French apartment renovations, Day 649: A piece of Elton John

This evening I was busy running errands: dropping Dio, Inga, and Eric off at soccer and then driving to Menton to buy a small marble-topped dresser. Menton is the last city before the Italian border. Once I got off the autoroute, it was another 10+ minutes on narrow, twisting roads, one hairpin turn after another.

The dresser is going to become a new bathroom sink in our own apartment. Our old sink is reaching the end of its life--the marble has broken off and been re-glued several times and it has an active woodworm infestation. I can't treat it properly unless I strip the entire thing. And that is too much work for something that isn't that amazing to begin with.

Hence the new piece of furniture that we're going to convert into a sink. I bought it from a man whose dad was an architect and designer. The dresser itself is quite old but the marble had been replaced because the old piece cracked. The new marble top was cut from a leftover piece from marble his father installed in Elton John's house. So there you go. It has an interesting history.

My dad and I put the two final coats of finish on the floors today. The door is closed until Wednesday. Eric ran several errands: post office (to return the table saw), two paint stores (to buy white paint for the doors), and another hardware store (for more blue tape).

So to keep things advancing, we make a painting station in our living/dining room. My dad also brought up some salvaged head/footboards and is taking the ends off so we can cut them to a narrower width and create a daybed.

With everything topsy-turvy in our own apartment and nowhere to sit and eat, Eric bought pizzas for lunch. Much appreciated by the kids! We had seafood (mixed seafood and parsley sauce), Norvégienne (salmon & crème fraîche), montagnarde (crème fraîche, potatoes, ham, & olives), and the store's specialty with several kinds of meat.

Ivy is getting ready for her birthday party this weekend. We printed invitations today. This means we need to prepare--bake cakes, buy snacks and drinks, plan games, etc. So much to do!