We have friends coming to visit this weekend: they are staying in the room that will at some point in the relatively near future belong to the Pocket Dictator. She will be getting the upgrade to allow Babydeux free and full use of the nursery which is smaller and (more importantly) has an interconnecting door to our bedroom- a surprisingly useful feature that we didn’t think about when we bought the house but are very glad of now. I say we- I’m usually the one sitting in the rocking chair in the dark dosing PD with Nurofen and shushing her back to sleep, but DH does work very hard to allow us to live in the house with the interconnecting door so I’ll allow him a little slack. PDs future-intended room is undergoing a transformation from the-room-with-the-sofa-bad-where-we-keep-all-the-random-stuff-that-can’t-go-in-the-attic-and-part-time-kids-sleepover-facility which has thus far involved:
a) decorating. Said room now has lovely seagull wallpaper I got at a discontinued sale in Laura Ashley
b) finding curtains. Based on the seagull wallpaper, Dh and I were agreed in getting a loosely ‘beach/seaside’ theme. He favoured blue curtains with fish and boats. I thought that with the blue walls and the blue carpet, the addition of blue curtains would make the room look like the inside of a snooker chalk* so have found white curtains with pretty spots on, which I just need to line with blackout and they are ready to be hung.
c) ordered furniture. I cannot say enough about how impressed I have been with the Ikea internet-order service. I should have thought to pay extra for construction (or erection?) though, but that’s another story.
d) bought, and put together myself, a lovely new light fitting!
Thus the Blue Room is an odd mismash of former-part-time-guest-room and future-intended-PD-bedroom, and although there is clean bedding and fresh towels, I thought I’d better make an effort in the food department. So last night, instead of watching Strictly Come Dancing, DH and I were hard at work in the kitchen, whipping up the family favourite that will feed five adults and two small people: Cottage Pie. It’s on the side ready to shove in the evil oven (which can just about handle cooking this sort of dish) when we get back from our day trip to an Old Boys Rugby match (best not to ask, mainly because DH has yet to fill me in on the details!) But the piece de resistance is a new take on an old classic- Tiramisu Layer Cake, courtesy of my Nigella Christmas book. Annoyingly I had to text DH as he was on his way home to divert him to Waitrose for the chocolate cake, which I had failed to find in three other well known supermarkets (and the Tia Maria, which I just forgot). And then the cream mix wouldn’t thicken, so I had to dig the Magimix out (annoying only because it lives in the shed- the evil kitchen is a topic for another time- and I was wearing pyjamas) to whip it into a frenzy. But I did have enough left over for a ‘sample pot’ for DH to try. He slept very well- turns out the recipe calls for most of a standard bottle of Tia Maria. I figure that once everyone has a good wedge of that for supper (Babydeux and I will be forced to abstain) they’ll be so tipsy they won’t notice the mid-transformation room in which they will be staying. The bunk beds are ordered and the sofa bed goes on eBay on Monday, so they won’t be staying that long!
*I say this with confidence: the one room we haven’t decorated (mainly because we have Grand-Design-style plans that involve knocking down walls and so on) is what was the former dining room but what is our study. It has Navy Blue wallpaper. And carpet. And ceilings. They all match perfectly, but for accent, all the woodwork is metallic gold. You can’t close the door (also gold) because being shut in the room by yourself gives you palpitations.
Photo naturally after we had thoroughly checked it for flavour and texture.
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I’ve been frustrated of late by the Pocket Dictator, who really really needs to learn some words so we don’t both go bonkers with communication-frustration. I have scoured Mumsnet in hopes of finding some help or advice. No joy,but I did find these Parenting Tips, some of which had me giggling like I had been on the Tia Maria!
Hee hee, it all sounds mad but good. The seagull room is sounding fab too. Lovely. Hope your Tiramisu goes down well.