Fox Corner: Phase 1

At last, Phase 1 is complete.

This means not only that books are unpacked, and hooks and cabinets mounted. Nor that our lovely sofa arrived, and our new dining table and chairs. Cable TV and the interweb are finally wired in. And the rocking chair refurb is complete.

The art is hung, and that's huge. A long rumbling debate has been settled: can TLOML's taste and mine co-exist in harmony? I characterise his taste in home decor as being 'dark and Asian'. Whereas I favour a Skandiwegian look, blond wood and bright, light colours. Oh, and lots of pictures of Middlesbrough. We had talked, half seriously, about having a 'his and hers' approach to hanging our art. So he could have a room for all his exotic masks, and I'd have one for my pale blue pictures.

Happily it turns out not only can our stuff live together, it actually melds pretty well together.

His buddha, my vase

His masks, my Poole pottery

His blue lady, my blue sky

Perhaps the biggest improvement from Phase 1 was the clearing out of excess furniture. The landlady had left a couple of fairly substantial bits of furniture behind. As a result our dining room had a look reminiscent of Hoarders.

Just one sofa and one dining table too many, in my opinion

On Sunday she took them away. Now we have just the right amount of furniture.

A table you can walk around!

 At last, we can relax and feel at home at Fox Corner.

(As I type this, TLOML is doing a happy jig about having TiVo again. I suspect we may have a difference of opinion about what the best part of Phase 1 is).