Carpets and Curtains (Part One)

“Do you know what you want? You don't know for sure…” This about what sums up what’s going through my head at the moment, thinking how to introduce the next post! The quote is of course lyrics from one of my favourite songs ‘God Gave Us Rock n’ Roll II’ by Kiss that I happen to be listening to as I begin this post.

Ok so my taste in music is probably not for everyone and even my old roommate Al, way back during my days at uni, couldn’t stand the band but over the years I’ve come to appreciate some of their most excellent songs. FYI in case you didn’t realise it’s also the end song to one of my favourite movies!! Not telling what it is but there are clues within these first two paragraphs for you puzzlers out there.

Anyway, on to the topic (bar) of interest. Just out of interest who remembers the topic bar? Can you still get them in shops still? Or did I just make that up…By the way I’m genuinely curious, I wasn’t setting up a conundrum for all you folks! For all you Simon Pegg fans out there (Paul!), did you know he advertised Topic bars back in 2002?

And since the next track is ‘Action’, I better stop digressing and like they say in Monty Python: “Get on with it!” Right after Masterchef…

Well, I’m back! Man, I seem to be stretching this post out a bit although it was worth the break. After a very long intro, this is another house post from a week or so back. Yes, I have a backlog of blog posts now!

It was another carpet rolling Monday morning and Maggie and I were in Mrs. Bambridge’s bedroom prepping to roll a fragile rug. Eager to work we had shot off ahead, thinking that Mary would be with us momentarily. Fortunately we were quite familiar by now in the rolling of carpets and rugs so soon we got stuck in to organising ourselves and our equipment.

First job was to shift the furniture around so we could get access to the rug. Fortunately Val was nearby to give us a little direction and a hand with some of the more fragile items.

Once clear and properly rotated we could get to work covering in acid-free tissue paper and rolling on to the tube. Naturally this is easier said than done as several times during rolling we had to backtrack and shift the rug or tube slightly so it’d roll on a bit more square. Hard stuff when the rug itself wasn’t made straight!

The other thing you have to remember is that as you roll you have to smooth the tissue paper in front to remove as many little creases and bumps as possible. Reason for this is that any crease or fold can affect the material of the rug or carpet when it’s rolled up on a tube, which can lead to degradation.

Being a thinner rug than the carpets we had rolled previously, made it easier to ruck up as we were rolling. Quite a few times we had to stop and even out the rug underneath before we could continue.

Eventually though we had it tightly rolled up on to the tube ready for the next stage: Tyvek.

As with previous, the whole bundle is wrapped again in Tyvek, that magical material that protects but doesn’t tear. It’s quite nifty stuff, much better than the cursed tissue paper that refuses to cut and tears at the slightest pull!

Val was still on hand to give us a hand (as seen in the photo opposite) and lift the package away from the public. Where was I you may ask? I was doing the important job of documenting the entire procedure for prosperity!

Only kidding, I was actually manoeuvring the odd bit of furniture to make it easier for the two girls to get the rug out of the way. I’m often diving around trying to take the odd snap while hard at work at the same time.

Final job was putting everything back where it came from! Feeling a little guilty for stopping Val from doing her usual jobs we tackled putting most things back ourselves, although now I think about it I think Val was there anyway!

I also have a greater appreciation for those little barriers that are put up to stop the punters wandering all over the place. I had no idea how tricky they are to get right (that’s the barriers by the way not the public!); you put one up and as you’re adjusting it the one before falls over! It took longer than necessary to finally get the room properly barriered off, phew!

Now where are those curtains…