This week the mezzanines arrived from Spain. The French delivery guys had no idea about health and safety and appeared to have no safety boots or understanding about using truck hi-abs without the risk of loosing their pallet truck in the process. I couldn’t watch.

After a lot of groaning and levering, the three very weighty boxes were manouvred into the factory, crammed full of the biggest Meccanno set you can imagine, now needing to be built. Our factory is in four parts. Accounts slash reception, goods in and out, Tony’s studio and mine. Having finally chucked in the accountancy work I have a new business to develop and I need to build my workspace.

The factory floor is for wet work, printing and painting and making. Up a flight of stairs to a lower mezzanine where my commercial sewing machines will locate and all things fabric. From here, a turn or two up a spiral staircase to the upper mezzanine at about 5 metres. Here my writing studio. A snug and a library with a view to the fields.

Inspired by happy memories of the 1970’s and tired of drabness, I am going retro. Bright colours and strong printed fabrics. A little like the interior shown here. 1950 to 1978 will rule the day!

As luck would have it, out local second hand warehouse just a quick drive away, Troc 03, had heaploads of vintage finds. My mother would have detested it all and in a slightly peevish way I am glad, as I have spent too many years considering others and this time round it’s for myself and brash and loud and unfashionable so be it!

Mind you it appears retro is back afterall and my mother’s 1970’s sideboard is all the rage.

The Formica units were ugly beautiful and I snapped up three for less than fifty euros each. I mean they have egg timers on them! And will be perfect for the sewing area to hold bobbins and cottons, notions and patterns.

I found chairs and a few tables of the same era and I have lamps and two sets of Hornsea pottery tea services to add to the collection.

It will take some work to get the studios how we imagine but it’s a dream come true. Finally after years working off kitchen tables and even onto of beds, we feel its our time to be indulgent.

Tony is going more American style and pursuing his dream of lamp making and other interior projects. The brocantes here have thrown up some wonderful items and the online Facebook sale pages for our local area has been worth keeping an eye on too. The French are really getting into this online method of selling and it’s how I got my Citroen 2CV….but more of that on another post.

One silly thing we forgot about…mezzanines are high. How on earth would we manage to erect these? Scissor lift to the rescue*. Again online. Second hand and cheaper than renting one. My warehouse background is becoming useful at last.

We start work around April. It was a car spraying factory and on the whole clean. The roof needs insulating and doors to be installed inside. All the windows need renovating with new putty and at last I will have an office. Heaven. Filing trays, stationery cupboard and archive. Funny I get the perfect accountancy office when I finally ditch the accounts!

Tony has a sore shoulder and we still have work on the barn to do, but in our ambitious scheme of things, I hope for a mezzanine update very soon.

*A platform that can be raised on a scissor like hydraulic system. The vehicle can also move around so is perfect for high work up to 7 metres maximum.