Wednesday 20 April 2016

The Big Switch - Part II

Thank you, Pondside, for giving me a much better project name than "Room Swapping And Redecorating"! I shall use "The Big Switch" from now on.

Right, let's get on with it. Today, I'll show you the transformation in my bedroom.

This is how it has been looking for the past 6-8 years:
(I say 6 to 8, because I've had the furniture for 8 years but the walls were painted like this only 6 1/2 years ago.)


Small steps first - I emptied the book case one night after work, and it already looked a bit different:


Saturday late afternoon, it looked VERY different:
 

The computer desk, book case and bedside table have been moved to the Third Room, and the larger of my two sideboards/cupboards has already been moved in from the former living room:


Of course this is not where it is going to stay, but this will be the new living room and therefore its new home. The wardrobe has already been taken apart and will be moved to the new bedroom / former living room today, probably followed by the bed.

We had a bit of an unpleasant surprise when we found one of the corners in this room to be very crumbly. But Friend-who-paints knew the solution and repaired it, so that it can be painted (and papered) over:


Yesterday was a most beautiful day, sunny and - as long as you weren't in the shade and not exposed to the wind - mild.  


I had to "flee" - by now, even the kitchen was being "invaded" by stuff that normally does not belong there, such as the wardrobe doors and other bits. I found a sunny spot where I could wait for my Mum without being in the way anywhere else in the flat:


Since there wasn't much I could do, I decided to leave Friend-who-paints to his work and went to town and the palace grounds with my Mum. More of that in one of my next posts :-)

20 comments:

  1. You're very welcome! I'm glad to have been able to contribute!
    Things are coming along, as we can see from this post. It's nice to paint in good weather when the windows can be opened to let the fresh (and blossom-scented) air come in.

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    1. It's gorgeous out there again today - nearly too gorgeous to stay indoors! But things need to be done around here, and I can not leave Friend-who-paints toiling along all on his own, that would be so unfair!

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  2. A lot of work! But you will be very happy when your new look is achieved. And how lucky to have a Friend-who-paints!I love the photo of your yard in the spring.

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    1. It's a wonderful time of year for the gardens around here, and the elderly lady who owns that garden is doing something in there nearly every day. She says it keeps her fit, and looking at her I believe it - she's in her mid-80s but looks 10 years younger!

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  3. Oh, big job... (I just looked at the previous post too.) Good thing that you have the third room "to play with" as well :) I have three rooms too, but I'm pretty sure I'd need to rent temporary storage if I ever had to empty one of the bigger rooms. (I have too much stuff!) Luckily I got all but the living room redecorated before I moved in (and still don't feel any need to have that room done). I chose from start to have the smallest room as my bedroom for reasons much like those behind your switch now... No balconies on that side of the house = quieter and no smoke.

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    1. It was quiet and nobody smoked when we moved in here nearly 13 years ago...
      Yes, the Third Room is crucial in this project! I don't know how I would have done it without that extra space. It's a very differet kind of "job" to what I normally do, but I am enjoying it a lot!

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    2. I'm sure it will look great when you're done. :) One never knows with neighbours, does one... At least in rental apartments like where I live, people tend to move in and out rather frequently. When I moved in here, I applied my experiences from where I lived before...

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    3. True... the family downstairs still own the ground floor flat but moved to a bigger place when they had their 3rd child, and are now letting the ground floor flat to a couple who both smoke like chimneys... The people next door own the whole house, all three floors, but let the middle one to create some additional income. It is the third tenants in that flat since I moved in.

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  4. You look as though you are on the same level as the tops of the trees Meike. I'm very tempted to say, 'step away from the window'. Keep safe, it's looking good.

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    1. Well, I am one floor up from the ground, so I suppose I really am at the same level as some of the trees out there :-)
      I am perfectly safe, don't worry, I often sit on my windowsills - they are my "mini balconies".

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  5. I know you like order and tidiness in your apartment so all this disuption must be getting to you. No wonder you were on the window sill contemplating leaping out!

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    1. It was getting to me a little bit, but not too much. For one thing, I had put everything away in a systematic way, knowing at all times where everything was when I needed it. Also, it will only take until the end of this week before everything should be where I want it.
      But yes, I did "flee", as you will see in one of my next posts.

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  6. Can't wait to see the end result! And I love that your have a friend doing this for you and you can go to the palace grounds with your sweet Mum!

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    1. This friend of our family is like a brother to me, I trust him 100 % and simply gave him my keys. He certainly needs the money more than the professional painter who will come to do the wallpapering, and he is an excellent and reliable worker.

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  7. I like that you don't seem to have too much stuff. I like the quiet, orderly, non-clutter look very much. I know right now it doesn't seem like that but your before pictures gave me this feeling. Are people not allowed to smoke inside?

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    1. No smoking in here, no. Steve smoked, but he had finished painting the entire flat the day before he died (the one didn't have anything to do with the other!), so the walls and ceilings never were exposed to smoke.
      Not having too much stuff is very important to me. There is plenty of clutter in my mind - I need the quiet, orderly, non-clutter outer frame to keep mentally healthy!

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  8. I like your statement "There is plenty of clutter in my mind - I need the quiet, orderly, non-clutter outer frame to keep mentally healthy!". I think my case is quite the opposite. I have so much 'stuff' (hopefully not exactly clutter) in my physical life that it's a good job I have very little to clutter what passes for my mind!

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    1. Congratulations for having a largely clutter-free mind - it must be great to be able to access relevant information stored in your brain without all the trivia and banalities that cross my mind often when I least want them.

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    2. I suspect, Meike, that overall I just have very much less going on in my mind. There are trivia and banalities but precious little else.

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    3. Allow me to seriously doubt that!

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