29€ well spent

I made a start on bedroom 1, my bedroom, this morning. Just the making good and it’ll be a day or so before it’s completed ready for painting. But before that I’ll have to rub down the walls and ceiling and put up the coving and before I can do that I’ll ready need to have fitted the Ikea fitted unit in the alcove. There’ll be one in bedroom 1 and a second in bedroom 2 but although I’ll buy and collect both of them at the same time, the second one will be able to wait until I’m ready to start on bedroom 2.

So there’s a lot to do, and that’s without fitting the floor laminate, so it’ll be some time before the room is usable – my guess is going on two weeks, possibly more if other things crop up in the meantime. But I don’t want to wait that long before making a start on moving in. Once the electricity is sorted out and the heat pump connected I’ll have everything that I’ll need and even as things stand as of today, I could manage without hot water (cold showers are great!) and the lighting in the corridor.

I’ve already got an inflatable double bed to use temporarily and all I needed was some kind of storage for clothes and other small personal items. Up to today, that is. A few days ago I ordered one of those temporary wardrobes so beloved by students and impecunious bedsit dwellers. It arrived today and I had it erected and ready to go in about an hour.

And it’s very impressive for the money – just 29€ including delivery! It has 12 shelves, two hanging areas and a snazzy well-fitted cover with two zipped front doors, although I wonder how effective it’ll be at keeping the dust out. I’ll maybe place a sheet of cardboard on top of it when I start using it so it can’t get in from the top.

My idea is that I’ll leave it in the living room where it’s shown in the pictures and put my bed in there also on the facing wall. Then I’ll do what I did when I moved to France from the UK just over 11 years ago – I’ll put the glass-topped round wooden table and chairs in the kitchen that we used to have in our conservatory (verandah in French) in the UK and the matching two -seater settee and two armchairs in the living room.

The furniture is old but it’s still quite serviceable and stored at the moment in one of the ‘tonnelles’ if the mice haven’t got to it. That way with a few more items that I’ll bring out of storage I’ll have all the comforts of home. Well, almost. And it’s bound to be much more comfortable than the unbearably hot (again) caravan 😉