Monday 3 November 2014

I'm Back .... What Have We Been Up To!!


I'm back.

What have you been up to you might ask, and where on earth have you been?  

It's not often that I miss posting for almost a week.  Of course when I have a holiday I warn you and set up some fun little things to post in my absence, but sometimes life catches up with me and what I thought was going to be a 'holiday' with Lovely Hubby off for over a week from his day job and at home with me full time, turns out instead of giving me more time to Blog giving me less, much much less.

First we had a visitor ... one of our favourite visitors, as Lovely Hubbys'  little sis Alison fits in so well with our lifestyle ..... and the dogs love her to bits.  So the break from work started well with doggy walks and a nice meal out.  Catching up on family news from way up in Scotland and watching far too much television over glasses of wine and tasty nibbles.  But then on the Monday she had to go back to her real life and we had to get started on our plans.

The first job was emptying the conservatory, soon to be called the 'Garden Room' .... someone suggested 'Mud Room' as a name, but to be honest the last thing I want to have in there or think about after all the muck and mess of the last few weeks (and ongoing for at least another couple of months) is MUD, so Garden Room it is.  Everything was taken off the walls, and most of it will not be going back as we want to get more towards being a bit more minimalist.

So the main difference to the house this week has been this.  First the jars of dried food were removed from the top of the radiator cover, where they are in the top picture.


The things on the shelves over the worktop were streamlined, put away into cupboards to make room for .....


... yep, you guessed it the dried food jars. 

I love the new look, I think it looks more foody and less things dotted on shelves.  Everything is more to hand and hopefully I will be even more inspired to use the things in the jars.


The larder cupboard from the conservatory was then emptied and moved into the kitchen ...


... meaning that  LH had to take apart and reduce in size the radiator cover to make the gap next to the fridge freezer big enough to fit it in.   This was not an easy job at all as it was all glued and stapled together.   This meant half a day of woodwork and quite struggle for my lovely man.  But now it all fits together snugly .... as if it was meant to be.  

The dogs of course lended a helping paw by milling about and being constantly under our feet, something they are perfecting to a fine art.


Then we brought the larder unit in, at first we tried it without it's legs, thinking it would be less overpowering in the kitchen if it were not as tall, but after putting all the things back and living with it for two days we decided it look 'wrong'.  So we emptied it again and put the feet back in place and put it back into it's new position.


The small shelf unit that was on the wall in the top picture was not put back up and the rest of the wall things were rejigged slightly until we were happy with them.  Now I just need to take a final picture to show the finished look,  We are at last satisfied with it and this is how it will stay.  

The rest of the week saw LH chopping and stacking wood for the wood burner and having a general tidy up of the outside of the house, burning rubbish etc. and looking after dogs and chickens in my absence, as while he was busy at home I took to the road for a two day road trip on Thursday.  First heading up the motorway to Cumbria to spend some time with my eldest son who is just setting up a new home on his own, and then heading back down via Manchester to have a girly 'ladies who lunch' day with Mum.  

Suitably refreshed from time away from the mud-bath that is home and the mad milling hounds, I quickly got stuck in with LH finishing off the kitchen when I got back, and then we took some time to ourselves over the weekend.  We walked the dogs along the prom at Llandudno (and walked and walked)  until they were so tired we were ensured a calm and quiet few hours crashed in front of the television while the rain poured down outside on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons and evenings.  Using the time to catch up on some of our recorded programmes and snoozing away, taking it in turns to make coffee and fetch biscuits.

A good way to calm down after what had been a hectic and full week.

Now we are back to normal and while the dogs snooze at my feet I can Blog for myself and have a catch up with all the Blogs I have missed reading.

Sometimes normal is just so nice :-)

Sue xx



27 comments:

  1. Sue, what an undertaking! It all looks great, and I'm sure you are glad to have it completed.

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    1. It started out seeming like such a simple job, but then somehow morphed into a bigger and continuing one!! And YES I am glad it's all done ;-)

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  2. Your dried food jars look splendid. I'm using red lentils tonight for the first time in years.

    Jean
    x

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    1. They are so versatile, I chuck them in everything. Enjoy. xx

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  3. I love all the jars, and the green wall, it all looks really good, how's little Charley doing now has she been up to any more mischief lately?

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    1. Too much to list !!

      Although it's helping with our streamlining no end throwing away all the things she's chewed through . If I ever mention getting another puppy, please feel free to remind me of this. xx

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  4. I know exactly what you mean about "him" being at home impacting on "your" schedule {giggle}.

    But it's all looking fantastic and worth the upheaval. BTW, now the larder cupboard has a new home, where's the water bowl gone? When we sort-of-redid our kitchen last year we created a space where it wouldn't constantly get kicked over ... hope you can rig up something similar.

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    1. It just sits in front of the radiator cover, as the door almost opens up to it it is safely out of the way of being kicked over. We couldn't move it far Ginger the cat likes it being there. As he's outnumbered by dogs he gets some preferential treatment ;-)

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  5. Normal sounds perfect after a big re-jig!

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    1. Normal is bliss ..... even if it is a tad muddy outside :-)

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  6. I like to see busy people, unfortunately I dare not start anything until DH gets his stitches out or he will be itching to join in. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it ;) x

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    1. And stick to it you MUST!!

      You know that if you start anything he will be itching to get involved or 'help' You should both rest at least until all those horrible bruises have gone. Take care xx

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  7. I love having my dried food jars on display as well. I love the green walls :)

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    1. They just don't get used as much if they are out of sight do they.

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  8. You have been busy and it's looking good! Saturday should hopefully see the last of our boiler/electrical work being done. Then it's saving up again to get the roof done (but at least that's all outside work!). Good news - our dog's lump was benign hooray!! But I'm glad we had her spayed as hopefully this should cut down on the risk of any more mammary lumps. It was a blocked duct apparently. How's Mavis doing? I have to keep our one on the lead for another week AARGGH!! She's desperate to run and play but her stitches aren't quite healed and she's so boisterous that the vet doesn't think we should risk letting her off the lead just yet. Nice to see you back x

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    1. Good news about your girl :-)

      Mavis is doing fine, stitches out last Thursday and although she has a little bump where some of them were too tight, the vet says it should settle down in time. She's back to normal in herself now thank goodness and on a long lead again. :-)

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  9. The one problem with a wood fired Rayburn in the kitchen is DUST so I envy your jars on the shelves, they look good but here they have to be in the cupboard.
    Nice to have you back

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    1. Better in the cupboards and clean than covered in dust and making more work for you.

      It's nice to be back, I missed my daily posting :-(

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  10. Gosh, you've been a busy bee! The shelving arrangement looks very stylish and I love your wall colour too : )

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    1. It does doesn't it, look stylish I mean :-)

      Although the shelves are holding more they somehow look less cluttered..... well to me they do !

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  11. My goodness, you`ve been busy.
    May I suggest another room name? How about BOOTROOM? Every country house has one, so why not yours, too? But, I quite like Green Room, too.

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    1. Still undecided here, it might even simply be called the Dining room, after all once the freezer is relocated to the workshop, the main bit of furniture in there will be the dining table!

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  12. I love your new configuration. When I first saw the top picture I thought 'hmm, I think I'd put a cupboard beside the fridge' and as I read on I see that is what you have done! Over here we call your green room a sun room. I love ours, although it is only three season as it has no heat.

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  13. Great minds think alike eh:-)

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  14. the jars look great in their new home, you have been busy, no wonder you didn't get chance to blog

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  15. It all looks fabulous Sue. Looks like you have all been very busy indeed.

    X x

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  16. I wish I had your energy this week! Well done!

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