A lick and a promise

Amazing what a lick of paint can do. This is the house now




















and this is it before, from a post dated June 2006, when we first moved in.




















There's not much we can do about that concrete balcony but it does at least look better for being cleaned (and having some plants, including my Forest Flame!). Strangely, there is a lot of concrete used in many houses and buildings in Geneva.


The kitchen could probably do with being replaced but apart from that we've got very little left on our 'to do' list. The whole of the interior was painted cream, replacing dark and depressing mustards and clashing yellows and pinks, the baths were replaced with showers, the grass (which was full of dog poo and probably a health hazard!) quickly replaced by a patio along with the stained steps outside the back door, and all the bulky, boring, dark green firs replaced with more variety and colour. It feels so much lighter and fresher, inside and out. Next week we'll be getting a new porch fitted at the front (keep the winter draughts away, hopefully) and delivery of a new dining table and chairs. It took no less than 3 years to find something we liked and in fact for the last year we'd more or less given up. There are so few furniture shops here we wondered where on earth people find anything for their homes. It's either contemporary/minimalist/expensive or very old fashioned/expensive. We found some suitable bar stools for a new counter in the kitchen in IKEA (on the other side of the lake) and we've been gravitating towards the kitchen since then! That inspired us to go on the hunt again and see if we could finally get the dining room sorted too. Come to think of it, this year there are only 1 or 2 rooms that haven't been changed in some way so it really feels great to get it all sorted.


Along with my new desk, I've added 3 more bookshelves (IKEA is great for those!) so now I have all my quilting and art books together. Still no room for the quilting magazines languishing in the bomb shelter though. Soon there should be no excuses for not drawing and in fact I should have posted a new drawing by now except it all went 'Pete Tong' and had to be scrapped! The last few portraits were of faces I found interesting but it's the faces of people I connect with in some way that I find the most difficult - Paul and Alex being the most difficult of all - and this one is definitely one for the list now. I'll try again and maybe it will be up in a couple of days. Oh well, you win some you lose some!