Then tomorow is Take Out the Window Day. To explain, my house is typical of many of the smaller houses of its period and has a narrow staircase, which is also boxed in. There's a turn at the bottom which makes furniture-moving quite difficult. When I moved in the implications became quite apparent--my box spring couldn't make the turn. The next day someone came by and used a crowbar on one of the bedroom windows to remove the part of the window that holds the sashes (the part of the window that holds the glass) in place, removed the sashes, and then hauled my box spring up through the 2nd story window. It did the trick, but of course the crowbar doesn't make for a nice look on the windows.
Some years ago I found a wonderful carpenter, an older man who was game for some of my more "innovative" projects on the house. He refit the windows on the front of the house so that the Take the Window Out exercise could be done cleanly, ie, sans crowbar, and my windows could look nice again. Wonderful Old Carpenter has long since retired, but Matt is conversant with my design philosophy and the quirks of old houses. Tomorrow we will again remove the sashes, disassemble my bed, and hoist it down to the first floor, where it will be stored until moving day. One of my favorite antiques, a tall chest of drawers, will meet the same fate. Tonight I will sleep in my own bed for the last time for many months. Starting tomorrow I will sleep on an air mattress kindly supplied by my real estate agent until the move.
At settlement I mentioned the Take the Window Out exercise to the new buyers, and offered to let them move their larger pieces in at the same time. I was a bit nervous about revealing the need for this exercise, concerned that they'd say, "You have to do WHAT???" To my great relief, the settlement attorney, a long-time resident of my 'hood, spoke up and casually related a story of when he had to do the same thing. (He lived across the street before I moved here.) Fortunately, my buyers seemed to take the news in stride.
