Break, move, mend

We decided the first job for the day was to try and get one of the armoires upstairs. I want to paint the second one, so we are not ready to take that upstairs yet. It was the smallest of the two which we wanted to move first. With the mirrored doors removed it was light enough for Brian and I to carry it. Unfortunately though there was no way it was going to go up the stairs, we needed about an inch more room all around it. The only way we could do it is if we had the courage to dismantle it!

Most wardrobes in France come apart with screw fixings, but this one wasn’t like that. We were going to have to break it. We started by carefully prising off the wooden trim.

The tiny nails holding it on were brittle and rusty. Some came away easy others needed a bit of brute force. It was time to remove the back panel next. Some gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet helped the situation.

We soon had it reduced to two and a half panels, and decided we would try it again.

It was not easy, but we managed to squeeze it up around the curve in the stairs, without damaging anything and positioned it up in our family and friends guest room on the top floor. Brian then just had a couple of repairs to do on the back boards which had split during the dismantling. Nothing a bit of wood glue and some clamps wouldn’t mend. We decided to leave it to dry over night before putting it all back together.