“Geluk bij een ongeluk.” It doesn’t really translate, literally it means: luck with an accident. In reality it means that sometimes good things come out of bad things, ie. accidents. Such a thing is happening to me.
A couple of months ago I left my skylight-type-window wide open, letting in that fresh summer breeze. Sadly, I also let in that fresh summer rain. It rained all over my thick, German, no spring (but not memory foam) mattress. There was no saving it. Because German beds are really two twins hammered together, I was able to drag mattresses off Tess’ bed, Dane’s bed, Cole’s bed, the guest bed… I tried ALL the mattresses. Nothing worked. My poor body was sore & unhappy.
However. It turned it out it wasn’t really the mattress, but the lattenrost (or wooden plank support system) holding up my mattress. I switched to Dave’s half of the bed & I slept soundly and woke without pain. A lightbulb went on in my head. We needed a new bed! I immediately started shopping & saving, and finally, last week, the bed came! New mattresses & all.
The thing is, while we really did need a new bed (our first in 20+ years), I hated our room. We’d moved in to it pre-painted by the previous owners. A fun, ragged-on technique that does not fit my OCD side. It looks messy to me. Even worse? It was half yellow & half orange, albeit my favorite color, with a very clear line of demarcation right above my head. It had to go. Plus, the new bed is anthracite. I needed paint.
Last weekend Dave & I had a wonderful date at the local home improvement store. I made a new friend, turns out the lady in New Kitchens is also Dutch. Woooooooohoooooo! We spent way too much time in Kitchens, but. Hold on. Here’s why, check out my teeny tiny dishwasher!
The Teeny Tiny Dishwasher – closed
The Teeny Tiny Dishwasher – open
This is not a good dishwasher for a family of 5, sometimes a family of 8, frequently a family with extra’s. It would be fine if we had big, huge, utilitarian sink (or a gorgeous farmhouse soapstone sink) but we don’t. We have a teeny, tiny sink. I’m not getting up from my desk again to take a picture of my (full) teeny, tiny sink. But this is why, when the New Kitchen section was right next to the paint section, I got side-tracked. When the lovely Dutch lady in kitchens made me a delicious cup of coffee, well I sat in the demo kitchen and started dreaming. Someday I will again have a big dishwasher, sink and full-size fridge.
I didn’t tell you about my fridge? Oh! People. It is also teeny-tiny. Think dorm room size. I’m going crazy living in a house built for tall people, with teeny tiny appliances. It’s madness I tell you. Utter madness.
Back to the problem at hand, and not my coffee addiction, we agreed on a wonderful shade of paint, a light gray that would keep our room bright & neutral so I could still go wild with bedding if I wanted color. By Sunday afternoon the room was almost empty, and the taping had started when I realized we needed before pictures. It gets dark here early now, but trust me, it is still afternoon in these photo’s.
We painted till 20:00, half the walls are done. The new bed is still in boxes in our living room and Dave & are sleeping camp-out style in the living room. There is no room for a Christmas tree but we have a fireplace to keep us toasty at night. Even better? The kids are puppy-piling in with us for multiple family movie nights. We are almost caught up on all the 2015 movies we missed.
Maybe we will finish painting this weekend. Maybe we will head over to the 2016 movies we missed.
Where the “shrank” goes, or closet. No built in closets in Germany ☹
The Line of Demarcation… and the skylight window & my model
[…] weekend our wonderful friends from our old village came over the help move the new bed upstairs (There’s a Dutch saying…). We’d spent two weeks tearing down our room, sleeping in the living room, and re-painting. […]
I love your personal notes. I love hearing about Germany and the other countries you visit. it’s so interesting to hear about some of the things you have to deal with like tiny appliances and not actual closets. Your notes make me smile.