A year ago the Buckley’s house was nearly ready enough for the family to move in, though a few finishing touches were needed. In the garden the Cakebread family was hard at work making the garden look wonderful.

“I wish that Herb Wildwood was here, he is so much better at managing veggie patches than I am” sighed Martin Cakebread as he raked around the carrots.

“Don’t worry Dad, you are doing a fine job. After all, It can’t be too different to managing flower beads!” exclaimed his daughter Melinda encouragingly. Martin smiled at her, she always knew what to say to make someone feel better. He much preferred growing flowers to vegetables but as Herb was helping Aristotle Treefellow plan a gardening lesson, he had decided to step in and help finish the veggie patch for the Buckley’s.

“Wow Melissa!” gasped Agatha Buckley in awe. That lady was certainly talented when it came to flowers. “Those look amazing!”

“Aww thank you Agatha” Melissa Cakebread smiled “These ones are a new variety that Martin and I have created, they look lovely, don’t they?”

Everyone nodded, they were sure that the new variety would soon be popping up all over the village!

“They smell nice too!” said Marley Cakebread who was leaning over a pumpkin to help his dad.

Agatha continued on her way to the house. She had just helped with a Nursery art lesson and wanted to check up how the renovation was going. She was longing to move in as currently the family was sleeping in the village Bakery, with the oven going for warmth. “I hope that you aren’t thinking about climbing up that ladder Rupert!”

Rupert Buckley shook his head, remembering the last time when he was on the roof. What a telling off he had received! “No, I am just holding the ladder for Aaron here.”

“Yes” Aaron Cottontail agreed “You needn’t worry Agatha. I’m the only one going up the ladder to paint, Robert will be quite safe.” Agatha watched as Aaron strongly climbed up the ladder with Rupert firmly holding the ladder steady. The roof had been repaired so it shouldn’t leak and the soggy beams had been replaced, meaning that now everything could be painted and wallpapered.

Inside the wallpapering was in full swing. Agatha had chosen half the cottage to be wallpapered white and half with a lovely blue floral pattern, nearly matching the one of her dress!

“Pass me the glue please Christopher. I can’t quite reach it while holding the rest of the wallpaper up!” asked Herbage Dappledawn as he was putting up some of the floral wallpaper in what would be the kitchen. Christopher Cottontail pushed the bucket of wallpaper glue closer to him and handed him the end of the paintbrush. Herbage thanked him and applied the glue to the wall before pushing the wallpaper down. Before this project he hadn’t ever wallpapered before but now, after doing it for about a week, he was feeling quite the expert!

“When do you think you will have this finished?” asked Agatha curiously.

“Oh, it shouldn’t take longer than a day or two, we only have this wall and that wall there to finish” replied Christopher, pointing. A big smile lit up Agatha’s face and she thanked the two for their hard work.

Upstairs had already been wallpapered and had been used as a space to make the furniture, but now it was being used to produce the curtains for the windows. Sybil and Molly Clearwater busily worked on the curtains. They had recently moved to Dandelion Creek and had been delighted to find work so quickly.

“How many more do we need to sew Mother?” Molly inquired.

“Two more after this one Molly, then after that we need to finish those quilts and blankets for the beds” Sybil responded, cutting off a loose thread that hung at the end of the curtain she was working on. “Now you untangle those threads please Molly. Your paws are much smaller and more nimble than mine!”

Primrose Dante picked up one of the finished curtains. She smoothed it out and positioned it on the wall. The wallpaper was nice an smooth, Herbage and Christopher had done a good job! Primrose felt proud, as she had helped Herbage learn how to wallpaper and he had flourished under her guidance.

“It is looking much more homely now!” she remarked joyfully.

“Yes it does, but it will look even better once it has been properly cleaned! There is sawdust and scraps everywhere!” pointed out Bridget Fielding who had hauled up a bunch of cleaning supplies. She began cleaning the window. She had already cleaned the bottom windows and now it was the turn of the top ones.

“The next curtain is done!” cried Sybil.

“I will hang it!” shouted Velvette Slydale who had just walked into the house. Molly ran down to bring her the curtain, and a stool as it needed to be hung quite high and she wasn’t sure if Velvette could reach.

“Oh that means that it’s four o’clock! I need to go and pick up Jamie from the Cottontails!” exclaimed Bridget and she hurried off with Primrose.

“We can continue doing the cleaning” Marley suggested. He and Melinda got to work with Martin sweeping and then Melinda scrubbing off any little specks of paint on the floor.

“The garden is nearly finished too” announced Melissa as she marveled at how quickly the rest of the wallpaper was being put up. They might be able to finish the wallpaper that day!

“What are you doing Martin?!” called Melissa loudly from the top window. It looked like he was sniffing the carrots!

“I am seeing if the carrots have any bugs on them! Herb said they might and that I would need to remove any. I don’t think I can see any though, unless I’m not looking hard enough” he replied and continued to carefully examine the leaves of the carrot plants.

“I like lady bugs!” stated Milo happily.

“We painted lady bugs earlier in Nursery class today” explained Agatha who had come upstairs with Rupert. “Milo made a wonderful painting! It is drying now but he can take it home and show you tomorrow”. Melissa told Milo how much she was looking forward to seeing his painting and that she would hang up the painting in their bedroom at home.

“Well it is all coming along nicely, we should be able to move in very soon!” Rupert said, turning to his wife.

“Yes, I can’t wait!”

Hello everyone! Well, the first actual post at last! The Buckley’s house is all finished so this is the last part of the renovation series (if you haven’t read the first three parts yo can check them out under the ‘stories’ tab). I will soon publish the Buckley and Clearwater family descriptions and I will certainly create a tour of the finished Buckley home with it fully furnished and decorated. Anyhow, I hope that you are all having a good day!

Hugs, Emily