The Golightly family of silk cats had purchased a small plot of land in the village of Sylvania on which they hoped to build themselves a home. Holly and her husband, Fred Golightly, had been making plans for their move to the Sylvania Village for what seemed like years.

Holly had a sketch book which she referred to as her ‘Wish Book’ in which she drew plans of not only the outside but also the interior of her soon to be dream house. The ‘Wish Book’ was also a scrapbook of magazine pictures and articles she had collected of beautiful homes and gardens.

“Oh! I just want our new home in Sylvania to be perfect,” she told Toby and Tiffany her older children.
“It will be the best designed home in the world if you have your way mother,” said Tiffany with a big smile on her face.
“I can’t wait to move in.”

“Your father and I are meeting the architects and builders next Wednesday. Can you and Toby look after the little ones so your father and I can concentrate fully on our meeting?”
“We will do anything to bring the completion of our new home closer!” laughed Toby, sounding very grown up.

Well! That Wednesday the Golightlys met more than just the architects and the builders; they met so many new friends that they felt as if they had met the whole village. It seems everyone wanted to meet the new family and soon to be neighbours as well as to see the plans for the new house in the village.

“I love the large window you have drawn for the front of the house, Holly.”
“All the upstairs windows will make the rooms so beautiful, bright and airy.”
“Holly, I do love the open interior,” were just some of the comments Holly received as her ‘Wish Book’ was passed around the many well­wishers.

On the drive home that night, Holly turned to her husband and said.
“I didn’t expect such a warm reception, nor so many kind offers of help! Did you hear that Alex Periwinkle and his wife Kate are going to make a sofa for us based on my drawings? How sweet is that? Such lovely folk it makes me want to cry!”

“I know it’s amazing,” said Fred.
“Cuthbert Porridge is making us the cupboard you drew and the Walnut Squirrel Family are giving us a dining table and chairs as their welcome to Sylvania gift.”
It was only two weeks after the meeting that the foundations and most of the first floor of the Golightly’s new home reached completion.

It seemed that the whole village had turned out to give a hand with the building work. The list of welcome presents also grew during this period; everything from beds to bookshelves was added to the ever growing list of gifts. Holly and Fred were overwhelmed at first by all this generosity which soon turned to worry. Where were they going to put all this wonderful furniture?

Holly spent a day drawing in each piece of furniture over a set of plans of their new house. That evening, by the fire, she showed Fred the plans she had completed.
“Darling, there is no way we can fit all the furniture in the house and still be able to move around. The house will be wall to wall furniture!”
“We can’t refuse any of the gifts! That would be rude and unkind,” said Fred.

“Well we can’t make the house any bigger, we would have to knock down what has been built and start again,” cried Holly.
“Besides, I really want my garden.”
“We will have to think of a plan,” said Holly.
“It would help if I could hear myself think above Tiffany’s loud music!”

“It’s alright, I’ll go and ask her to turn it down,” said Fred, getting up and walking to the living room door.
In the hall, Fred was deafened by the sound coming from Tiffany’s bedroom.
“Up, up and away in my beautiful, my beautiful balloon,” assailed his ears.
“That’s it!” cried Fred, turning back towards the living room.

“Holly my love! We make it into a three storey house!”
“Three storeys!” exclaimed Holly.
“You know, that may just work. Darling you’re a genius!”
“It was Tiffany’s loud music that gave me the idea,” said Fred.
“Not having an extra floor between us and the loud music. It was in the lyrics of the song she was playing. Up, up and something.”
Holly laughed and laughed!

“You know something else. I was so worried that we would not be able to invite all the wonderful folk of Sylvanian to our house warming party. There wouldn’t be enough room to fit them all in! Well now we can. Oh! Happy days!”
The next meeting with the architects and builders went very well and they couldn’t find any problems in increasing the size of the Golightly’s new home to a three storey house.

“It will delay your moving in by another few weeks,” muttered the builder.
“It will be a lot more work building an extra floor!”
“A few weeks delay is a price worth paying for such a wonderful house,” reassured Holly.
It was actually six weeks later that the Golightly family finally moved into their wonderful new home and a further two weeks before they were ready to welcome their guests to the house warming party.

“Welcome to our new home, please feel free to look around. There is food and drink in the dining room, please help yourself!” was the greeting for each guest.

Everyone loved the house and Holly’s tasteful interior design. The children all gravitated to the top floor for the wonderful views of Sylvania from the balcony window.
“Look, I can see our house from here!” they squealed.

Once all the guests had left and the ‘Goodbyes’ were said, Tiffany stood with her brother, Toby, on the balcony under the stars. “I know we will be very, very happy here!” she purred.

THE END