Progress!

We were totally happy with just the two coats of paint on the wall, so I cleaned the floor in that part of the kitchen this morning, and then we moved the Basque dresser into position.

Owing to my feeble shoulders, this was a more involved manoeuvre than if two burly blokes had done it; we had "baby steps" using other furniture to rest the top on after each stage of lifting it, and I made myself some steps for the last two stages [Ciporex is brilliant!].

Get ready

Get set

Go!

OK, not that straightforward

But we got there in the end!

Once the top was resting on the base, we plugged two table lamps into the wall light sockets [there is a very cagey system the French have that has a small hole into which can be plugged a bayonet fitting or a flush-fitting jack attached to the end of the wiring of a wall light.

Or, as in this case, attached to the end of the flexes of table lights.  They are high enough up that we would have to stand on a chair to switch them on or off, but as they are connected as if they were wall lights, we can just use the normal switch.  The Basque dresser is too wide to have left the wall lights in situ, so this is a happy compromise, and we get some mood lighting!

The blue dresser has to stay there for the moment, but will go

I think it looks great, and the kitchen feels as if it is finally starting to come together.

M. Baty thinks he will have the gallery to the 'dolphin' dresser repaired by Tuesday, but we are unlikely to manage to collect that, so it will have to wait till Christmas; shame, but never mind!  But that won't stop us moving the other two dressers [hopefully] and getting under/behind them cleaned and all the furniture rearranged.

David also planted the very tall echinacea, very short rudbeckia & another rudbeckia together with an eryngium, so more things to look forward to in the garden come next summer.

It was a really lovely afternoon [this morning was very grey], but it really feels autumnal and as though winter isn't very far away...