Merly takes a day off

So, for the last few days it's been renovation city. For everyone out there who doesn't know me, I've actually never done this before. The closest I have ever come to renovating anything was having to strip antique crap raufase wallpaper off the first flat we lived in in Germany.It sucked.

This house we're moving into is a good solid house. It has good bones and it's been greatly loved. At least by most people who have lived there. You can feel this when you walk in, that there was a lot of happiness in this house. there are no unhappy ghosts here, at least none that I can feel. Mostly what I feel when I am in the house is love and a lot of it.However this is a house that also needs a lot of love and it hasn't had any for a while. It shows.

What I like about this particular go around is that in difference to most German rental contracts there is no renovating before leaving, the old tenants need to clean and make sure stuff is in order but no painting all walls white or anything which means we get to do what we want when we move in. This is a good / bad thing. Good in that if and when we move out we don't have to paint everything, bad in that now we have to paint everything before we move in ( well not so much bad as time consuming)

So the last few days have been about going to the baumarket, buying stuff like paint, plaster, cleaning supplies a vacuum cleaner etc....And then trotting to the house and cleaning. Oh boy does it need cleaning. the last tenants were not exactly what one would call clean.I washed the floors and each time the mop water was BLACK. ugh.The kitchen is a disaster, but we have also been spoiled by living in a brand new house with a very modern kitchen for the last 3.5 years so going from that to an "older" kitchen has its drawbacks. But it's livable.

What is stunning is the garden, okay right now it's a jungle but it's also gorgeous.I spent one morning wedding ( yay me) Lots of roses and I can't wait to get mine in there as well.

The last two days have been about cleaning, sanding the plastered holes, and prepping the rooms for painting and painting. I managed to get the UGLY green hall gone. What is annoying is that the colour we picked out looked utterly different when mixed. So now we need to rethink and maybe repaint because instead of a pale sandy brown colour ( to match the stone tiles that go up the wall half way) it's a cold pale gray colour. Still it's a huge improvement over the green.

Yesterday we painted the computer room , plain what , but since that will be the "star wars" room it will have plenty of colour. Next, Friday's job is the living room dining room and then the bedroom. We will be happy if we can paint the downstairs this go around because we don't have that much furniture going up stairs yet. ( it's a big house)

So today is a day off. mainly because Marcus had to fly to Bonn and I didn't want to be stuck out in no man's land for ten plus hours.And I am so exhausted I will prolly just sleep a lot. I have not used my arms that much in ages. Painting is hard work and no I never did the student painter's job thing.This is the first time I painted the inside of a house. Ever.

So it's early and I am still trying to wake up. Think I have to go to the post office and post stuff, maybe find some coffee and relax by reading a couple of the very trashy romance novels I brought with me out of desperation.( that is desperation for something to read that doesn't require my brain to be engaged)

I'll post pictures later.

Until then be excellent to each other.