Flowers in the Attic

Ok so who remembers these books?  Four kids, locked up by their gold digging mother in their grandparents mega mansion.  A secret door led from their small bedroom up to the attic, where they went to play.  

Well now that's us.  Sort of.  

Our builders have built us a little box around our staircase and given us a doorway at the bottom, hiding us from the rest of the house.  We come home, walk through the mad, dust filled building site our ground floor has become and walk through the new door to our top floor eyrie.  

Our new door to the 'attic', just behind Sarah.  

So it's not really like Flowers in the Attic because we like it up there.  And we're not trapped.  And no-one's giving us donuts coated in arsenic so we don't spoil their second marriage (read the books, they're totally warped).  

The view is pleasant and being so small, it's easy to clean.  However fights break out often due to the lack of space.  

You can't swing your hoodie around your head because it might (will) break a lamp.  The lamp is now in the skip.  The hoodie is back on the coat rack.  

Because there is nowhere to put anything except its designated spot, most things end up in the right place, meaning less mess and fewer shouty rants about mess.  

And when you're in the kitchen with the dishwasher open, no-one can move in or out.  This doesn't stop people asking you to do things for them or feed them.  

I have already barricaded myself in here twice and tried to read my book.  Both times it was less than a minute until they found me.  

Going to do the washing is like an expedition.  You need to find shoes, a jacket, and never do it after dark.  The new laundry is outside, through the building site and has no lights, making nighttime laundry impossible.  Damn.   

My old kitchen.  GONE! 

The very early beginnings of our new kitchen.  

We have no outside light, so approaching the house after dark is difficult.  We come home after dark several days a week, and Sarah is dropped home after 7:30 two days a week.  I have taken to packing her head torch in her gym bag to help her find the front door.  

I've purchased a large torch and a torch I can hang off my belt from Bunnings.  Maybe I'm subliminally afraid of the dark?
I also bought a mini kitchen whiz thingie.  Cause my kitchen is mini.

One week down.  About 34 to go.