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Finnish rug washing in Tervo and mangling in Pirkkala – images borrowed from their sites respectfully |
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Fresh from the garden… |
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Finnish rug washing in Tervo and mangling in Pirkkala – images borrowed from their sites respectfully |
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Fresh from the garden… |
Wonderwall (Noun)
“A barrier which separates the mundane from the Transcendent Reality. A true Wonderwall will always have a crack, or a slit or an opening which allows anyone a glimpse of what lies beyond the Wonderwall.”
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Our new wallpaper kettle and my mum in action… |
Conveniently, the purchase of our latest toy coincided with the visit of my mother, who, when faced with a choice between a relaxing trip to Benidorm or being sent to a Gulag, would choose the Gulag every time. Like a good daughter, I thought, if working like a beast is how she likes to spend her vacation, who am I to stop her.
Despite of my personal feelings of inadequacy, the results are superb: plaster that was hiding under the stained 90’s wallpaper turned out to be painted light green and in surprisingly good condition. It was always evident that whole sections will need to be replaced, especially from around the front door and in the back where previous occupants had tried to half-arsedly cover up old damages with floppy sheets particleboard, but the rest is pretty solid. To see these walls for the first time without scraps of paper was both weird and wonderful. Although the old paint job is in a dire nick, you get a good feel how the space could look like once fully restored.
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The tools of the trade: my beloved sander and wood, PVC and aluminum compatible paint – if these can’t beat the shit out of that faux mahogany, nothing will! |
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And here’s the results: Not bad I say! |
Having seen some photos of the new colour, he couldn’t believe how airy and open the corridor suddenly felt. The fresh white paint is the best substitute for natural light in a space like this in my view and having erased the oddly red-ish mahogany tint, you can actually distinguish where our lovely staircase begins and the partition ends. How clean it all looks certainly gives me hope when thinking about rehabilitating rest of our stairwell that is currently painted in varying shades of natural white with decades of dirty handprints and nicotine stains. Yummy!
I’m not a great believer in art hung in narrow spaces, as normally I am too clumsy to risk it, but this little “home” sign felt appropriate here. It was a housewarming present upon moving to France nearly three years ago now and will hopefully hang in our home, in this old house, for decades to come.