First week, how you doin'?

Starting is the hardest thing sometimes, so we've passed that obstacle! First week of the big declutter (see posts last week for the how to), how are you getting on?

This week went like this for me:
Day 1 - Books - Did really well, got rid of loads, actually down to one bookshelf now! I seem to keep loads of books that have been read and neither of us will ever read again, also there were some not read (gifts/mistake buys and ones Tom has bought for holidays but never read) that we just needed to get real about never reading and get rid of. I actually rediscovered the library recently so I'm working on not having so many books around and borrowing them more than buying them.

Day 2 - Went to a wedding fair at our venue (great day, lovely weather, took loads of cards and brochures from vendors) then out for dinner. Got nothing done, already off the plan!

Day 3 - Got 2 things done as they were both small jobs - The cupboard (I went through it recently so only 2 old wicker baskets to get rid of) and the shoe racks. Got them both done in under 20 minutes so made up for the day before.

 The pile to get rid of looked like this

Day 4 - Tom finally went through that box of stuff that has been in here since we moved in (you can still see it in the corner of the picture above!), and we did the small ottomans - not much from there a few cats bowls and some kitchen stuff.

Day 5 - Surfaces (I will get Tom to do his music stuff on his next day off), mostly just stuff for the bin like junk mail and leaflets.

So the first week looks like:

1. Hallway - Books - Done
2. Hallway – Cupboard - Done
3. Hallway – Small ottomans - Done
4. Hallway – Music equipment
5. Hallway – Shoes - Done
6. Hallway – Surfaces - Done
7. Hallway – Misc

And the stuff to go looks like this

 Loads for just under a week!

I'll have the miscellaneous day tomorrow for any areas I've missed and just a general second look, and Tom has agreed he will at least look through his music stuff as there are maybe some things that don't work properly he could get rid of...Sunday might be the day for that!

I also need to get more boxes as I've just been putting everything into one box rather than splitting it into the 3 separate categories, so will sort that out this weekend. Being the weirdo that I am I'm actually enjoying this...

I've not killed the plants yet!

It turns out I actually can plant a garden and not kill all the plants off within a few weeks! I have the opposite problem now that some of the plants are doing better than expected and it's looking a bit crowded. (you can see previous posts on the garden here, here and here)

The clematis was also threatening to start climbing onto the walls, which we don't want to happen

I got this trellis for £10 from Wilko. I actually went into the pound shop after and saw similar ones in there, but the queues in both shops were massive and it was hot and I couldn't be bothered to return this one a buy another, moral of the story - always check the pound shop first!

I've done this before with a clematis in a pot and it worked really well, I jut cut some of the tape connecting it to the pole it came on, not all of them just enough to loosen it a little.

Then just bent the trellis and stuck it into the pot behind the plant, hopefully it'll grow into a nice big plant and we can screen the barbecue a little with it

 I moved it out to give the others a bit more room so it looks a little less crowded now

I'm hoping we can pull some of the larger plants round to in front of the barbecue and bikes once they're a bit bigger, we won't be able to screen it completely but it'll look a bit less gross!

The lavender has gone mad! I'm hoping to try drying some of it out and maybe making some drawer fresheners or linen spray

The forsythia has gone back to green as it flowers in the spring but it's growing well, the label says they can grow up to 4ft and I've seen ones bigger, so hopefully it will get larger.

 The random shrub that was here when we moved in is also doing well and growing

I'm so proud of our tomato plants, they've all grown massive! I've tied them onto the poles again higher up as a few of them were breaking under their own weight

 We're going to have loads of tomatoes!

The herbs are kind of doing well, the mint and parsley have taken over, and we also have another pot of mint on the opposite side of the garden (next to the forsythia) so we really need to use it up, mojitos anyone?

The rose bush that isn't meant to be outside isn't doing great but it hasn't died yet, and the sunflowers are growing about an inch every day! I'll have to get longer poles at this rate!

So I went in town in the morning Saturday, then kind of pootled about in the garden for a bit then spent the rest of the day here...

Bliss!


p.s not my cigarette ends in the pot there on the table, I haven't taken up smoking again I just had some smokers come over recently and haven't emptied my makeshift ashtray yet.

Office to Dining Room

OK dining room makes it sound grander than a hallway we use as a room but I switched around our office at the weekend, getting rid of the desk and trading it for a table.

I shared this in progress photo on Sunday

Sunday morning I managed to get the room completely empty and ready to reassemble. When reorganising a room like this I find that for me it works best to empty as much of it as possible and then piece it back together again, it helps you to rethink the layout. I also gave the floors a good clean while there was no furniture in here. I left the turtle tank in there as it's pretty heavy and bulky and I was doing this on my own (why do I choose weekends Tom's working to get productive??), I just put sofa throws underneath it so I could slide it around easily and without scratching the floor.

Can you spot all the furniture pushed into the hallway in this photo? I'll freecycle the desk and desk chair and if there's no takers they'll go to the tip (anyone interested let me know)

I had emptied the desk completely, the stuff on the shelves under the tank are the only things that were kept in the desk I thought we might still want access to like sellotape, pens, batteries, paper etc. The rest of the stuff from the desk like photos, installation CDs for various things, envelopes and stationary we rarely use went in a small ottoman on top of the wardrobe in the hallway (all 3 are now full after this kitchen reorganisation)

I had a suspicion that where we had the turtle tank wasn't the best place for it, as it was on a short wall but facing into the longest part of the room, if that makes sense? This room is pretty awkward as it's a small room with 4 doors into it and it's an irregular shape, with a random change in wall depth on the long wall (you can see it in the left of the photo above) and also the living room door juts out into the room, this photo is taken from the hallway door, the bedroom door is first on the left then the living room is actually a bit larger so the wall comes out into the room

So I set the table up where the desk had been and it looked like this

Not good. When the benches were both tucked right under they were just about out of the way of the bathroom door, but if someone was sitting at the table it would be in the way, and if you pulled it out to seat 2-4 people the door would be completely blocked. I'd had an inkling that the tank might be better in that inset part of the wall, as the wall with the bathroom door on is the narrowest part of the room so not the best place for a table.

I scooted the tank over and set the table up in the other corner and voilà, fits perfectly!

Sorry this room is so hard to get good photos of, there's little natural light an it is so small and awkward that I can never get a shot of the whole room! Anyway I hope you get the idea...

After refilling the tank and putting the room back together it now looks like this

The baskets under the tank are just for now, I want to get 4 matching storage boxes for these shelves to hold turtle food and the remaining stuff from the desk that I thought we would want easy access to. The cat litter went in the cupboard under the tank along with the tray liners, bin liners for emptying it etc. 

Our new little dining area, the table fits so well in that corner, like it was made for it!

Coasters, I made 6 of these last year, 4 are in the living room with actual words on and these are made from the excess tiles I had left over.

The benches tuck away underneath pretty well so when not in use can go out the way. I might even attempt a DIY sewing project (I cannot sew so it might be laughable) and do some seat cushions. You can see part of the old computer hidden away underneath the bench above. I dismantled it and the screen, printer, keyboard and mouse are all in the entrance hallway stored away but within easy access and the cables are all still plugged into the back of the computer so it can be easily set back up if needed, although I don't know how often that will be.

My idea is that when working on the laptop for short times I will just sit on a bench, but if I'm going to be working there for a while I can move the bench and sit on a dining chair instead. We have 4 stacked in the hallway and a chair with a back is more comfortable.

The litter tray is still in here as I couldn't find anywhere else to put it, but it can easily be scooted into the bathroom when we are eating (don't want to have to look at that during dinner!)

All in all I'm pretty pleased with in, well actually I am totally in love with it and am sat there writing this post now! We are yet to eat there because there were some bolts not included with the table that we need to attach one last part, the bit that goes between the 2 legs to keep it stable. It's still a bit wobbly without that but hoping to go and get some bolts and get that attached asap. 

A reminder of what it looked like before

There seems to be so much more space in here and it seems lighter without the tank in the corner, which is a bonus in a room with no windows!

Friday inspiration post tomorrow, I'm presenting an award at a ceremony tonight to the apprentice of the year in the category that I won last year and absolutely terrified of speaking in front of that many people so as you are reading this I'm probably pacing the flat practising, wish me luck!

Finished Garden!

The garden is the first part of our flat that I'm going to declare finished! Obviously next spring we will probably have to replace some of the plants that don't make it through winter and we will change things around as we go, but right now I can't fit in any more plants without making it cluttered and can't see anything else that I would want to add or change (other than make it larger haha).

Here are some before and afters...

View from the door before

In progress

After

The rest of the garden with the barbecue and bikes...

Before (pretty bare!)

In progress

After

To the right out of the back door and the path up to the landlords garden

Before

In progress

After

The 'in progress' pictures are all from this post back in March when I last shared photos of the garden, we had just planted a load of pots. Since then what's improved (other than the weather in the after pics!) is that the plants have all grown larger, I've bought a load more small pots and 2 larger ones, we've also gained a few more plants. 

I went on a trip over to Gloucester a while back and raided all the pound/99p/bargain shops for garden stuff. I came home with a pretty good loot, small pots from the pound shop, plastic watering globes were in packs of 2 for £1 and do really work (I also have the pretty glass ones from back here), I also picked up plant food, bug spray and a patio cleaning solution (not got round to using that yet). 

Most of the plants are doing really well but some fell pray to slugs and snails like these smaller pots which did have flower seeds in to add in some colour but the shoots were all eaten

So I got some of this tape on a recent trip to the B&M shop in Gloucester, it stops slugs and snails climbing up the pot apparently

I ran out so haven't done all the pots but if it works will go and get some more. 

Also from there I got 2 plastic pots (£1.99 each) one to re-pot some sunflowers into which I'd planted from seeds and were ready to go out, and one for the lavender which is growing like crazy, then I used the pot from that to plant the rose bush I got for my birthday (After planting it I noticed the label actually said that it's an indoor plant, hopefully it'll be ok until winter)

These pillows (£1.99 each) were from the same shop on a previous trip, although they aren't actually outside cushions I bought them with the garden in mind, when the weather's not good they can go on the armchair in the hallway

Some close ups, these guys are all doing really well

Left to right - Lavender, Forsythia, Mint and Parsley, Clematis (It did flower and looked really pretty but I didn't get a photo!) and a random shrub left by the landlords.

The random shrub is actually doing really well and did have a few small flowers, and it's a nice shade of light green and has pretty shaped leaves (anyone have any clue what it is?) 

The edible side is also doing well, the tomato plants (right) are getting big although no fruit yet, the herbs are actually too large for the pot we really need to start using them more! Unfortunately no basil yet but a few shoots are appearing. The pot to the left is spring onions and rocket which is starting to grow up now.

We also now have some sunflowers which are growing fast and a rosebush which may or may not make it as it is not meant to be outside...Those are the pound shop watering globes, not as pretty as the glass ones but £1 for 2 so a lot cheaper, and hopefully once the plants grow in a bit they won't be so visible

As far as budget goes it's a bit of an estimate as a lot of the pots we already owned and some things were gifts but I'd say we spent no more than £100 on the garden this year and no more than £200 in total. 

That breaks down as (per shopping trip):

Blooms Garden Centre - Plants, 2 oblong planters and compost - £60

Pound Shop - small pots, watering globes, plant food, patio cleaner - £15

B&M Gloucester - 2 larger pots, slug and snail tape, compost and pillows - £13

B&Q - Barbecue and bike covers (rough estimate) - £10

Already owned pots, mostly from B&Q and Homebase - About £90 spent if I remember (It was a long time ago but I remember being shocked that a few terracotta pots could cost almost £100)

Gardening in containers is really my kind of gardening, no digging borders or mowing lawns just plant and enjoy! As long as you water them regularly and use a plant feed I find you can't go wrong with plants in pots, we had the same at a previous house and loved it.

The weather was so beautiful over the weekend I couldn't not be out in the garden, although I did get the office finished and it is looking good so a post on the coming up soon!