Are you sitting down?

Never a good way to start a conversation, especially when it's either coming from a doctor or a contractor - You just know it's not going to be good news. Yesterday, while I was at Elte sourcing a gorgeous carpet for a project, that sentence popped up in a call from our contractor. Oy. I told him to go ahead, since if I fell it would be onto a plush pile of rugs.

Here's the deal: On our roof we have a homemade skylight which we wanted removed (it's way ugly and in an odd spot in our teensy back bedroom) so the guys went up to take a peek. Ummm, not only does the skylight have to go, but the whole roof has to be replaced. Yep, a new roof. Apparently there is just a single layer of tar paper up there, and the wooden substrate is also on it's way to rotting out too. So there's no choice, a large wedge of our budget will now be used to fix the roof, and pretty sharpish too; the chance of a flood or a leak after the guys have done such a stellar job on the interior would be devastating. Take a look at all the work that's happened so far on the place here.

A flat roof specialist will be popping by on Tuesday to survey the job and hopefully, with a bit of luck and a few days of good weather, it'll get done nice and soon. Merry Christmas indeed (I think I might have just lost my Holiday spirit).