Big Changes

 

Yesterday I moved from my upstairs bedroom to the downstairs one in preparation for my son and daughter in law moving in with me. I intended to start by just moving my clothes into the downstairs wardrobe and it kinda snowballed from there!  I did it by myself as everyone was away/unavailable so it took me all day!!  It's amazing how you can move furniture by yourself by slowly bumping it down the stairs one at a time! Good old gravity!!😂  Although I did manage to smack myself on the cheekbone with the large chest of drawers so might have a lovely bruise for a few days!!

This room was decorated in blue tones almost 3 years ago (photos HERE) so all my purple/green themed bedding/curtains clash horribly.  Luckily the beautiful quilt my Lovely Mum made me (photo HERE) is a lovely cream pattern on the reverse.  The purple and green will be hidden for now but will definitely reappear in the future.

The room is roughly the same size so my cream chest of drawers and bedside cabinets all kinda fit in. I've kept the leather headboard mainly because it's fixed to the wall and I don't want to have to repair the damage it would make to remove it.  The wardrobe is smaller so I've had another big clearout of clothes plus I've gained the extra chest of drawers in the alcove. 

They match the headboard.  There's no room for the chair with the patchwork seat cover but it will go into my craft room.  There are still a few things to sort out so a final photo or maybe video of the room will follow at some point.  I've treated myself to a new laundry/linen basket (£18 from Argos) and I'll collect it later today.

Edited to add:  I've just realised that every piece of furniture in this room (except the mattress and the 3 fold mirror) is at least 16 years old and has been moved from 2 houses!!

At the same time, I'm also collecting a mini toaster oven. This one HERE.  Frugal Queen regularly mentions cooking in hers so I did the research and it definitely uses less electricity.  It will be cheaper to run than my big oven if I just have a few things to bake.   Last month I got my half share of an unexpected repayment from an old policy of £67 so it's a free mini oven really!! 

A finished project for once!

 

I made a hexie from some of the leftover fabric from the quilt my lovely mum made for my bedroom.

I stitched it onto a large piece of the purple fabric.

I did a small running stitch round each hexie to stitch it on and make it look slightly 'hand quilted.'

I stapled the fabric to the removable cushion pad with my new staple gun.

And my bedroom chair is finished and good as new at last!

Edited to add this photo of my quilt 💜

And a close up

It was nice to do a project from start to finish in an afternoon as a lot of my craft projects are long term ones.  Most of the time clothes are covering this chair but it'll make me smile any way!

Progress

I survived my busy week including my union meeting and the first Parents Evening thanks to Benylin and Sainbury's Cold and Flu tablets!  This is a proper stinker of a cold 😷  Plus my car was serviced (£168 at my wee local garage instead of  almost £300 at the Honda garage!) and my bedroom carpet was finally fitted 😊

I've still got a few finishing touches to do before I can say it's finished.  But here's a wee peek at something my Lovely Mum has been working on for me.  It's absolutely stunning 💜💜💜

Today we took advantage of Historic Scotland's free ticket giveaway and went to visit Tantallon Castle  which is about an hour's drive from here. It's a fab ruin with a lot of Scottish history due to it's strategic location on the Scottish/English border.  I always muse that if I'd lived back then I'd have been a cook and not a lady!!  The bit on right hand of the photo is the kitchen below and the dining hall was above.  The big open fireplace was still visible and the slop drain was still intact (basically pour everything down a hole directly into the sea!!)  You can climb up old stairs to the top of the towers and look out to sea and The Bass Rock.  The castle has stood above the cliffs since 1350 and has survived the harsh North Sea winds and attacks from The English!!  And all built with just basic hand tools.  I love history!

And so to a modern building issue.  My upstairs bathroom toilet isn't flushing.  Thank goodness OH is handy when it comes to these things.  He managed to get the part at B&Q but needs to do something with an angle grinder to make it fit.  It might take a few days before he can finish the job but way cheaper than calling out a plumber!  I've promised him a surf n turf dinner next weekend! 😋

I feel like I'm definitely making progress in my wee house 😊

Much better!

Thanks for the lovely supportive comments on yesterday's post.  I'm feeling much better today!  I just had a chill day yesterday.  I leisurely cleaned my kitchen, cleared some paperwork and let my OH take the dog out for a long walk while I had a lie down listening to an audible book.  Batteries are well and truly charged.

I was up early this morning and did my Sainsbury's shop by 9am.  I scored a few bargains!  The ice cream (for The Teenogre) and frozen GF pies were hugely reduced.  Supermarkets always clear out frozen stuff in the run up to Christmas.  Keep your eyes peeled for good bargains!

I also got lucky with some meat.  The beef joint was LESS than half price!!!  I've been neglecting the butcher's counter.  I must remember to keep checking it for bargains in the future.  It's been in the slow cooker all day 😋

The chicken drumsticks made a big pot of stock which became chicken and rice soup, aka lunch for 7 days.  My freezer is now pretty full!

I had a parcel delivered this week and was too tired to open it until yesterday.  I recently found a website that sells non plastic alternatives. Have a look HERE. I'm trying out these pot scourers made of jute and cotton.  They can be chucked in the washing machine when they get grubby and then can be reused.

Did you know that most teabags aren't biodegradable? Many have plastic in them.  I'm trying a reusable teabag made of organic calico.  It's working out so far.  I'm not sure how long they last but so far I've saved 9 plastic ridden teabags going to landfill.

I've been finishing off some wee jobs in my bedroom today and I'm ready now for the carpet fitters to come this week. My Lovely Mum has made me a fabulous quilt that's off to be quilted tomorrow.  It's all coming together!

Hope everyone is well and looking ahead to the festive season.  TV adverts are starting to talk about the C word so I guess I'd better get thinking about it too!! 🎄

Whoosh!!

Well, that's another holiday week just whooshed by!! But I've packed a lot in. As well as hours and hours of painting(!!) I've visted my parents, spent an afternoon with my eldest son shopping for house stuff and met up with an old colleague/dear friend for supper.  I feel quite sociable!

My peach bedroom is now pristine white.  It took 4 coats of matt white to cover it up.  It's got a few wee bits that need to be touched up but nothing major.  I've still got all the woodwork to do so that's today's job.

I had a tin of mystery paint in the garage that I got on the bargain shelf ages ago.  It had a label that said "customer return."  I couldn't even remember what colour it was as it was one of those Dulux mix to order paints.  Imagine my delight when I opened it up to find it was bright red or Brothel Red as I've been calling it!! 😂 So instead of wallpapering the inside of my wardrobe, I painted it red.  It took 3 coats!!!  I love it 😍  I've still got a few 'finishing touches' to add to it 😉

Emma has loved me being at home this week.  As much as I could, I've taken her with me everywhere.  She's such a good girl.  It's hard to believe she's almost 7!! She's still just a big puppy at heart 💓

Holiday Plans

I'm on holiday! Woohoo!!  It's lovely to know I don't need to get up tomorrow morning and go to work.  But I'm not lounging around.  Oh no, I'll be getting rid of this 'lovely' 1980s peach colour in my bedroom.

You can see that the eaves in my room are curved which makes it hard to wallpaper (although the previous owners have had a good go in my son's old room!!) It's also curved at the ceiling.  So painting is the easiest option.  Probably white.  I'll see what it looks like with the first coat.  My drawers are cream so maybe white might not look right.  I won't know until I do it.

Inside my wardrobe also needs painting as I had some damp treated.  This was before I got the woodburner installed and rain was getting in the chimney.  There are a couple of holes in the ceiling and walls where the pipes and wires that came to the old water tank must have come through the wardrobe.

You can see the capped pipes and a huge hole that's just been covered with a piece of plywood.  I might wallpaper the inside if I can get a cheap funky roll at B&Q.  Watch this space!😉

I was taking out some of the shoes from my wardrobe and put them in the hall.  They're rather colourful, aren't they? 😁

So, busy week ahead!  I'm hoping to have it all done by the time I go back to school next Monday!  Best get cracking then!

Day 6 & 7: Cook, Clean, Clear and Create

Yesterday's clean and clear was mostly getting ready for our family meal.  Here's the dining room (tidy-ish) with the table set for 7.  I am very guilty of using my dining table as a dumping area for 'stuff.'  Sadly it's just been stirred elsewhere in the house for another day to clear.

Cook was a Chinese meal for 7 people. This is all that's left from last night!!  The 5 spice pulled beef was AMAZING!! I will definitely make that again. The chicken was simply marinated in honey and Tamari and stir fried.  The prawns were marinated in sesame oil and chilli, also quickly stir fried.

For dessert I made lemonade fruity jelly.  Instead of adding cold water I added cloudy lemonade.  If you let the hot mixture cool a bit before adding it, the bubbles set in the jelly.  For posh meals with just grown ups I've used sparkling wine.  The fruity bit is blueberries and raspberries.

The birthday cake was a banana cake.  Recipe HERE.  Best GF banana cake recipe I've found so far!  I baked it in a bundt tin as my oven doesn't distribute heat evenly. Cakes take longer to bake in the middle and start to burn on the edges.  Having that hole makes a big difference.  To serve I filled it with blueberries and raspberries and dusted it with icing sugar instead of the cream cheese frosting.

My create last night was stitching a few more squares together.  I'm finding my eyesight doesn't like knitting or sewing in artificial light now so only managed 3.

Tonight's cook was a really easy leftovers stir fry.  Tasted better than it looks!

My create today was stitching yet more squares together.  I've now got 3 long strips to stitch to the main blanket.  Thank goodness!! Then I can get one with a different project.

My clean and clear was to totally strip my bed including the zipped on mattress cover.  It got washed and dried outside and after a struggle OH and I managed to get it back on.  Tonight I'll be sleeping in a bed with my new duvet, pillows and bedding.  Lovely! 😴

Waiting for the sales

Earlier this year I realised that despite repeated washing, my pillows and duvet were done.  They just didn't 'smell' clean any more.  And I reckoned the actual duvet was at least 12 years old!!  So I started looking around for new ones.  Good quality bedding is expensive!  To be fair I didn't spend a lot of time researching prices but I kept it in the back of my mind to look out for any good sales.

Yesterday I was in town to turn my leftover Australian dollars back into sterling ($225 became £115) which I was treating as 'bonus' money. I use the M&S currency shop as I get a good exchange rate if I use my card.  As I walked past the household department I noticed their Egyptian cotton bedding had 20% off.  I do like nice sheets! So clutching my bonus £115, I worked out I could get a 7.5 tog duvet, 2 firm pillows, 2 pillowcases, a valance sheet and a fitted sheet. Total cost £110.  I hope they last as long as their predecessors.

I'm hoping to decorate my bedroom soon.  All it needs is painted (the peach walls HAVE to go!!) and a new carpet.  My lovely mum has offered to make me a quilt so we need to get choosing some fabrics soon, hopefully in the sales.

I also need new towels but haven't spotted any good ones yet.  I'm happy to wait.