The next morning Sjaak and Lisa went to the DIY store where they had ordered wooden floors. An employee had already set everything apart in the warehouse and helped them carry the packages to the pickup.

They asked him if he also had washable wallpaper in a shade like off-white, creamy white. The man, helpful but not very talkative, nodded, and preceded them to the wallpaper department. He pointed out some shades to them that might be suitable.

Lisa pointed without a moment's hesitation to a roll of creamy white wallpaper: "I like this one, it's so much softer than plain white."

Since Sjaak totally agreed with her, Lisa grabbed her cell phone and looked up how much they needed. They walked with the employee to the warehouse, where he quickly saw that he had plenty of that wallpaper in stock.

Together they went down Lisa's list to see what else they needed. Once they found everything and loaded it into the car, they paid for it and headed home. They just barely managed to unload everything and store it in one of the cottages before joining the others for coffee.

Lisa told the group that Alexander was eager to help. He had no auction to organize at the moment so he was free to come. Without notice to the contrary, he would be present tomorrow at 8 o'clock.

Annerieke had called Elly. She had not yet said anything about a theme for the mural, and so had been very surprised when Elly came up with the idea of doing something around the theme of a sea, a sea and a light horizon. She too had the feeling that the theme would be 'hope'.

Annerieke had also called Janny. Janny had been enthusiastic, happy to help. Janny had just called her back again, telling her that she had a friend who was also good at sewing and would be happy to do it with her.

"As soon as I buy the fabric and everything else that's needed, I'll go to her with those things and a list of sizes," Lisa promised. "Sjaak, maybe we shouldn't wait too long with that, with buying that curtain fabric. Then Janny and her friend can take it easy."

Sjaak shrugged and nodded, "Shall we drive past that store right away this afternoon?"

Lisa looked hesitantly at Annerieke, who immediately understood what she was considering: "You go ahead, Margreet and I will manage with cooking. I don't have any complicated plans for dinner. I think Margreet and I will do the cooking together anyway, since you are already far too busy."

Lisa smiled in relief, "Glad you have me figured out so well! Okay, then we'll do that! That store is also fairly on the route to Janny. If it turns out that the fabric is really as good as they describe on the Internet, I'll give Janny a call from there to see if we can bring everything to her right away. But first I'll make a list of sizes, per window per room, and bring it along for Janny..." she mumbled the last words to herself.

Sjaak looked proudly at his sweet darling: "How wonderful she is!" he said to the others.

"Definitely mate, you've already hit it off as well as I have!" said Huib as he teasingly pulled Margreet by her hair.

.

Sjaak and Lisa first wandered quietly around the curtain fabrics department. They discovered the fabric they had found on the internet and agreed that it even exceeded their expectations. The fabric was really sturdy and, when they tried to look through it toward a lamp, proved to be absolutely not see-through. Just then, a saleswoman came their way, smiling at what she saw them doing.

"Good afternoon! With this curtain fabric, peepers can really forget about it!" she said, smiling.

"And that's exactly what we need. And I really like the color too," Lisa said, more to Sjaak.

He nodded, "I think we found what we were looking for in one go!"

"That doesn't happen often," said the saleswoman, "do you mean that this is also the color you like?"

"Yes, this shade of blue is perfect. Wonderfully light and soft." Lisa had printed out the list of sizes she had made for Janny for the saleswoman as well.

The young woman put on big eyes: "That's quite a lot!" Using her calculator, she calculated how much they would need then. Then she looked at the card on the roll to see how much of the fabric it contained, calculated how many rolls they would need, and suggested that they round up the number of rolls to complete rolls only, so they could be sure of having enough. "But then at the price for what you need. Think of those few extra yards as a kind of discount."

Sjaak and Lisa liked the idea and together with the saleswoman they went looking for the right yarn and looked at the fastening possibilities. They immediately agreed that it would be nice to hang the curtains on wooden rings. They found beautiful light wood rings and decided to ask Huib if he would make rods.

"Poor Huib," Lisa muttered, "he perishes in the work for our houses."

Once they gathered everything they needed together and paid for it, the saleswoman helped carry everything to the pickup.

"Thank you for your kind help," Lisa said to the saleswoman. "I think we've succeeded perfectly here!"

They hopped into the cab, where Lisa called Janny. She turned out to be at home and was delighted that they could bring all the items so soon. When Janny opened the door for them, and saw what emerged from under the tarpaulin, she put on big eyes. "That much?" she exclaimed.

Lisa burst out laughing, "Do you still dare to do it?”

Janny recovered and joked, "Oh yes, as long as it doesn't have to be finished tomorrow!"

Sjaak and Lisa laughed and brought everything inside, while Janny went to make coffee.

When they were sitting at the table with a mug of coffee, Lisa suggested that the ladies make the curtains for each room, first for one house and the central living room and then for the other three houses.

"We're going to keep that order ourselves. Then when a woman comes who needs a cottage, she can start using the first cottage while we still continue with the other cottages. I have here a list for you on which I have written down the measurements for each room, for each cottage separately, and also separately for the central area. You can put a cross next to the measurements each time you finish a curtain, so you know where you left off."

She handed Janny a construction sketch of the whole thing and her outline for all the windows. Janny stared at the sketch, "How wonderful, a safe haven for women... I'm really glad to be able to help you, and my friend is looking forward to it, too. We'll make a little card for each finished curtain, clearly showing which window it's for, and sew the card on at the top of the curtain with a few stitches, so we can't make a mistake and you know exactly which window each curtain belongs to. Your list is wonderfully clear, and we will have our cards correspond to the numbers on your list. It's going to be all right, and I'm looking forward to it!"

.

Sjaak and Lisa declined her offer for a second cup of coffee, said goodbye, and headed back home.

At home, Lisa plopped down on the couch, "I have a feeling, that's enough for today!"

"Come on, Lisa, let's get right to work on the floor in the big living room after dinner!"

Lisa looked at him in bewilderment and exclaimed, "Are you completely out of your mind?"

Sjaak replied, with a look of helplessness, "Yes, I can't help it, Lisa, it happened a few months ago, when I went completely crazy about you. And I'm afraid that's a disease that will never go away. You'll have to learn to live with it!"

While talking, he pulled her onto his lap. Grinning, Lisa snuggled herself against him.

"Tonight we'll keep cozy to ourselves, free to do whatever you feel like. Make music, watch a movie, cuddle, do nothing at all. You get to choose!"

"Oh you silly darling! Right now I choose to do nothing, but that can change so much after dinner. We'll see!"

To chapter 237. Getting started!

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