A Terribly Grand Bed

One thing I neglected to report about the dark of the year is that Godmama announced a project, Overhaul of the Spare Room, Phase II. Phase I occurred during their last prolonged visit, when they repainted the room a soothing shade of grey and moved the furniture, swopping the bookcase and the bureau, which made it seem much bigger and certainly much nicer. This time, the bed was the issue. This is the chunky fourposter the joiner made for David the Werewolf when we were all in Warwickshire. It’s always been just a frame, but these days, we have at our disposal the good Tony, his penchant for bodging, and cold dark days unsuited to outside work. Duly instructed, he put a nice lid on it, of hardboard, and a cornice made of pictureframe moulding. I bought paint, drawing pins, glue, some of the stuff you secure net curtains with, and quilt-stuffing. Ages ago, I bought quite a lot of black on white Toile de Jouy on eBay, so that was already in reserve. The room’s curtains are made out of it. For phase two, Godmama padded the hardboard lid with quilt-lining, and stretched Toile de Jouy over it, securing it with the drawing pins – the padding gave it a nice plump upholstered look which, being only thinnish cotton, it would not otherwise have had. Then the bed was painted (pale grey), the lid was dropped back in and secured with battens. A ferocious argument then followed: should the little figures have their feet pointing North or South? We settled on North: that means that they look right when you’re lying in bed (feet towards you), though wrong from the door; the consensus of those assembled was that the view of the sleeper outweighed the view of the casual interloper. With the aid of the net curtain wire, the space behind the headboard was hung with elegant pleats of more black and white Toile de Jouy. It looks exceedingly smart. It’s nice to have a lid on the bed after all these years (about fifteen of them); it feels very cosy.