a Tale of Two Bedrooms
If you’ve been tripping the lights over here @ChicKnits for any length of time, you’ve heard part of this tale already. I live in a *three-flat* type building where three families live stacked on top of each other.
I am the filling in the sandwich cookie.
I probably should feel special about this because without me, this building would just be a silly little two-flat, but no, I am just ordinary, just tortured…
I am the middle child of three and this has been my natural state for as long as I can remember. It is uncanny how history repeats itself.
My bedroom is over the downstairs duplex’s nursery; my bedroom is under my upstairs neighbor’s new music mixing *center*. I have lived through the teething, weaning and changing of three babies; I am now living through the live birth of rock’n’roll.
Sleep deprivation is not a good thing.
So after work last week, I hatched a plan coming home on the #66. I would flip bedrooms. By trying to sleep in an area where no one else was sleeping was sheer folly! My second, larger bedroom would now become my *real* sleep chamber instead of the work studio I was using it as. This is the area where all the adults in the building sleep. Just like those flap-jacks you find in the Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast, on any given night, we’d all be stacked and snorin’. I would restore the natural balance of the building (and not be a sh*t and fight about who could do what in their house…)
I moved all the big furniture in 3 hours. The large sweater armoire was emptied then pushed onto a folded old quilt and dragged down the hall like it was Christmas Morning and I was Rudolph tethered to the sleigh. I was so giddy I was glowing as I ran! The prospect of a good night’s sleep was just around the corner and I was going home!
Needless to say, a pile of books, mailers, photographs, yarn, cables, lights, etc. forms a huge mound in the *new* office. But under the large double window now sits my drafting table, open to the inspiration of the sky where it once only faced a boring wall. Along the short wall in the new studio, lives the yarn stash in a burst of color and promise that will hopefully egg me on to greater work. It was all over the place before and OMG, it’s bulk, enmass, I had no idea…
Downside: this place needs to be painted/and/or cleaned! (Anybody out there know the best way to clean painted walls?) Funny how it takes a move to *see* the reality of your surroundings. And by god, I need all new furniture! At least in the bedroom – when it was all crammed into the little bedroom, all those mixed up shook up styles and periods looked charming(?) but now that it’s spread around it just looks tacky. Another reason to be online as much as possible: fantasy furniture shopping!
BTW, I’m sleeping like a baby…
Warm water and a big wallpaper sponge.
I longed to live on the first floor of an apartment building, and now that I do, I wish I lived on the top floor. There’s an adorable little angel who lives upstairs, whose parents apparently have never been introduced to the concept of “bedtime.” She runs nonstop from about noon to 1am, when she (I imagine) collapses into a heap right over our sofa (hence the loud bang). Her parents enjoy moving furniture a couple of times a week, dragging what sounds to be a Chippendale armoire across the floor. Fortunately, the bedroom is on the other end of the apartment and is relatively quiet.
I just had to commiserate with the noise issue. I’ve never had it quite so bad before.
In better news, I am almost done with my Ribby Cardi, and can then commence the summer of ChicKamis!
TSP (Tri Sodium Phosphate), warm water, big squishy sponge. You can get it from any hardware/paint store. Have fun!
I can’t resist adding the classic punchline to your setup: I’m sleeping like a baby (yeah, waking up every three hours and crying for mama!)– can you tell I am still waiting for my 14 month old to sleep through the night? But seriously, I’m glad to hear you are sleeping peacefully now.
much easier if the sponge is attached to a long handle… there are ones that you can buy that have a flat surface with an absorbant cloth attach to it… it works wonders. I can’t remember where you can get them but most likely any cleaning asle will have one :)
Tsp is good for walls. I also had luck with Oxiclean. Make a solution with water in a spray bottle, then follow wiping the walls with warm water.
Hey how about those Sox, Red and White !
Go Sox !
Judy from Redsoxnation, winners of the World Series. Sorry, we are still giddy in Boston.
The fairly new Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is amazing. I highly recommend using it on your refrigerator handle or any other textured surface too.
I wanted to let you know that I wore my fabby orange eyelet cardi to MDS$W last weekend and got many kudos and compliments.
Thanks for the wonderful pattern!
i have had luck with tsp (altho a chemical) and warm water with white vinegar and a sponge mop. “salad” odor goes away quickly and walls have no buildup or staining.
I know you said “Rudolph” Bonne Marie, but the picture that popped into my mind was that skinny little dog dragging the Grinch’s huge sleigh behind him. ;-o
I’m so there whenever you want to have a painting party! Or I can give you the phone number of the guy we’ve used for about 3 years to paint, strip & stain. He’s @ the house this morning finesseing all of the downstairs doors.
I agree on the Magic Eraser. I swear the thing must be bewitched or something. Walls i would have had to paint (thousands of grubby sticky fingerprints on flat paint) are now nearly new. And the ME is CHEAP and not toxic–that TSP is a real trial to use and full of scary warnings. Try the easy Magic Eraser and then if you need it yank out the big guns. And most importantly—SLEEP ON!
Cleaning? I do not understand this strange language you speak.
when using the sponge, make sure it is more than damp, but not wet. Too wet and you run the risk of ruining the walls. If you plan on painting, definitely use the TSP.
For used furniture bargains, try craigslist.org. I like new furniture myself but also like quality Design furniture which I assure you isn’t in the budget (not if I want yarn or ohh food) but have seen some great sales on craigslist of quality stuff. Or at least inexpensive stuff.
Yeah right. “Sleeps like a baby”. I’ve cursed and screamed that phrase in disgust many a night in the past 5+ years.
i swear by sugar soap, and a long handled mop. At our last place the kitchen had, and i’m not joking, decades of built up fat all over the walls and ceiling. We started ‘mopping’ the walls, just a wipe up and down and that ugly caramel brown paint showed it’s true colour, buttercup…
I also recommend TSP. It’s what professionals will use. It’s not just a cleaner, it’s a de-greaser also, so it really primes walls well for a fresh application of paint. Make sure not to use too strong a solution, though, because it can strip paint.
Personally, I recommend cleaning the walls one weekend and then painting the next. It allows the walls ample time to dry that way. ^_^
Man, I so hear you. I’ve got a woman upstairs who gets up at five a.m. everyday (including the weekends; clearly, she’s got issues) and it sounds like she’s dancing the polka. I need a soundproof room that I can turn into my bedroom.