Nearly there

We've almost finished the living room now. The pictures are up on the walls, the skirting board has been sealed, the floating shelves are up and most of the wires are now in place. Today I'll finish fastening some wires to the walls, wire up the speakers and hopefully finish sealing the floor. That's it then. All done. We just need the sofas to arrive, and we can move in. It looks like a proper room now. I think it's the books that make the difference. That and the photos. It just looks more like home.

Of course, I may just read some books instead. I've had two more rings arrive today, one of which is HUGE. 900 pages. It does look very good, though. I bet the postman was relieved to hand it over. His bag would have been half the weight afterwards.

I've been tweaking my 1001 books spreadsheet the past few days. A couple of the girls on BookCrossing sent me the info on author nationality so I've added that and I've also added a column with the list number of the books in the 2008 list. And that sentence probably makes no sense whatsoever unless you're reading the books…

I'm hoping to be able to put the list on here for download, if I can figure out how.

Ok, another layout – one from the Vegas holiday, this time our helicopter ride at the Grand Canyon. That was amazing. My first time in a helicopter and I had no idea if I'd love it or if I'd be absolutely terrified. The latter could have been a problem as we had to get back in the 'copter to get back up to the top of the canyon rim. Luckily I was in the 'love it' category.

The layout uses Costco paper, and the title was done on the Craft Robo with two fonts – Comic Sans and Secret Recipe.

And we have books!

The bookcases that we put up first have now got books on them and they do look rather lovely. Books are beautiful, are they not?

On the left is an 80cm with all my TBRs on it. They're carefully (ok, anally) separated by dividers so I can see at a glance, which are rings - to be read first, which are 1001-library books - to be read next and which are Big Read, 1001 list and assorted other books. I'm a bit worried that I could only just fit my TBRs on there. Maybe I should try to read more than I collect? Nah, that's a silly idea.

In the centre is a 40cm containing my most precious books. A complete set of Dickens, cloth bound, that I got in a second hand shop for £20. A restricted book on 'Torture through the ages' that belonged to my grandmother. Yes, I did say my grandmother. There's a set of books called The world of the children. I loved those books when I started to read, and I'm sure that they are responsible for my love of books and reading. There are also some assorted smelly old books, some of which are first editions, that I've found at book sales and second hand shops.

On the right is another 80cm with a selection of my hardbacks. My favourite reference books are there, a selection of non-fiction and some fiction, including a leather bound set of Alistair Maclean's, and some gorgeous editions from the Folio society. There's room for a few more but I need to go through the rest to see which ones come downstairs and which stay upstairs. Some will be going to new homes as I really do have to declutter a wee bit.

Next week I have a week's holiday and one of my tasks is to fill the bookcases on the other side of the room. That'll be for my PC (permanent collection) paperbacks and there's no way they'll all fit on there so it'll be a hard job to pick which ones stay and which ones get BookCrossed. I suspect that it'll be mostly Sci-fi/fantasy that stays as I'm most fond of those.

In the meantime I need to get reading as bookrings are arriving thick and fast. The last seven books that I've read have all been rings and I'm about to start on the eighth. I know I have a couple more on the way and a few more coming very soon, one of which is a 900 pager. Gulp! It does look very good though.

Plan F, or was it G?

We finally, finally got that corner sorted out with bookcases. After Plan A failed, which was using the existing corner unit, we quickly progressed through Plans B,C & D, with no success. The main problem was that once we'd ascertained that the corrner unit was not going to work, as the door didn't fit, we had a set length of wall that needed filling. As it's a wide alcove between the front of the house and the fireplace I didn't want to be left with ten or fifteen centimeters empty.

Plus, I wanted to make the best use of the space by going round the corner. After all, the more bookcases you have, the more books you can buy to fit on them. (and yes, I do know I have to fit the existing library on them first…)

This is what we've ended up with.

Ignore the grotty rug – it's just down there to stop the floor being damaged by the bookcase assembly line. I managed to squeeze in one 80cm, two Bennos (CD units), and two 40cm. All with doors as you can see. I could have done with just a centimetre more but the doors on the two 40cm units will open, you just have to be a bit cautious with one of them. I still need to tweak the doors a bit for height to make them level but they are all fastened securely to the wall, which means I can start to fill them.

Considering the corner looked like this a few weeks ago, I think we've done well.

What a difference a nice floor, some blinds and a few bookcases make, eh?

Best laid plans and all that…

So, having successfully 'bookcased' the one side of the room, we turned our attention to the other side. I'd worked out that if we used the existing Billy corner unit from upstairs, we could then fit in two more 40cm Billy bookcases and two Benno CD/DVD shelves. The first thing we needed to do was get the corner unit downstairs. It was, of course, full of junk and other stuff as it had been sitting in the spare room ever since I moved out of there to put my craft room downstairs.

After emptying it, which took some time as we kept finding 'interesting' things that we'd forgotten about, we needed to move it. It's big and very heavy but we did manage to get it as far as the top of the stairs before I managed to persuade Stephen that if we lost control of it, at best it would wreck our new and expensive front door, and at worst, one of us would be between it and the door when it landed. The problem was the shape of it. It had to go down at an awkward angle so it wasn't easy to grab hold of. In the end we had to dismantle it on the landing and take it down in bits. Once down we reassembled it and placed it in the corner.

It looked an awful lot bigger than it did upstairs.

I rechecked the measurements and everything would still fit as planned, but it did seem a bit of a waste of good shelf space. Too late to change my mind really, but it did occur to me that the opening looked wider than the door that we'd bought to put on it. So, we put a door up against it. I'm thinking that Ikea have changed the design of the corner units since we bought ours as the door was much too narrow.

Not good.

So, as I'm determined that everything downstairs will have doors on, the corner unit now has to go back up the stairs. It's currently sitting in the bay window looking accusingly at me every time I walk past it. Oh dear.

The good news is that I've managed to rearrange things so that we can get an 80cm bookcase in there instead, by using corner brackets to join the two 40cm. We went out today to fetch the other 80cm Billy plus the brackets and an extra door so we just need to assemble that and then fasten them all to the wall, and add doors. At the moment it looks like this.

 

It's getting there. I can't wait to get that finished and fill all those shelves with books.

Bookcases

Having finally finished with moving various wires and cables so they were hidden and not in a bunch of spaghetti all over the floor, we started to do something with the bookcases that came from Ikea the other day. On one wall I can just fit two 80cm and one 40cm. So, in theory, all we have to do is assemble them, fasten them to the wall and hang some doors on them. Easy peasy, right? Wrong. It seems our floor is slightly banana-shaped by that wall so the middle bookcase will stand level but the ones on either side lean in to it slightly which leaves a gap between them at the bottom. The solution was to find something strong to put under the leaning ones to get them level enough so that they'd fit closely with the middle one.

This took longer than anticipated but once done looked rather nice.

 

You can just see where they've been raised slightly to get them to fit properly but once there's some more furniture in the room it won't be so noticable. We can adjust the doors so that they'll all be level at the top. The dangling wires are speaker cable, btw. It runs under the floor to the other side where the TV will go so we can have surround sound. The two back speakers will go on top of the bookcases. When you're putting down wooden flooring, you need to think of these things in advance…

I just need to fill them with lots of lovely books now.

A good day

As planned, I went to the Migraine clinic to see the consultant this morning. It took us an hour and a half to get there due to traffic, but was well worth it. Apart from anything else, it was good to speak to a doctor that specialised in headache and migraine, and so actually knew something about it. I think that's probably the longest consultation that I've ever had too as I was with the doctor for almost an hour. He's going to write to my GP with his recommendations so I may soon be on a new drug.

On the way back we went into Ikea. We needed to return the back panel of one of the bookcases that was delivered on Tuesday as a large piece of the corner was broken. We also needed a couple of fittings that were missing from the TV unit we assembled recently. The chap who dealt with us was excellent. Our broken panel was waiting for us when we'd finished our shopping and the missing bits weren't available in store so they're going to be posted out to us. I was very impressed with the customer service so well done Ikea.

We didn't do so well with the bits we wanted to buy. The extra shelves that I've decided I need weren't in stock, and they had no suitable side tables or photo frames of the right size.

We did find some tiles in B&Q that will be perfect for the kitchen, but drew a blank on wallpaper again. The problem with having such shiny white kitchen units is that any white wallpaper looks off-white when you put it next to it. I shall have to keep looking…
We did get some floating shelves for a small alcove in the living room. I was pleased to find some that were almost exactly the right size.

Oh, and I did a bit of BookCrossing while we were out, by leaving a trail of wild releases behind me. I was very chuffed after leaving one on a table in the returns department of Ikea. I spotted it in the cafe there a few minutes later, clutched in the hand of a chap. I wish I'd seen him pick it up, but I was thrilled that it had been actually taken by someone.

Tomorrow we move some more wires, put the corner unit in place, if we can get it downstairs, and then fasten the bookcases to the wall. We might get the doors on the bookcases too and then I can start filling them. I believe Stephen wants me to use the books that I already have rather than buying new ones though. Spoilsport! LOL

We have skirting boards…

It's amazing how different the room suddenly looks now the skirting is on. I'd take a photo to show you but there are bookcases all over the floor where we've been frantically assembling them. We're popping into Ikea tomorrow and we wanted to make sure we had all the bits before going. We're missing two fittings from the TV cabinet we assembled the other day so we need to get those.

We have to take back one bit of bookcase that was broken in the packaging and on the phone we've been assured that we can take back just the broken piece and not the whole lot. I'll believe it when it happens to be honest as the returns dept. are a law unto themselves. If they won't play ball though, the online dept. will come out and replace the whole bookcase.

The reason Ikea is tomorrow is that it's The Big Day. We're off to Stoke on Trent to go to the Migraine clinic, and on the way back we pass Ikea so we'll be popping in for meatballs and that jam stuff. Yummy!

Fun and games

I hadn't realised it was so long since I last blogged. I haven't been spending as much time in front of the computer due to my neck problem, so I guess I just haven't had time to blog, as well as keep up with emails and my favourite internet haunts.

My car went in for its repairs ok. I was quite impressed with the way it was dealt with. Just in case there was a need for them, they ordered two very expensive parts so they could be fitted without any delay. Thankfully they weren't needed but it was good of them to have them in ready. My car was returned to me in full working order, washed and with they tyres blacked. There was a complimentary air freshener left in the car and they'd even fixed my dangly movement sensor that had fallen from the broken clip.

My neck is still paining me but it was ok for yesterday's crop, and thankfully I didn't wake with a migraine either so I was able to go. The last crop I'd made it to was back at the beginning of November so it felt like ages since I'd been. I did manage to remember the way there, and it was great to see Chris, Fiona, Julie and Jackie again.

I did have a bit of an adventure on the way home. I left just before the end as I was getting quite tired and it is an hour and a half's drive home. It took rather longer last night though, as the road to the motorway was closed. No diversion signs, no indication of an alternate route to the motorway, nothing. I was left sitting there with absolutely no idea where to go, so as I couldn't go forwards I started back the way I'd come.

My plan was to find somewhere safe to pull off the road, either a petrol station where I might get directions on how to go round the closed road, or to look at my map and try to figure it out for myself. When I got to the Stonehouse island, where I'd normally turn right to go down to Paperarts, I made an impulse decision to go left as it seemed like it was vaguely the right direction.

Oh dearie me. I ended up on this very dark, very twisty-turny country lane with no idea where I was or if I was headed in anything like the right direction. Anyone who knows me, will know that that is my idea of hell. Especially when people who seemed to know the road better than me thought I should be going a bit faster than 35mph and got as close to my rear bumper as they could with their full beams on. Why did they think blinding me would make me go faster? Gits! Did I mention the road was twisty and pitch black? The sharp corners were coming up so fast at the speed I was going, there was no way that I was going faster.

Eventually I ended up in Gloucester, I think, and luckily right by the motorway so that got me back on the right route. I don't think I've ever been so glad to see the M5 in my life!

I did have a brilliant time at the crop but I'm paying for it a bit today. My back, neck and shoulders have seized up. From the driving, I presume. Possibly from the tension down that dark lane when I was lost. Good job I don't have anything pressing to do today.

And there was yet more fun and games, this time with Ikea online delivery service. The new bookcases were scheduled to arrive yesterday but last weekend I followed the instructions in the confirmation email and changed the date to next Friday. I didn't get a reply but neither did I get either the phone call giving the four hour delivery window or the phone call from the driver on the day to say they were coming. Given that, I thought it was safe to assume that the date had been changed. Stephen was in all day but popped out for twenty minutes in the evening during which time they tried to deliver the bookcases.

Typical.

He managed to get them on the phone and has rearranged it again. They had no idea why we hadn't been contacted one to two days before with our slot, and no idea why the driver hadn't phoned. So far, I'm not impressed.

Ouch!

I don't know exactly what I've done to it, but I have a huge pain in my neck. No, really, a honest to goodness neck pain. It's the muscle that goes from the left shoulder (my bad one) up the neck. On Thursday I could hardly move without shouting in pain. If I moved my head, arm, or anything connected in any way to my left shoulder – it hurt. Big time. Of course this triggered a migraine so not only could I not move my head, I didn't actually want to. Once the migraine had gone, the only thing I could do was read, propped up on several pillows in bed. Not something to be complained about really, apart from the excruciating pain every time I forgot and moved.

Liberal applications of Deep heat and several doses of Co-codamol made it slightly better but it's still rather painful now. I assume it's linked to the shoulder problem so pointless visiting my GP with it. Fingers crossed it carries on easing up.

With not being able to move, I've been forced to read several books over the last few days. Yes, I know, there are worse things to do LOL

I read all the Tanya Huff Summoning books – all three of them – for some light reading as I was getting frustrated with Herzog. Then, instead of going back to Herzog, as I was feeling sorry for myself, I read The Yellow wallpaper, Crome Yellow and The Golden Ass – all for The Colour challenge. The first was short but very good, the second was ok, but Golden Ass was superb. I've posted that one on to Tree 'cause I think she'll like it.

Finally I picked Herzog back up and managed to finish it. I didn't enjoy it and unusually for me, I skimmed through some bits in the middle. If it hadn't been a 1001 book I'd have given up on it but as it was I was determined to finish it. I'm going for something a bit lighter next before reading my library book.

Our new blinds were fitted in the living room a few days ago. We used a local company recommended by a colleague instead of our usual place. I'm very impressed. Two nice blokes, good quality blinds, and extremely well fitted. Our window is taller at the front of the bay than it is at the back so to have the blinds evenly fitting all the way around is very good. And, I do like a workman that clears up so well that he leaves no trace of his being there. So, if anyone is after blinds in Birmingham, Pete's blinds is who you need for the job.

Ok, neck hurting quite a bit now. I think I need to go and read another book…

Looking good!

Stephen has been finishing off a few bits of the floor today, while I spent some time and money ordering the bookcases that I want for the living room. We decided it would be an awful lot easier to use Ikea online and pay for delivery rather than make several trips. Apart from the fact that sixteen boxes won't fit in the car, there's no guarantee that they'll have all the bits in stock. When we did the craftroom we had to go up there several times before we could get everything we wanted, and it is a 30 mile round trip. I'm not saying that multiple visits to Ikea is a bad thing, but I do always seem to come away with more than I intended. Online shopping is great for stopping those impulse buys, and so much quicker.

We do still need to visit them fairly soon, as our new unit was missing two small, but essential, plastic triangles. One drawer can't be completed until we have them but it's finished apart from that.

The new blinds should be fitted next week and all the furniture assembly, picture hanging, bookcase-filling and general snagging should be completed before the new sofas arrive in 6 – 12 weeks. I'm really rather excited as finally there is light at the end of our very long tunnel.

Then, all we have to do is finish the kitchen and we can move downstairs. Whoo hoo!

This is what the living room looks like at the moment. The new unit looks a bit odd in the photo. The unfinished drawer is sitting on the top of it, on some lining paper. It'll look much better when the drawer is in the unit and not on top of it…