posted by Lily on Uncategorized

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After a quick start to the morning – 7.15 wakeup, 7.17 realisation that strings ensemble is now on Monday, not Tuesday, 7.45am at school with cello, lunch and child – I decided to make the most of not having had time for a shower before school drop off and get stuck into all those dirty tasks I had been avoiding. Simon joined in …

I’m not sure what he was up to but I swept the front path, swept out under the house (my feet were black with dirt after this little exercise), cleaned the bath, swept and tidied the back landing and stairs and scrapped and painted the little chest of drawers I desperately need to put in my sewing room to hide all the fabric.

Actually, I was only going to sand the chest of drawers, but when I scrapped at a hard trickle of old paint, the paint flaked off like showers of confetti – so two hours later the high gloss magnolia was up my nose, in my mouth, through my hair and from one end of the garage to the other – but at least it wasn’t on the chest! First coat of Vintage USA done!

And then, I finally, finally, finally carried inside the poor little old house that I had rescued from under the house weeks ago and then added insult to injury by leaving it on the back landing. How awful am I for letting this happen!

Mind you, the remaining family members didn’t seem too bothered by the horror in which they were living – they had faith :)

My old nanny and grandad brought this little Fisher Price house home to me from Canada in the early 1970s. It gave me years and years of fun and remains my dream home – with a bathroom added! So I carefully cleaned it with an old toothbrush, a soft cloth and some soapy water – had to be very careful with the water and the illustrated paper linings which provide all of the house’s life and character. Cleaning the roof was so satisfying! Inside was less dirty but harder to clean …

Children’s room … obviously where I get my inspiration for curtains …

Parents’ room … problem with the detailed papering was that I always ended up covering something important with the furniture, it was most frustrating …

Sitting room … looks very like the sitting room in Happy Days …

and the best bit, the Kitchen … oooh I would love to have a kitchen with a rock wall and roaring fire …

Before long, everything was *almost* sparkling and the abridged family were thrilled with the renovations. Hopefully, dad and boy will show up soon, dragging the missing kitchen chair and beds behind them.
But life goes on and before mum and girlie could check on their roast, the school bus had arrived to take girlie to school …

… it lost its papered illustrations many years ago – but the little “headlights” still flip up and down, the wheels clackety clack, and the driver’s head swivels delightfully as it bumbles along.

What a good clean day Monday has been!