Achieving darkness

It has been a frenzy of activity at Chez ElleAyJay since the unplanned house move in February. I'm pleased to report that all the rooms now have lined curtains, meaning that sleep past dawn is now possible. Clearly this wasn't a problem in February and March, or at least not during the week when the alarm clock goes off way before sunrise. However, since we moved to British Summer Time at the end of March, the alarm call and sun rise have been having a bit of a race.

All the rooms except for one had re-purposed curtains, which was a huge cost saving even if it did mean altering some hems. However, the last room to get sorted was the main bedroom and the combination of how light sensitive I am and the fact that the inherited curtains were of the palest colour and totally unlined, was becoming a challenge. I think a couple of sheets of tissue paper would have blocked as much light as the curtains and so this became a bit of a mission for me.

A dark fabric was chosen and ordered along with some blackout lining, which is very densely woven and highly effective. With five to six metres of each fabric, the first challenge was to clear enough floor space to measure out each curtain. This achieved, I spent much of last weekend crawling around the floor cutting, pinning, sewing and ironing. The final steps took place yesterday whilst I sat and hand sewed the hems whilst catching up on the week's radio dramas - one of the joys of the home made is the moments of calm like this, followed by the sense of achievement when all is done.

In this case the sense of achievement was doubled when the bedroom remained dark in spite of the beautiful sunshine this morning... sleep undisturbed until the allotted time!

The next task is to make some lampshades but not before we've taken advantage of the beautiful weather today to make a start on taming the garden. The house was empty for eight months before we moved in so we have our work cut out for us. Wish us luck!