For you who have visited

You might not recognize the place — or at least the downstairs entryway and the upstairs landing. We have now nearly finished moving out all the furniture. The building contractors are supposed to come tomorrow to start the big job.

I assume that the first thing done will be the cutting of the trémie — "stair cavity" is the translation for that word in the Robert-Collins dictionary. The Robert French dictionary says a trémie is « un espace réservé dans un plancher, pour recevoir ... un escalier » — "a space reserved in a floor, to receive a staircase."

The downstairs entryway is nearly emptied out now.

When we put it back together, it will be a room for plants.

In other words, the building contractors have to cut a big square hole in the ceiling above the existing staircase. There will obviously be much dust and debris.

What we have left to do is to take the pictures, maps, and posters off the walls, and move the day bed downstairs into the garage. If we can find space in the garage. Already, other pieces of furniture are in there — an armchair and ottoman, the double bed we took out of the former guest room... and the new stairway itself. It's kind of crowded.

We will finally get rid of the rest of the old wallpaper,
which used to cover the entryway walls and ceiling too.

The last time we had such disruption in our house and lives was five years ago, when we undertook to scrape, sand, and repaint the walls in our main room, the W.C., the bathroom, and the downstairs entryway. I feel like I was a lot younger then.

The stair landing is nearly empty, and the
French doors are shut to keep out dust and debris.
Soon, the old wallpaper will be a memory.

Luckily, we have French doors to divide the living room off from the landing. With tile floors, it's easy to slide furniture around. So we slid the pine cabinet and the old buffet into the dining area without completely emptying them. Then we closed the French doors behind them and slid them back out of the way.

Furniture off the landing is now in the dining area,
out of harm's way.

It would be nice if we had another way to get in and out of the house, but the main staircase is our only access. It will be difficult for a few days, at least, to get in and out. Poor Callie. She is going to be freaked out by all the commotion and noise. So are we.

Callie is trying to figure out what is going on.

Despite all that, the finished result will be great. We are effectively doubling our living space. The first guests who arrive after the work is finished, if they have been here before, will really see a difference. Right now, I think that will be Peter and Jill, in late June. I hope the work is done by the time they get here.