideas on what we'd like when we finally get around to purchasing nice patio furniture.

Posted by: Michele at September 07, 2007 02:06 PM (h1vml)

11 I love redoing old furniture, too. It's so much fun to make things pretty again! And Seymour II is awesome. I need to get a table like that for Seymour Jr. I love it!

Posted by: caltechgirl at September 07, 2007 02:43 PM (/vgMZ)

12 I'm still trying to figure out what the pink glow on your desk is... I want one! I love 'rescuing'... be it critters or furniture. I'm not very handy, tho', so am limited by what I can do with the furniture. I'm much better with the critters. You, my dear, never have an uninteresting post. Ever.

Posted by: sue at September 07, 2007 03:12 PM (kGhbv)

13 Sue-the light is called an Aduki, it's an ambient light, from this company: http://www.mathmos.com/usa/erol.html (It's listed on the web page under "LED lights".) I love it. It's mesmerizing.

Posted by: Helen at September 07, 2007 03:35 PM (BXpy2)

14 Should you ever see any old library card catalog drawers, snap 'em up!

Posted by: Ms. Pants at September 07, 2007 03:42 PM (+p4Zf)

15 We have a hand-painted sign (my hubby did it) in our kitchen that says "Stir What You've Got." You are definitely stirring what you've got, girl. And it's beautiful. I would love some tips from A on the way you've hidden all the cabling AND the periphery of computing. Right now, my office could sure use it! I can't wait to see the green table and orange chairs. Sounds lovely! And Seymour II? To. Die. That is one AWESOME table. Hope you're doing well and resting a little bit. (Sounds to ME, tho, that the nesting is full steam ahead right now.)

Posted by: Margi at September 07, 2007 04:43 PM (xAgEH)

16 I love my dresser, which took me a couple of years to refinish. See, we live in an apartment with a balcony, and there's only part of the year when painting is workable. In the summer (which is April to October, sometimes) it's too darned hot. And then in the winter we actually get rain... and there's no cover over the balcony. It's finished in a largely uninteresting white, but the finish— sanded every coat— is butter-smooth, and the drawer runners are waxed and glide well, and it's nice that it belonged to my grandmother. (The wood was so beautifully dense it was almost a sin to paint it, but unfortunately it had a side panel replaced so there was nothing for it.) At some point I may even figure out how to decorate up the front the way I want but until then, I love it the way it is.

Posted by: B. Durbin at September 08, 2007 02:58 AM (tie24)

17 I love seeing the old furniture that you re-purpose and give a new lease on life. It's not uninteresting at all!

Posted by: kenju at September 08, 2007 03:48 AM (TiGru)

18 I love furniture with character and that is definitely what you all have in your "home"!

Posted by: Steff at September 09, 2007 01:14 AM (a5iyR)

19 You know what? I really love these entries. They make me feel as though I'm right there with you in your home, part of your family. I enjoy that very much, and I want to thank you for inviting me in for a bit.

Posted by: Lisa at September 09, 2007 09:18 PM (e8V7B)

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