Getting ready for guests
So we’re one week away from the car arriving and are in full planning mode.
Forgive the mundanity of this post, today is all about getting the house ready for my swaps.
Preparing the house can be painful Anyone who knows me wouldn’t put tidiness at the top of my virtues. Frankly they wouldn’t even put it on the list of my attributes. When married, my husband liked things tidy and was happy to do it. Happy days! But he did that kind of tidying where you scoop all the odds and sods in the room into one pile and cram it into the first available cupboard. Since he left and I started swapping I’ve had some revelations (spoiler alert, these are very basic):
have a best friend who is good at this stuff and shamelessly copy her. My friend, Leigh, has impeccable taste and just knows where things ought to belong. Thank you Leigh for sorting my kitchen when I was at my lowest ebb and sorry it looks different now!
when you live alone and put something down it remains there. I’ve taken to gradually putting items that belong together together! Simple - so a box for dog items, cleaning products, all pens in pen holder in study (you get the picture) - it’s not that hard to know where to get things in the house these days
put off things that will give you pain until you’re ready - I left one cupboard full of photographs until today. And I’ve done it - sorted through, some god knows how many, photos. I bought perfectly sized photo boxes and my cupboard is transformed.
See I told you no mention of feng shui after all! Now I’ve done a few swaps the house is better organised so a; I keep it tidier and b; it takes less and less prep time each time I go.
What about valuables, I hear you ask? Good point. So my granny was born in Liverpool before the first world war - her family had a dairy in Everton. I had no idea how common city dairies were at that time. There were literally hundreds of them in Liverpool. I digress, I inherited an old Victorian safe from her. As a child I recall it with great affection, as every now and then we’d sit together and go through its contents. Nothing of tremendous value - antique feathers and flowers that would have adorned a ladies hat. Many of those items remain in the safe today.
Do you have to store away all your clothes? The short answer is, no! I have a spare room that we cleared out completely so there is a good storage area there. In my main bedroom, I clear a half of my wardrobe so there’s plenty of space for my guests to store their items. I’ve become a fan of those vacuum seal storage bags and store bulkier and/or unwanted items in those and place them in the cellar.
What about a cleaner? I share the rota for guests with my regular cleaner and she manages the change over.
So I told you this would be practical. But to keep you inspired for my trip - these are some of the spaces we’ll be swapping with! And if you have any questions I haven’t answered feel free to add a comment!
Stan and I are looking forward to hanging out in this lovely urban Rome garden
Our place in Florence is close to the Arno!
Yes, we really are staying here in this 13 bedroom chateau -
we hope it’s not haunted!
