It’s hot here today. This morning, there was no breeze at all. It’s been windier this afternoon, and currently it’s pouring. The rain is coming down so hard it’s broken a piece off the drainpipe across the street, so instead of neatly running onto the sidewalk, it’s spewing like a shower. I’d like to be able to do better with a weather forecast than “look outside”. I guess I’ll have to buy a newspaper tomorrow and see how far I get trying to read it.
So our apartment (flat) is on the 2nd floor. In France, streetlevel is called the rez de chausée. Here it’s called BV. Technically, we’re on the 1st floor, 1 above BV, but because you have to climb 2 sets of stairs to get here, that to me is the 2nd floor.
Our building is probably 200 years old give or take. We have 12 foot ceilings with elaborate mouldings, BIG windows. Everything is white with hardwood flooring. One wall in the front hall is round because it’s the other side of the circular stairs at the front (marble tile). There is a balcony off the living room, overlooking Vasagatan. There is another balcony off the kitchen that overlooks the ‘courtyard’. The back one is more Salem friendly. The railing is made of plexiglass so he can see through it, and the opening at the bottom is too narrow for him to roll under. Andrew’s window opens onto the kitchen balcony, and Salem has discovered he can jump through. We’re probably teaching him bad habits, letting him do that.
Andrew’s bedroom is the smallest. He’s got his double decker IKEA bed, you know the kind with the desk under it? With the current curtains, his room is dark and kinda cave like, but he doesn’t seem to mind. What’s exciting about this room is the high ceiling. In Milton, Andrew couldn’t even sit up straight in bed without hitting his head. Here he can stand up and has to stretch to touch the ceiling. And magically the bed squeak has disappeared. Or else our room is just farther away enough I can’t hear it anymore.
Elizabeth’s room is beautiful. She also looks over the ‘courtyard’ but her room is much larger. Along one wall is a built-in closet with a big mirror and 2 sets of metal drawers. Her bed in Milton was an antique 3/4 pine bed. Here she has a white enamel queen bed that will be coming home with us. One thing I’ve learned about Swedes so far, they know how to put together a good bed!
Our master bedroom looks out over Vasagatan, which has meant that the street noise has taken a bit of getting used to because I like having the windows open at night. Peter chose a beautiful black wrought iron bed, also bigger than at home (apparently because they didn’t have the size he wanted in stock the day he went shopping). Our light fixture is extraordinary. It’s a ball of paper flower / snowflakes that is easily 3 feet in diameter. There isn’t one place in our Milton house where it would fit either because of the room size or the ceiling height. We also have a wall of built-in California closets, but there aren’t enough drawers, so we were off to IKEA again today to buy a dresser.
The dining room opens off either the hall or our bedroom. I had visions of making it this grand, elegant space because of the architecture of the room. Well, with an unlimited budget... But given what I brought to work with, let’s just say it’s going to be furnished in ‘late century eclectic’ meaning dogs’ breakfast. Everything looks too tiny in the space. Maybe with a different tablecloth... The dining room table is a door from Queens Park. It was cut 1 inch too short, so they couldn’t use it. It’s 6’ 11” long by 3’ - a good size, but somehow it’s not working. Add to the equation, my lace curtains which have hung in every place I’ve ever lived since moving out. They’re panels, about 3’ X 5’, not quite long enough for the windows. Very French. Not however very Swedish. I haven’t seen anything similar in any windows in our neighbourhood. Still looking for a ceiling fixture that will do justice to the space but won’t cost a bomb..... No electic lights in there at all at the moment.
The kitchen. I love halogen potlights. We have them in the hall and in the kitchen. The kitchen has a blond hardwood floor and white cupboards. More cupboard space than you could imagine. Hardwood countertops like giant cutting boards. Glass cooktop. Microwave is too small to fit a dinner plate. I figured out how to change the time on the clock, but we can’t get it to heat anything for more than 30 seconds at a time. The windows overlook the ‘courtyard’, and it has the balcony too. I’ve sort of figured out the oven. Peter defrosted the freezer - that was messy. It was frozen shut when we arrived. One giant ice cube. One wall is round because it is the other side of the back stairs.
The back door to the kitchen leads through a set of double doors, to the back staircase. Circular of course. Stone or slate. Down 2 flights takes you to the courtyard, the garbage, the ‘recycling’ pile (they don’t really recycle here - not the way we do anyway), and our bikes which live outside. Up 3 flights takes you to the attic and the storage lockers for the building. It’s a trip back in time, going up there. It even still smells like wood fire, even though the chimneys and fireplaces have all been blocked off. Our space is easily the size of 4 parking spaces. It would be a great place for hide and seek on a rainy day.
The living room is the 1st room you see when you come in and it’s probably the most ‘set’. We’re still looking for tv stands, 1 for the one we brought from Canada to watch DVDs and play wi, and the other one for watching regular swedish tv. We won’t have cable for another couple of weeks. The landline, tv, and internet are all supposed to be hooked up Aug 31. No electric lights in there yet either - candlelight at night.
Pictures when a) they’re worth taking because the room looks nice enough to show off and b) I figure out how to upload them. We’ll start with Andrew, a view out the back, and my amazing bedroom light.
Slut for now. (slut (sloot) = done; finished)
