The housewarming

So I'm sat here At My Computer on Sunday afternoon with a strong dose of caffeine in an attempt to kick start my body after a somewhat short night and (I think) a relatively small amount of booze and green tea. My (17) closest friends were there to help baptise the flat and I feel we did a pretty good job of it.

It's a well known fact that when you are hosting a party, you don't really have a lot of time to sit and talk to your invités. I spent most of the evening going from the sitting room to the kitchen, checking in with the English speakers at the booze and food table (who thought this was a very good place to camp out). The office was also visited on a regular basis as one of friends thought she'd like to stock up on my TV show collection and burn a couple (yes 10, Audrey) of DVDs. :)

Another friend made "capiranhas" for everyone for most of the night, he has discovered a talent for cocktail making, though sadly I did not get to taste one.

Two others thought it was hilarious to arrive at about 11.30 and ring the doorbell claiming they were the police answering a call for noise disturbance. I rush down the stairs to find them pissing themselves on the doorstep. Hmm .... very funny! :)

The friend specialised in "Wellness" proceeded to go into my bedroom and tell me that when it comes to Feng Shui, my room is a mess! Turns out having your head pointing East is not good, neither is an open wardrobe (that's being tackled today), electrical cables running behind the head board and my sister's wicker err... sculpture (dead wood). Let's not even mention the art I was planning on putting on the wall. I have decided that, apart from the wardrobe doors, I going to ignore his comments until bad things happen.

And then there's the Indian, Australian and the Irish who camped out on my sofas providing the laughs and stories (and sarcastic digs) until 5 this morning. The sun was coming up and I had to chuck them out so we could all get a bit of sleep!!

So today I have the task of going around flat with a yellow and blue and white bin bag to clean up! Ooops almost forgot, the bottles need to go in yet a different bag (my blue bags clearly state that no glass is to be put in there!!). I've also to find a place to stash all the booze and fizzies that are left over until the next "gathering".

Not a very content worthy post, granted - but I wanted to keep a trace of it while it was still clear (OK, kinda cloudy) in my head.

A very good night! (though I'm sure my upstairs neighbour can' t have thought the same.)

The quasi-finished kitchen

So, it's not totally finished, I still have to do a couple of things:
- sand down the not soo straight edge of the worktop so it sits flush with the wall,
silicone the joints of the various worktops which will make washing up a lot easier. (That's my excuse for the dishes piling up - these were strategically placed out of sight while taking photos),
- find a shelf or two to hold various 'ready to use' articles,
- sort my appliance to plug ratio and insert multiplugs where possible being careful not to overload fuses which would result in darkness. Not useful while cooking of chopping onions :)
(or alternatively, get an electrician in and ask him to insert new plugs).

Did my first laundry load though and to my great relief, did not end up swimming in kitchen.

anyway, here's what it looks like now (and yes, I like my dutch tilts!).

The move

I only took a couple of photos of the move in the end. I didn't want pics of the empty flat.
HUGE truck in which my stuff only took up about 1/3 of total space.
New things to add to to-do list:

• New bed frame ordered
• Find missing part for wardrobe (hard to do as don't know what i'm looking for!)
• New taps for shower
...

Goodbye flat

Well this will be my last post in this flat.

I'm sat here waiting for Junkers to come and take a look at my boiler and as is custom with tradesmen, he'll be turning up anytime between 12 and 5pm.

I've decided that while I should be packing the last stuff lying around, flattening bed, cupboards, etc. I'm going to take this quiet time to reflect a little on this place. Give it a proper farewell, I guess.

This flat became my home 3 years ago, and I took over the lease from a friend. My 2 best friends used to live upstairs which made the whole thing so much fun. They moved out last summer and it turns out (I know what some of you are thinking) that we will once again be neighbours as I'm moving into the same street.
By existing rent standards in Brussels for the moment, this flat was a real bargain. Great location, loads of space and storage and relatively low rent.
It is a bit old and in need of TLC but I like it. This was my second flat and the first was small, cosy but completely "finished". I had no say in colours, or changes.
Here I repainted and really made it mine.

I'm a bit of a hermit so the place I live is real important to me and I spend a lot of time here. The last three years of my life have been eventful and I guess, like anyone, there are many memories here.

I generally see a move as a kind of new beginning, a fresh slate, new habits (time to get rid of the old one's that weren't so good) and new experiences. And I love the first couple of weeks when everything is still new and you settle in.

This time though, maybe because it was not my choice to move, I'm finding it a lot more of an emotional experience than I did my 2 previous moves. All other areas of my life are in limbo too at the moment and I struggling not to feel like the rug is being pulled from under me. The move means I HAVE to move on, leave this phase of my life behind and move onto big and better things. (Those who know me have an idea of how difficult I find changes to handle - I get there eventually but it's always a bit of a stressful time).

I suppose 3 years ago, when I moved into this flat, I naively believed that the next time I packed my life in boxes, it would be to move on to the "responsible adult" bit of my life. That I'd be able to afford a nicer place to rent or even buy. I guess it comes down to the idea that I assumed I would be starting a new life as a twosome and not alone. Don't get me wrong, I love being a single gal, it's just not how I saw my life being as I turned 30.

Anyway, I've got alot of packing left to do, so all this cogitating needs to be put on hold until after the move. I promise a more positive post next time.

Ikea kitchens - The revenge of the cupboard.

The kitchen is now half up.
The build started yesterday morning and ended around 11pm.
I had gone to buy the stuff on Thursday afternoon - and I have to say, it's an absolute pleasure to visit the Swedish Emporium on a weekday afternoon. I came home with 128kg worth of boxes.

I had some help putting this kitchen together and thank God
(in this case S) for this.

We quickly realised that while we thought we had it all, a mandatory visit to Brico was in order. This seems to be an absolute Must when doing any kind of DIY and it's something that slows down the process considerably. For some reason after the spilt paint and white jean lady incident, I took us to another Brico.
With Jigsaw, silicon, drill heads and pipes for sink in hand, we make it back to the flat and get to it.

Now I always think these kind of jobs will be straightforward and relatively easy to handle.... And it NEVER turns out this way.

















I realise quickly that someone in the packing warehouse at Ikea must have had a spaz moment when they packed my drawer elements... 2 left handed pieces!!! So I bravely soldiered on figuring out why I have soo many pieces that don't seem to get used. It take a while to finally realise that the flat packs for drawers are basically the same for all Ikea elements and they sell you the specific bits for your cabinet in a different box. All very confusing if you ask me.

Then a while later, we realise that there are no legs holes for the cabinet we have just built, and with further inspection of the packaging and floor plan of kitchen, I have been given a wall cupboard and not a floor one. I am told by Ikea that I do not have to pull it apart and I can just bring it is as is.
Lovely, just what I wanted, an afternoon sitting at customer service. Another thing on the list of stuff to do for the next couple of weeks.

Jigsawing and flat pack building continues and before you know it, it's 7pm, the old sink is now on my balcony, it's putrid and it strikes me a new sink is in order. Wohoo for Ikea closing at 8pm on a Saturday.
That was the fastest trip to Ikea ever and we arrive home with new sink (lovely) and a mountain of plumbing stuff.

We struggle to finish all the jigsawing before 10pm but I'm sure there must have been a better way to introduce myself to the neighbours!

The way it stands today: the sink cabinet (what is left of it), the sink worktop (what is left of it) and the drawers next to the cooker are up, the worktops are cut to size and the kitchen looks so much better already. I'm starting to believe that this small and weird shaped space will actually look like a real kitchen soon.




































The metal structure on which the sink was on before is now happily squatting my new bedroom. There is Ikea furniture building stuff ALL over my sitting room and I'm sure I could make a tidy profit selling the sawdust that's all over my flat to Brico to mop up the occasional spilt paint.


















I'm fully aware of the magnitude of stuff still to be done (not just in the kitchen) and with the days flying past and shops being closed now until Tuesday, I'm slightly concerned.

It's hard work but it's good fun and there's a definite sense of achievement when you know you're doing it yourself.



Special P.S. to John who's running in the 20K today... Good luck mate, have a blast. I admire anyone who can run that far. :)

Ikea kitchens

This is my task this week.
To buy and fit my new ultra small but oh so charming kitchen.
Now I'm a big fan of puzzles of any kind, and for the last couple of weeks, i've been playing my very own game of Tetris. Adding to the challenge of a small and evil space to figure out, is the fact that I have to squeeze my washing machine in there too!!!

My job was made considerably easier by a friend who sells kitchens, coming over and measuring the space. He played a little tetris of his own (but he has little fridge, sink, cooker templates) and came up with the best possible solution.

So basically all I have to do now, is decide how much I'm willing to spend, what kind cabinets I want, and find an extra storage idea. Sounds simple.

Now I know can be a spaz sometimes, but I'm finding it really difficult to be sure of what I'm getting, enough to actually hand over the visa card.

So, despite wanting to handle this on my own, I think I will return to Ikea next week, measurements and Tetris drawing in hand. I will be forced to approach a yellow shirt, blue pants employee named Sven .... err no sorry Stefan.

(If the end result is half decent, I'll post an after photo.)

I have a flat

It took a total of 17 crappy places before I finally landed on this one!
I have a flat :)
... with my very own parking space.

Still in bed with the flu, but a happy day.