Hello again!

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. We haven't had very good internet connection lately for some reason. And I've been busy making sure DaDa takes it easy after his surgery. I've also been supervising Gerry the 'decorator' [handyman/painter] as he transforms the old study/storage room into MY ROOM! Yes, I will finally have my own room. I haven't really minded having MaMa and DaDa as roommates, although they have been known to snore, but I really do want my own space. I have informed them and Gerry that I want blue walls. I told Daddy today that I wanted ALL the walls blue. Then I said, 'I want too much blue!'

Gerry has had a challenge getting the room ready, as it has wallpaper from 1939 or so, painted over multiple times, ten or eleven foot high ceilings with trim around the room where the walls meet the ceiling, and then something called a 'picture rail' a couple of feet below the ceiling, an antique fireplace, enormous Victorian sash windows that have been repainted countless times and are thick with paint, an old gas outlet and an old telephone or something outlet, two smoke detectors (one part of the house system, one on batteries), an old ringer for a bell to call servants (why oh why don't they ever show up when I push it?), crumbling plaster, mold and damp in the walls, cracks in the ceiling and walls, etc...... We found writing on the lime and sand masonry walls under the wallpaper from the original builders, adding up costs in 'old money' that they used to use here in England. Anyway, it will be interesting to see the room when it's all done! I've been helping out, as you can see below.

Here is the room, once the old peeling and holey wallpaper was pulled down and the plaster patched where it had was cracked in the ceiling, or had holes or damp/mold, or was crumbling off the wall.  All the part under the windowsill had be be replaced because of the damp, and some in the corner was replaced a couple of years ago because of mold/damp from a leaky downpipe on the outside wall!  Looking better already!!

Here you can see where the original builders added up expenses (?) perhaps around 1890 in 'old money' (i.e. shillings and so on, before the English went decimal in 1972).  This is written right on to the gritty lime plaster, which has to be sealed with lining paper before the room can be painted.  

We tried out various shades of blue before deciding on the final ones.  Here I am helping out with the tester paint.  Note the buzzer at the top of the picture . . . .

Here are some of the blues (and yellows, above the picture rail) that we considered! The bell that I'm about to push used to call the servants.  Unfortunately, the bell has been disconnected.  Around the bell you can see the result of my painting efforts.

This room used to be the study for the Mayor of Oxford back in the early 1900s.  It was also our landlord's room when he was a boy.  The fireplace is Edwardian.  You can see the size of the much larger original Victorian fireplace by the flesh-colored plaster patch extending out and above the current fireplace.   

In this picture I'm holding my 'critters' Lambie and Igglepiggle.  They can't wait to move into their new room!

By the way, today, May 22nd, is my two and a half birthday!!  Halfy Birthday to me!!  I'll get Mommy to post photos later of my 'party'--I had a scone with a candle in it after dinner with Mommy and Daddy!