Little Red Shelf

Another little Jumble treasure.  This one not so well received by The Queen of Clean.  I think it is cute and the sort of thing that Soulemama would have in her kids rooms (although she'd probably have a beautiful display of wooden kids toys/seasonal nature finds rather than my odd little assortment).  I like the size, the colour, the pointy ends on the top and base, I even like the little dinosaur sticker that was stuck in the middle.  The Queen of Clean on the other hand thinks it is simply awful.  He has accused me of using the word 'vintage' to describe anything fit for the skip.

I was a bit naughty and whipped littlest one into a frenzied state by showing it to him and suggesting he could keep his blackboard chalk on it.  Queen of Clean then had no option but to do the honours and get it on the wall.  Mean aren't I?  My littlest one asking you to do anything is too hard to resist.  The glimpse of blackboard you can see there spans the whole wall and it's great to have somewhere to rest the chalk nearby.  Yes that is the word 'fart' you can see scrawled on there.  What can I say, I am a  liberal parent and am willing to help sound out any word if it means a child is engaged in writing practice......

So here it is - my little red shelf for £1.  Yes another bargain scored at Saturday's sale.  I'm not even going to bother re-painting, I love the cheerful shade of red and it goes well in his room.  

What do you do when your taste clashes with your other half - do you resort to underhand strategy like me?  Or should I be more respectful that he's getting rather tired of the vintage vibe?

Jumble Treasure

I recently got into Jumble sales.  So much more fun than a car boot, as everything is much cheaper and tightly packed together.  You never know what treasure you'll find.

I was late for yesterday's jumble and had forgotten it was on, I let my jumbling partner down and rocked up an hour late not expecting anything to still be there.  It was my first time taking Yoyo and she was in awe of the currency being in pence rather than pounds.

And there I saw them.  It took me a while to spot as they were hidden beneath picture frames and boxes and not placed as a group.  We really do need new dining room chairs as we have some faux leather ones that our cats have ruined and are also very uncomfortable.  New chairs weren't on the endless 'things we need for the house' list though - we just don't have the budget for it at the moment.  So when I saw these my mind went into overdrive....I just needed to know the cost.  £8 for all of them. Decision made.   I couldn't believe it and they were packed safely into my car as swiftly as possible (before anyone changed their mind on the tiny price tag - is it just me that reacts like that?)

I kind of thought they looked familiar, and sure enough a little research when I returned home revealed they were Ercol! £179 each, so in a round about way I had saved £177 x 4 = £708.  But mine are original 60's versions with little bit of history.

The Queen of Clean approved.  He has nicknamed me Mrs Trebus in the past for my adventures in bringing home junk for him to transform, but on this occasion my efforts were praised.  For those not in the know, Mr Trebus was an infamous hoarder that the BBC made a documentary about, would never throw anything away bless him.

So with sandpaper in hand we began immediately.  Clearly he was feeling very enthusiastic - we were supposed to be getting ready for friends coming for dinner.  So it became a multi task cooking/tidying/chair sanding fest!

He used an electric sander on the seat and legs, but all those spindles need to be done by hand and that became my task.  We only had time to complete one, am sure it will be another few weeks to restore all four, but below you can see the difference between the one we have sanded and the one still clad in its stained varnish.  We'll get to you soon enough my lovely.

We need to research the best way of sealing our sanded beauties - I don't want to varnish, am thinking a wax of some kind to keep the wood pale.

So our only challenge now is that we are a family of 5 with 4 chairs.  Whoops.  We could search ebay or indulge in the new version from John Lewis, but I've also seen this bench which I'm rather taken with.  Excuse the tiny picture, but you get the gist I hope.  A hefty £399 though so I will need to save up or go for the more eclectic mix and match chair approach I think. 

So yesterday was a good jumble day.  Wish they were always like that.

Crochet - Show and Tell

My crochet course finished last Tuesday evening.  I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and realised there is nothing like someone actually teaching you a skill in person.

Anyway I thought I'd show you the evidence.....above is a crochet flower, well three flowers really that I stitched together.  These were tricky at first - and my first attempt (the white one in the middle) had 6 petals instead of 5.  Not quite sure how that happened.  Not sure what I'll do with this now, it's almost a bit big for a corsage.  I might sew it onto a bag.  Or stick it on a wall - would that be odd?

This is a granny square of sorts.  I went for greys with a bit of jade and fuschia.  I declared it 'edgy' - if crochet can be edgy?  Well if it can be then this is most definitely at the frontier of all things 'edgy'.

This is more of a traditional Granny Square - and will eventually be a cushion cover.  I ran out of expensive Debbie Bliss Aran wool for this (bought under duress when I thought it was a good idea to take 3 children into the wool shop - big mistake).  What I've spent in wool though, I've saved in what will be the backing for this cushion.  A cashmere jumper found at a Jumble sale on Saturday for 20p!  I'm going to use this technique to assemble the cushion.

I promise I'll share my other jumble finds with you later this week when I'm organised enough to photograph.  They still need to be spruced up.  But this little crochet blanket you can see right away, although I now have the skills to make my own (albeit slowly) I had to bring this home with me for 50p.

What do you think of crochet?   I'm wondering if it's mainstream moment has passed?  My colleagues at work don't really get it I think.  I was like a little girl each Wednesday bringing in my items to show and tell.  So now I have 'shown and told' you, tell me the truth, do you get it?

Orla Kiely at Tescos

Look what I just found at Tesco.  Completely off my radar that these bags were on the horizon!  My little budget doesn't usually stretch to Orla proportions, but for £4 I snapped it up in an instant (and even treated my Orla obsessed best friend to one). 

Dare I say they are nicer than the Cath K ones from a couple of years ago, as they are Jute rather than that plasticy feeling fabric.  I tried to press the assistant for more info, but she was clearly not an Orla fan and oblivious to the treasure at her fingertips.  I imagine like the Cath Kidston bags they will be released over a period of several months....making my nearly daily trips to Tesco just a little more exciting.

Vintage Bricks

Firstly, apologies posting is rather sporadic to say the least at the mo.  I'm trying to slow down and simplify and sadly this little space in cyberworld is the first thing I have to drop when things get a bit hectic.

But I had to pop on and show you this little gem I uncovered at the school Christmas Bazaar last weekend.  In amongst the mountain of plastic toys and dog-eared books at the toy stall I found this.

And my heart skipped a beat.

Little building bricks (I think from the late 40's as the lid says 'Made in the U.S Zone of Germany'.  Anyone know the significance of this?), all printed with designs and packed into this little wooden box.

At first I thought it would just be me who was smitten, but Yoyo has been found playing with them a couple of times this week.  That's my girl.  (Although to be fair she was spied shortly afterwards coveting JLS dolls on the internet - I won't lie to you!)

Just look at that lid - with the little 'stanley' dog.  Looks like something Cath Kidston would reproduce and charge £20 for.  But I paid 50p.   And it was the best 50p I spent last week.

Slowly but surely

Progress on our home, most of the time, moves at a snail's pace.  A reluctant snail who is embarrassed to ask for directions.  But now and again, some event will spur us into action.

This weekend we got news that our plumber can squeeze us in this week for our boiler to be replaced.  This is something we've been discussing for a while, and debating whether the new boiler can fit in the existing  purpose built cupboard.  Well our plumber confirmed that this cupboard doesn't meet the right conditions for clearance, access etc and we had to remove it this weekend - along with three wall cupboards.  I'm trying to keep positive about the loss of cupboards and adopt a minimalist mindset.  After all 'Less is More'.

The Queen of Clean, sensing my distress, decided to come to the rescue with his paintbrush.  This duck egg blue (very Cath K) is now on my kitchen walls.  It makes up for the fact I am to have no hot water for 3 days this week.

And to replace the 3 cupboards we have lost, my lovely sister picked one of these up for me today.

Just £25!  Very shoestring I think.  I have been getting styling ideas from the following on flickr, see below:-

Photo by Marie's Shots

Photo by Joyful Lova

Photo by Marianne@Songbird

I cannot wait to dress mine.....although this is a long way off as need to get boiler in, painting finished and finally shelves up.  I'm not one for a colour theme usually, but I'm thinking cream and blue items on the shelves with splashes of red.  Just need to keep my minimalist head on and not go and buy stuff just to put on the shelves!  I wouldn't put it past me........

Twisted Goodness

I think The Queen of Clean dreads me going to a local dump as I am known to bring back these little projects for him to transform.

How could I resist those barley twist table legs though?  And just imagine the books stacking opportunities on the little shelf below.

And all for the princely sum of £0

It shall (eventually) be painted cream and take pride of place next to my fireplace.  Perhaps by Christmas.

Ramblings about a chair

I have finally put my dreams of vintage bentwood chairs for the playroom to rest.  And settled for something more budget friendly and readily available.  This bright red kitchen chair from Ikea has made it's way into our home as the chair for the computer desk - I like how it contrasts with the world map mural.

It feels kind of 'flung together'...........although you and I know a whole heap of thought (admittedly too much) went into it.

Just don't tell anyone.  They'll think I'm contrived.

Raised beds (.........or giant litter trays?)

Sorry I haven't been around here much.  I had nasty food poisoning last week and then I kind of lost my flow.....

But we are very proud of what we created this weekend.  And it really is a shoestring project (unlike some of my recent posts).  I'll even cost it out for you.

I mentioned here that we were going to build some raised beds, and eventually this weekend our plan came together.  The Queen of Clean had some free wood from work (packaging for electrical cabinets all the way from Minnesota) so there was no excuse.  We decided two rectangles would work best in our little plot (essentially as I couldn't commit to anything more elaborate) and went ahead and built them - one Friday evening and one Saturday morning.

I don't have any pictures of the building and painting as it all got a bit heated - I was accused of poor project management skills by my husband when I announced  Saturday lunchtime that they had to be painted cream (same colour as our playhouse), but I couldn't source any cream paint and was just popping out to get my haircut.  Poor project management skills, I ask you?! Needless to say it all came good in the end - I found cream paint in the fourth shop I visited (and now have nice hair).

We built the little path in between the beds from roof tiles that we found in a corner of our garden when we moved here.  This means we'll be able to access the beds even if the grass is wet.

And this afternoon we planted:

Mange Tout
Radish
Carrot
Dwarf sweetcorn
Onion
Broccoli

.........and tried to persuade our kitties that we had not just built them two giant litter trays! Eugh - eventually resorted to green netting across the top, just until they get the message.

Here is a picture of the before (taken end of Feb I think).........it really was an eyesore this patch of the garden.  A huge heap of rubbish and a neglected apple tree.

And here is the now (complete with netting to discourage kitties). The other side of the beds we have put grass seed down as funds won't stretch to the shed I had planned for. 

As promised the cost for this project:-

Wood = Free
Soil - 9 x huge bags = £36 (could have sourced cheaper than the garden centre I'm sure but blame my poor project management skills!)
Cream paint = 2.5 litre can was £19.98 (but also got enough to repaint my playhouse so am costing this at £10)
Labour = Free (although I did have to make several cups of tea to keep Queen of Clean digging)
Roof tiles for path = Free
Fancy wooden plant labels = 10 for £1.98
Netting = £4.00

Total = £51.96

I must also admit I was extremely stupid and let the kids paint these beds without changing their clothes first, and lost some decent jeans and t-shirts in the process.  But will not include these in the cost tally above! 

Biscuits and Waves

We ordered some prints on Saturday....it's rare we both agree on what we like artwise.  So when we do agree it's good to take decisive action and purchase!

The one above is for me.  Because I agree with the sentiment, and it makes me smile.

And this one.  Well it's a long standing joke that The Queen of Clean won't engage in any meaningful conversation with me in public.  Careless talk costs lives and all that.  Something I've come to find amusing.  So this one is perfect for us.

Both of these are from Keep Calm Gallery.  A fantastic website...just adore almost everything on there.

Impulse buy

This little orchid is a new addition to the household.  I picked it up yesterday at Ikea........how I love that shop.

We stopped en route to a family lunch and picked up the usual suspects; wine glasses, light bulbs, freezer bags (not sure why, but there is always something you didn't mean to get in Ikea isn't there?).  We also got a cute little light for Yoyo's room like this one.

And I couldn't resist this orchid.  So sweet and perfect, and I knew it would fit just so in this white square pot I have.  I had to process all of these thoughts in about 10 seconds as we were running late and causing a wave of chaos through Ikea's marketplace. 

But I made the right decision, this impulse buy was worth it.  Just have to keep it alive now.....

Favourite tin

Isn't it lovely?  From M&S at Christmas (probably still available now if you love it as much as I do!), just £5, complete with biscuits for cheese. 

I have a thing about tins, but sadly no imagination of what to put inside them.

So they kind of get left waiting quietly in the cupboard......just anticipating their contents.

A ramble about a bar stool

I had a good find today outside a charity shop, a little pine table (well that's what I thought it was) for £3.95.  I couldn't resist it - even though I had driven to town in my Ford KA and it was going to be a squeeze to get it in.

We have rejigged our furniture in the lounge and there was nowhere for anyone to rest a cup of tea if they were sat in our leather chair.  Since the sofa collapsed on Christmas Eve this leather chair is really the prime seat in the house, and we had been discussing the need for a side table for a few days.

So I bought it home, very triumphant with my find.  The Queen of Clean (who incidentally was cleaning the kitchen sink at the time) asked me why I had bought a bar stool.  Oh no said I, it's definitely a table.  Well, after much debate and googling the Ikea name stamped on the underneath we established yes, it was indeed a bar stool.

But quite frankly who cares.

 

Here it is before, in all it's ikea rubberwood bar stool glory.  I took exceptionally bad pictures today so the black and white is an attempt to disguise my lack of focus.

 

And here we after 3 coats of white satinwood (could probably do with another tomorrow) and the legs sawn down.

This little table/bar stool has made me very happy this evening.

3 Beautiful Things for Sunday

I found this blog today and felt inspired to post my own 3 beautiful things for today.......

1.  These lights on our bed (little christmas trees if it's hard to tell).  They were a bargain found by a girl at work who passed them onto me. I fell asleep with them left on last night and awoke to find my two youngest had crept in with me....they were bathed in this lovely red light.

 2.  This note by Yoyo to her brother.  'I howp yuo lik my pichir'.  He was indifferent to be honest....but I will treasure that spelling forever.

3.  These tea towels which I asked my friend to pick up from Bicester for me to give as teachers gifts.  I am in a Cath Kidston induced state of bliss.  And of course in a dilemma now whether to keep them for myself or pass them on as intended. 

Reading this back I realise that two of my things are material items.  No wonder I am trying to create my home on a shoestring......too much spending I think.   So the teatowels - should they stay or should they go?

Birdseed and cookie cutters

A cheap gift idea here - teachers, grandparents etc.  I got this idea from a Sunday supplement a friend at work gave me. 

You will need:-

• 1 pack of gelatine (20g - I got mine from Tescos for £1.49)
• 600g birdseed (I used Field Fare Wild Bird seed as it had lots of variety - 2.3kg for £2.39)
• cookie cutters

And this is what you do:-

• dissolve the gelatine in 200ml boiling water.  Leave for 5 minutes.
• pour gelatine mixture over birdseed and ensure it is all thoroughly coated.  Leave this for 40 mins stirring every so often (I forgot this continual stirring....not sure what impact this has had yet!)
• place cookie cutters on chopping board and spoon mixture into them pressing down with the back of a teaspoon.
  
• leave for 48 hours to dry
• release from cookie cutters, make hole with a skewer to thread a ribbon for hanging

This mixture made approx 10 shapes.  I'm a bit nervous about getting them out of the cookie cutters because I feel they are well and truly stuck in there.  Ah well, the process of making them was still fun.  Kids loved it - even though there were a few disagreements over whose turn it was with the teaspoon...........

I will update you on finished result.

A little polka dot goodness and some repurposing....

As part of our garage clean up this weekend, we rediscovered these canvas pockets that we have had for years.  We bought them pre-kids and never really found a good place/purpose for them so they ended up in the shed in our last house.  We used them to hold trowels, garden clips and all that jazz.

So, as a result of being in the shed for several years they had got mildew at the bottom.  Very sad.  But I felt too sentimental to throw them out - and with all our new storage in the garage there was no need for them in there.

Now for the brainwave.  I'm going to use them in the coat cupboard for each childs hat and gloves.  3 pockets and 3 children - very convenient.  So I decided to disguise the mildew part with some polka dot loveliness..............

I chose 3 different colours (my littlest one has 'reserved' blue already), and cut equal size rectangles to make a cuff.  I placed a little wonderweb along the middle and ironed them which gave a nice firm fabric that was a little easier to work with.

 I folded over the ends also so I had nice neat edges all round.

This is when it all went a bit pearshaped.  I was trying to iron the whole 'cuff' on using wonderweb to the canvas pocket. And trying to make dinner and negotiate with a three year old over having a biscuit before dinner.  And explaining to Yoyo that it was not a good idea to lean on the ironing board.....

So take this into consideration when you see the above.  I am going to have to secure each end with thread as it's not bonded as well as I'd liked...but it's enough.

Now have to just get it in situ.  A task for another day.

Garage - The After

 

The garage has been rather a labour of love this weekend.  Our thinking was that once it is sorted, everything else inside the house will run smoother.  We can store things more efficiently, get going on DIY and gardening projects and save money by buying in bulk.

The whole exercise was prompted by The Queen of Clean getting some free industrial shelving and plastic boxes from the warehouse at his work.  So this transformation involved:-

• taking a people carrier sized boot of rubbish to the local household recycling site
• fixing the industrial shelving securely to the wall so there was no danger of it collapsing on us!
  
• moving stuff we don't often use up into the rafters
• rejigging things so the tool chest is on the workbench at the back of the garage
• lots of sorting out wires, tools, equipment and general garage 'stuff'

I'm sure it's fairly obvious that my part in this was limited - I was more of a teamaker and general cheerleader.

I love this little area at the end of the industrial shelf.  He left a gap in the chipboard shelf so there is a little nook for our garden tools.  No risk of them falling out on you.

 This metal shelf at the end we are using for biking equipment, shoes and helmets.  It is actually a Habitat kitchen shelf that we had 2 houses ago.  How I loved that shelf! (I threaded it with fairy lights one Christmas and left it like that all year).  Sadly it hasn't fitted into any of our kitchens since, but now it again has a purpose.

So whilst all of this was going on outside......I was doing lots of this with the kids inside.

I hope those of you on the Apartment Therapy Cure journey are still sticking with it!  Let me know how you are getting on?