Way back in 2016 I shared with you the renovations to our bedroom (I cannot believe that was three years ago!)

We chose that particular bedroom from the two because according to the house details it was marginally bigger. But what we hadn’t taken into account was the chimney breast that was in the room, and just how much space it and the small alcove that it left at the end of the room, took up.

We made the bedroom our sanctuary and I renovated all of the furniture, and it was a sanctuary for us.

But over the past year we have started to question whether the other room was bigger, and why we were not using it for us. You see this year has been the first year that we have not had visitors (although that may change at Christmas) and it has allowed us time to think about our home and how we should be making it work for us, and not for ghost people of the future, who may or may not come out to visit for a few weeks of the year. Why do we all do that? Consider if we have seating for perceived visitors in the future when in fact we should be living in the hear and now?

Spurred on we measured the chimney breast and alcolve and worked out that in fact we were losing two square meters from our bedroom, we were sleeping in the smallest bedroom! So we decided to take action and lose the double bed in our spare room, that took up so much room, waiting for someone to sleep in it! Madness!!

We have a day bed that we use as a seat as well, mainly when I am writing and RD comes up to chat. We also have the old mattress available for anyone who visits in the future, but we cannot live our lives waiting, we have to live with here and now.

You may remember that I shared a blog showing how our spare bedroom went from this

To this..

I loved it, I wrote my book, and started my blog in that room, but it is a much bugger room, and we needed to utilise it. So last Saturday we got stuck in: RD had a week off until he starts a new job, and the plan was to work on the house and the logs in the garden. To start with we dismantled all the beds, and realised over the next three days that we are now too old to sleep on the floor even with a mattress! And in no time at all our pretty spare bedroom looked like this

It was necessary you see because, being people who don’t do things by halves, we decided to paint what would be our new bedroom floor, so everything was stacked in what was our bedroom and we slept on the living room floor. Imagine us, wrestling a kingsize mattress down our narrow, curvy French stairs, with the sole intention of throwing it away afterwards. Then we changed our minds and had to wrestle it back up the stairs, which was even harder without the assistance of gravity! Fighting a big bendy mattress, which nearly won, was immense fun (not). But I do think changing my mind, and accepting change is probably something that keeps me alive.

Although we like to keep Sunday’s free last Sunday RD painted the floor, and I managed to give it a coat of varnish. We wanted it to look old, not pristine, to look worn as if the paint had been walked on and worn over the years. I think we succeeded….

RD also painted three of the walls white, and the plan was to give a final varnish on Monday, and the final coats of white to three of the walls.

But as always best plans always change the cesspit took a whole day (they finally finished in the dark at 7.30pm!) and despite my best efforts in varnishing the floor a second time, whilst running up and down the stairs to mop up poo water and bleach my floors, we slept on our mattress on the newly painted floor that night. R D wanted to put the bed together, but he was exhausted and I wouldn’t let him.

One of the things we have realised (I have realised) was that I was trying in some ways to recreate our old home in England, when in fact I need to embrace this home as something new. It has only taken me four years! So as Tuesday came we but our bed back up, and we gave the walls another coat of white. I have never had a predominately white scheme, so have decided to go for it, and do something we have never done before. So all of the furniture in our new room (which feels huge in comparison) is going to be painted white, and one wall has remained blue.We have new furniture in situ (look out for another post) but all of it will be painted white and there is a lot of work for me to do next week.

All will be revealed, but for now here is a glimpse of what’s to come, with my French vintage lights and mirrors in place (but only half painted!)

I can tell you though that on Tuesday night, as I lay in my bed, I gave thanks that I am blessed to have a bed; and it reminded me of a quote from Mark Nepo, in the book of awakening

‘We all walk around within the numbness of our habits and routines so often that we take the marvels of ordinary life for granted.’

Trust me, having a bed to sleep on is one of them.

More to come.

Rosie