From manic to mindful, and back again

Renovating puts all kinds of pressure on my fragile brain. First there was the decision-making, choosing colours and floors and skirting shapes and cupboards and handles and all sorts. Every single little thing - will it look good? With the immense range on offer, is that really what we want? And will it match with everything else?

Then there was the planning. Finding the right people for each job, and fitting it all into the schedule. But if the kitchen is being fitted that week, it means we can't fit the carpet until after that work is done. And if the laminate is going down on Friday, I must make sure all the ceilings, walls, skirtings, doors and doorframes are painted and dry. And oh, the floorboards must sit in the room for three days beforehand to acclimatise. Do we have enough paint? Do we have enough brushes? On and on.

For a neurotic OCD worrier like myself, it's hard to switch off. My head is constantly spinning with to-do lists and seeking to assure myself that I haven't made some epic mistake. I'm also walking a fine tightrope in trying to find a way to enjoy the present, disorder and dust and all, rather than just looking forward to it all being done. Well hey, at least spring is here and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And we're still loving having a sofa 😁 #redefiningluxury

Majsa x

The coming of spring

Perhaps the worst part of this renovation job has been the dark and the cold. When you must use the scanty daylight hours for indoor work, and you wrap up for the day with only the jaundiced glow of a barren lightbulb dangling sadly from the once-fashionable artex ceiling, you'll end up flirting with Vitamin D deficiency and a mild depression. The job before us seemed insurmountable and, at times, a rather foolish undertaking.

Then a wall came down and a sofa arrived (somewhere to SIT, hallelujah!), and things started to feel achievable. We chose our new kitchen in a cosy showroom, armed with chocolate chip cookies and steaming cups of coffee. And, at long last, there is a definite sense of spring in the air. Bashful snowdrops are appearing in patches, the St Dunstan's Terrace pigeons are stretching their wings in the afternoon sun, and we leap forward with a renewed sense of yay.

While usually we are inside breathing sanding dust and wrestling with sticky Polyfilla, yesterday I worked outdoors as I covered our newly manufactured skirting boards in a fresh coat of satinwood. Although our decidedly humble garden currently looks like a small scrapyard, I felt deeply content as I stood bathing in the golden afternoon light, dipping my brush in the tin with a glop and feeling the brush's bristles bend against the boards. Having previously gone from country girl to city dweller, I now revel in the exotic sounds of suburbia - a neighbour's car door closing, a couple of kids chatting as they pass, a dog barking; all to the backdrop of distantly humming traffic and the backyard birds' mellifluous song. Yep, this is going to be great.

Oh, the relief of placing your weary behind on something other than a springy mattress!

The wall is down! Suddenly anything feels possible ^_^

Don't you just love a house...

...with plenty of nooks and crannies?

Sure - until you have to renovate it! Below are my measurements for skirting boards. Yikes!

(Still love it though 😄)

What hides in the carpet

Being from progressive, hygiene-aware, wooden-floor Sweden, I was never a big fan of carpets. Especially the muggy, sickly carpets of our Topsy Turvy Manor. We borrowed a small vacuum from Mike's parents, and dragged it over the carpets until our arms ached. Yet they barely felt any cleaner. So I had taken to wearing my crocs everywhere, even bringing them to the shower so as to avoid having to put my newly washed tootsies on the sticky fibers.

In eager anticipation of ripping them up and replacing them with fresh laminate, we got a Dyson to keep the place as clean as possible. It's a whirring, whizzing beast of a machine, with spinning carpet bristles and all sorts of cool mechanisms. And just LOOK what came up from ONE TINY ROOM which we had already hoovered loadsa times!

A juicy close-up for your enjoyment

A juicy husband for your enjoyment