Kassandra's big renovation part 2 - Study

The second room in Kassandra's home is finished!  It took me a couple of days to do it, and it posed a little challenge for me.

I started stripping the walls of everything they had attached: paintings, portraits and shelves.  See the dreaded Blue Tack stains.  I decided to let the curtains hang until it was really necessary to remove them.

Following with the same wallpaper I had used for the bedroom's ceiling I took measurements for the walls of Kassandra's study.  This time I chose the complete design with all the details showing.  I adjusted the design to my measurements and printed 3 sheets.  It was very easy to do the front and left side walls.

The right wall had a little difficulty: the space for the door, which I have covered wth the courtains.  I took them out very carefully (thank goodness no damage came onto them!), and then I used scrap paper to make a pattern, so I would not make any mistakes in cutting the printed wallpaper.

Well, guess what?  I made a mistake, and so I had to reprint one of the sheets (two were necessary to cover the whole wall).  But once the mistake was corrected, the whole room looks very nice and regal.

It reminds me of an antique library, or one of those Catholic choirs from where the monks used to sing.  Maybe it is a tad dark, but Kassandra loves it.  She says she finds wood very soothing to study and read.

Kassandra says now that the room has been redone, she is thinking of getting rid of the fireplace and putting instead a little table to hold more of her books and artifacts.  She is still thinking about it and window shopping for ideas. 

And finally with the curtains in their place

 Next stop, the shop!

Solstice decorations

December is here, and the holidays are around the corner!  Surely most of you are already getting your house ready with your preferred decorations.  

Yesterday, I found out that Kassandra also is, which was quite shocking.  I asked her if she would be celebrating Christmas or some other tradition.  She said that it is the use of her family to celebrate the December Solstice.  She specified that the longest night of the year was something worth celebrating for a vampire - unlike the Summer Solstice.

She has set up a lovely and tiny Winter tree in her parlor; but the most intriguing thing for me were the gift packages under it:

I found them very curious-looking, and asked if they also had the tradition, like humans, to exchange gifts.  "Of course!", she responded.  "It is the only moment in the year we get presents.  We do not celebrate human holidays, such as Valentine's Day, or birthdays.  Most vampires tend to forget what day of the year they were born.  I cerntainly do not know what day I was born.  I only know that it was Summer."

And then I asked about the original boxes she had used to wrap her presents.  "Oh, are they not delightful?  A very talented designer made them.  I do not like the overuse of shiny red, green and gold humans tend to use this time of year.  It all looks very fashion and stylish, but people have forgotten about the elegance and good taste we used in past times to wrap presents."

She proceeded to ask me to sit down to enjoy some spirits, and was talking about how difficult it would be for her to keep her daughter Perséfone from munching on the decorations.