With the kitchen and bedroom more or less completed, except for the decorative elements, the next room on the list was the living room starring the Henri II buffet I mentioned in a previous post.  For transport purposes, it had to be separated in two so Relationnel and I were able to wheel each half down the road from our “little house” next door (which he will be renovating after his retirement) on two little trolley affairs that can each take 200 kg and are very practical. You just have to strap them onto each end of the furniture properly so they don’t escape when you go over the rough bits.

Relationnel then repaired all the bits and pieces that had gradually come loose  over the years. We decided where it would go (very easy because there is only one wall wide enough) then put the lower half in place. That was the easy bit. The top half (which is excessively heavy solid oak I might add) sits on top of a backboard and two little columns. I put my lumbar belt on and some anti-skid gloves and we hoisted it up onto the edge of the bottom part. Then we started lifting it up on top of the columns which promptly fell over (of course). We quickly realised however that there was not actually enough ceiling height under the beams. Back down onto the floor.

So Relationnel said we’d take the top curlicue bit off. Even then there was not enough room to raise the upper half high enough to slide it onto the columns. There seemed to be no solution until I suddenly had a brilliant idea. If we turned the whole thing lengthways and used the space between the beams to lift it high enough, we could then turn it the right way afterwards. I got a « bravo » for that! However I then didn’t have enough strength to lift the top half high enough to get it on top of the columns. But Relationnel managed to hoist his side up and while I steadied it, he came and lifted my side.

Now that it’s there, I can tell you, it won’t be going any further and I’m sure I can turn the curlicue into something very decorative.