begin the begin

We have a perfect spare room that has been our (on a good day) 'Multi Purpose' room since we moved. Let me be clear. It is really the Junk room.

3 bikes, the (in use!) tumble dryer, steam cleaner (Mark is in love with it), electric fan, space heater, giant tool storage, xmas decorations, 5 suitcases, hundreds of bits of wood and random (to me) scraps of things Mark needs when he is building/fixing something, tile cutter, vacuum cleaner, 3 tennis rackets and other various unnameable detritus. It is the room Mark uses for all cutting, sawing, building and tool things. Filthy. Cluttered. Need to Keep the Door Closed.



This. This room. With all that. Is to be the baby room.

Sigh.

With my deep ignorance (OK, disdain) of all things DIY. I could not marry my image of a sweet and clean and safe and serene baby room with this ... place.

Mark, my dear dear, knew otherwise. And has been sketching and planning, and measuring and head scratching on how to store, declutter, or otherwise account for all of these things in our life and flat while making this the room we want. Bless him, for that is just the kind of thing that makes me want to pull all the covers over my head. (Can the baby just sleep in the sock drawer?)

So last weekend, we began.

We have a loft, which for you North Americans is called an attic. Great. But we also have like 16 foot ceilings and a 15 foot ladder. and the hatch for the loft is little. And in the bathroom.

So Mark BRAVELY and inexplicably hatched the brain child to Build A Better Loft Hatch. In the "baby room". Which meant Creating A Hole In the Ceiling. On Purpose.

This, I could not get my head around. How? What do you mean? Do you know HOW to? Do you need to call your Dad? Look online?

OH, I should know by now, that Mark figures things out.

2 days later, and 8 million times filthier, (Our building is like 200 years old and had that much soot and dirt up there) We have a new hole. And it looks like it should. And we managed to off load an old TV, old desk chair to new homes and chucked MANY of the offending cluttering things up into the new storage of UP There. Where I predict we will leave everything until we move again.

Unfortunately, we also acquired a Near Hole. In the hallway. Where Mark's foot slipped off the beam and crunched into the ceiling.




So the room is not done. It will require building a new cupboard for the tools. And a new wardrobe/closet for the kid. And a new sink for the kitchen. (Sigh, so we can move the dryer. don't even ask) And paint. (The walls now being Dirt Coloured)






And all the baby furniture and accouterments.

And, well, a baby.

But. We. Have. Begun.