Downstairs in chaos again!

Nearly two months ago, I wrote this post about how we just about got the main part of our new house organised, when we learned that we were having unexpected guests from Lebanon to stay. So over a couple of days we tidied away the vast amounts of clutter that had accumulated in the guest flat part of the house. One of the guests stayed for about two weeks, and then just over a week later we had another guest.

So far so good.

But in the past month, clutter has somehow started appearing downstairs all over again. Firstly it was the painting tools, since we've finished painting upstairs.


Then some boxes of Tim's books which he's decided he doesn't need in ihs room. And so on. The music studio has been used by Tim and some of his friends a few times, but is fairly untidy, with wires and rugs and equipment fairly randomly arranged.


Other than that, we haven't really used the flat at all.

This would all be fine, since we do plan to decorate and finish organising the flat during the Autumn, once the weather cools a bit. But on Friday Tim will be 18, and he's having a party on Saturday to which he's invited the entire youth group. Potentially up to 30 people, though they probably won't all come. And he wants the party downstairs.

We might have persuaded him that upstairs would be easier, but then on Richard's recent trip he learned that one of our July visitors wants to come back for a week. Arriving this Wednesday. She doesn't at all mind that there's going to be a teenage party in the flat on Friday, but it does mean we need the place tidy and clean by the end of Tuesday. And we can't just shove all the clutter in the one current bedroom as we might have done if it had just been for the party. The other bedroom still needs the plumbing and doorframe finished, something we've been waiting for since the end of July, as explained in this post.

Just to add to the confusion, a few weeks ago we were given some fibreboard pieces to use in the studio for sound treatment.


While in Egypt last week, Richard bought some very brightly coloured cloth to cover them with, and on Thursday he bought some wood to make the panels. On Thursday evening, despite being pretty tired, he made the first two, to see how they would look:


A lot brighter than I would have chosen, but then I won't be using the studio - and they'll certainly make it more interesting.

This morning Richard went sailing with our friends who've been in the UK all summer, and this afternoon he's having to get ready for some recording he's doing at the office tomorrow... but at some point he hopes to make some more panels, and perhaps fit some of them. And tidy up. The painting stuff, I suppose, can go in the not-yet-ready bedroom. The books need to be sorted, and I was delighted to learn that there's a jumble sale coming up on Wednesday at St Helena's Church. A good opportunity to pass on some of the educational and other books that we will never use, and various other unwanted items discovered in the past few months that are too good to throw away.