Hubs and I started it.
We trotted over to the barn last Saturday morning and began pushing all the heavy machinery over to the sides.
After a couple of hours we were able to get a good idea of how much room there would be for the upcoming reception.
We talked to Daughts and Sam and planned a four-man work day for Sunday to get tulle hung.
Sam borrowed a tall, expanding ladder from his parents which proved to be at once scary and useful.
We reckoned if we started a week ahead of time we’d have a few days to re-think the project and tweak.
We began about 1230pm, I had one criteria,
“No cutting of the tulle, we work with the 40 yards per bolt intact,” I said.
Daughts and Hubs laid down tarps to protect the tulle,
and while she and I approximated the middle of the bolt the men continued stringing three lines of rope the length of the barn on which to hang it up with the thousands of fairy lights we bought on sale after Christmas.
We kept the rope low so we could drape the tulle over the middle line.
When we’d finished it was time to tighten it up.
Sam went up the ladder and Daughts hung onto a rope to stop it from falling backwards,
with Hubs in position at the bottom.
With the centre hoisted things began to look promising,
and we took a water break.
For another couple of hours the men reached places in the eaves that heretofore only birds had been privy to,
and Daughts and I unravelled more tulle.
We double looped the first four hangings using a long stick and muscles in our backs and necks we didn’t know we had,
and drew a blank with the spare netting dangling in the middle. We finally tied it up,
and at 5pm called it a day…hot and frustrated.
360 yards were up but it didn’t look the way we wanted it.
A difficult and unsatisfactory day.
We did other things the next day giving ourselves a chance to re-think the hang.
On Tuesday we were game to give it another go. Hubs and I headed out to fix the kinks in the tulle. He re-strung the centre rope beneath the original keeping it loose and cut the upper one magically untangling the errant twist, that was causing problems, with one snip.
We double draped the fabric and the effect turned out to be really pretty.
Once that was done the rest of the barn fell into place with double hung tulle draping down to cast a misty film over the wood and tools
that would be transformed by the white lights twinkling through it at night.
We were finished after four hours and with the final decorating touches it will look absolutely enchanting.
Well hello there! My name is Vivienne McNeny.
I am an empty nester exploring life as a Boomer…you could say I'm happily Boomering along!
As a homeschooling Mum I have finally quit the job of role model and mentor to my four children. I do what I want to do, eat when I feel like it, enjoy life with my blue eyed cowboy and clean my house once a month or so whether it needs it or not!
In true English form I write about the emergence of my true identity now that I can no longer hide behind my children as their Mum.
No comments so far!
2017-09-08 18:27:51
Excellent job! A lot of work, but so totally worth it!
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