This Weekend (15) ...

It's getting hard to think of a new way to say, "I've been decorating" without it getting samey, but stick with me folks ... this weekend has a VERY exciting conclusion!

1) Thursday night. I did not quiz, for a change. I had a meeting with some local artists to argue talk about the forthcoming Open House event (more news to follow) so I raced out of the office a smidge early and got back to Tooting for 6:30pm. No mean feat. And a thrill to get there and then be able to bicker with other artists so creatively.

2) Then, just to make for a really, super, marvellous Thursday night, I went to Ikea to get my wardrobes. On my flatbed trolley I had:

- Two Pax wardrobe frames

- Four Bergso wardrobe doors

- Six Kompliment shelves

- Four Kompliment drawers

- One Billy bookcase

- Two rails

- Six storage boxes

- Four knobs (*snigger*)

- One jewellery rack

- Two extension leads

- One new duvet set

- Five gold rings

- Four calling birds ...

Needless to say, the trolley was heavy, and whilst people acknowledged my poor steering abilities by giving me a wide berth, not one of the buggers offered me a hand! I left Ikea at 10:30, muttering a lot of blasphemous things under my breath. But I think that most people leaving Ikea do that.

3) On Friday morning, I had a man in. He was a carpet fitter and he was here to fit a new carpet in my bedroom. It's beauuuutiful and fluffy and has super thick underlay so it's a bit bouncy. When the man left, I lay on the floor for a minute, just because I could.

4) The afternoon was then a magnificent display of domestic goddessery. Really. It was marvellous. You'd have been very impressed. Except the part where I noticed that the raspberries in the fridge were a bit on the ... um ... fluffy side, so I turned them into cakes.

5) Then Friday evening was the second of our Making Evenings. Five of us gathered at The Lovely Amelia's house and we all settled in with our respective projects. Amelia, Silvia and Gillian stitched whilst Concetta sketched and I made a necklace and a couple of pairs of earrings. And we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

6) On Saturday morning I had an appointment with Crazy Martin to get my hair cut. I think he's lost his bottle. It's more conservative than when I went in, and that's not like him at all. Perhaps he's sickening for something.

7) And ... dum-da-dummmm!! Then I went home and got stuck into the flat pack. I did the small things - the bookcase and the drawers - until the cavalry arrived. Well, when I say cavalry, I mean Andy. It's the best I could manage! Wardrobe frame number one took us a while, and there was a lot of head scratching, but frame two went together in no time. Then, just as we'd managed to get the two big beasties upright and in position, Soph and Steve arrived to help. Once we worked out that we were trying to put the door hinges on upside down, it all went together nicely. We decided that, once the heavy stuff was done, we'd call it a day ...

8) ... and so we all settled down with some wine, a prawn curry, some wine, chocolate fondant, some wine, gingersnaps, wine, and then some amaretto to finish. Well ... we had to toast the wardrobes.

9) This morning was all about the fillings for the wardrobes. The rails, the shelves, the drawers. It didn't all quite go to plan, but, with a bit of creative re-jigging it all came together. These jobs always take about three times longer than you expect though, don't they? I've got clothes off hanging rails, and into wardrobes and jumpers out of boxes onto shelves. I've folded and arranged and unpacked and piled all the live long day, and have, after one year, unpacked my bedroom. Bliss.

10) And tonight I will spend my first night in two weeks sleeping in my own bedroom, which now looks like this ...