Unveiling the 'Almost Finished' Conservatory

I thought I would show you the 'almost finished' conservatory, yes we still call it that ..... the name has just stuck and I think calling it 'The Garden Room' as it was titled on the planning permission plans, just looks and sounds a little bit more pretentious than we are.  

I'm a Manchester girl don't forget  ;-)

The almost finishing touches went in last week when the oak worktops were added to the windowsills, they make a bench area around the dining table (which is also oak under it's spotty tablecloth) and a matching sill on the other side of the room.

It has really finished the room off ......

... well almost!!

The off-cuts from the worktops, because obviously we didn't need the full depth that a kitchen work top (counter-top) has, have been sanded and finished to make us some shelves to go on this bare bit of wall.  We actually got three shelves that will sit here perfectly and two additional longer ones, that we will find a home for in the future, if we need them.

The shelves in the conservatory will not be filled with clutter, but will simply hold some of the more decorative jugs and bowls that currently live in my cupboards.  I don't like ornaments as such,  but some of our things that we don't actually use everyday, but that do get called into use on a regular basis are just too pretty and too full of lovely memories of days out to simply languish behind closed doors.

The only new things we have bought for our almost finished room were the four new cushions, just in case anyone finds the oak benches a little too hard to sit on, of course they had to be in our favourite shades of green!!

Hopefully if the weather is okay later in the week, the tarmac that will be the finishing touch to the outside of the conservatory will be laid.  One day of groundworks and new edging stones laid where currently there are wooden ones, and then a day of tarmacking should see us looking a lot neater outdoors, and then at last there will be less mud and chippings walked in on our wellies and the dogs and Gingers little mucky paws.

Talking of clutter and loving the simple look of the conservatory as much as we do, I've decided to join in with Elaine's, over at Mortgage Free in Three  'February Fling Challenge'.

The idea being that you declutter one thing on the first of the month, two things on the second, three on the third etc, etc.  That will be a total of 406 by the end of February.  To help you keep tabs on what you have got rid of she has produced this brilliant little chart that I have just printed out and will be keeping handy to keep me on track.

Why don't you nip over to her blog using the link above and get yourself a copy and see how well you can do.  As I only need to find another 84 items for my 'Decluttering 365' this would take me nicely over and mean that we have lots of lovely items to sell at the one and only car boot sale of the year that we hope to do when the weather improves.  

Obviously some of the things are going to be little bitty bits but everything that we don't really need is clutter in my eyes, so it all adds up and in this year of 'Needs not Wants' it's good to be inspired to have a purge.

Sue xx

Waiting for Dad

The other day I waited in the car with the dogs after their walk along the prom in Llandudno, while Lovely Hubby went into PC World to pick up his newly fixed lap top,  Suky completely fed up with the antics of the other dogs in the back of the truck decided to see what the view from the drivers seat was like.  Amazed by what she saw just after this photo was taken she leapt up at the steering wheel sounding the horn loud and clear .... and almost making a man passing in front of the car drop his newly purchased flat screen television .... ooops!!

Meanwhile back at home the sorting out the clutter continues.  Although I didn't manage to get to my 365 items of things leaving the house by the end of last year, I am not stopping until I reach that magic number.  So I have been getting down to the nitty gritty.  Yesterday saw me going through the bathroom cupboard and these are just a few of the items that are now no longer required.

As time goes by I wear less and less make up and I kept my dark brown mascara in case I wanted to revert to wearing it, but I haven't used it once in the last year, preferring instead to stick with the clear mascara that is my favourite, so it's time to chuck it out.  The unopened things will go into the charity shop bag and the rest will have to go into the bin.

So that's nine more items on the list and out of the house  :-)

Sue xx

And the winner is .......

And the winner is .... still helping me to declutter!!  As you will see further down this post ;-)

I decided to do the draw the old-fashioned way, with strips of paper and a hat.  Every time I use the automatic number generator thingys I can't get them to publish on my post and it looks like I've made it all up!!

So after much writing down the names of those of you who entered, checking and double checking I snipped away and folded the slips ..... then I went in search of a 'hat'.  

I couldn't find one upstairs and being in a lazy Monday morning mood decided to make use of whatever I laid my eyes on first in the bedroom.

Now as we don't have a po/potty/gazunder/chamber pot under the bed (aren't you really glad about that one!!) I decided to use one of the wooden bowls on the chest of drawers.  

Looking at the top of the chest of drawers through my new 'declutterers' eyes I thought 'what a mess'.

So I whittled it down a bit and gave it all a good polish in the process.  

But I can't make my mind up about the lamp.  We've had it there since we moved in last Christmas, but it has not been switched on even once.  So the vote is going to you.  Does it look better with the lamp ...

... or without it?

Anyway .... back to business, the little slips were put in the smaller bowl and held up by my left hand to a height where I couldn't see the slips and then my right hand (which is much more unbiased than my left one) was asked to do the draw.  

The winner is .... insert fanfare, or drum roll ... or just scroll down, depending on your Monday morning mood ...

(I chose the fanfare option.)

'wherethejourneytakesme'

Who by clicking on her name I found out has her Blog over HERE

So Vivien if you could drop me an email with your full postal address I will set the book of on it's journey to you.  And as Vivien is as big a declutterer as me it might be worth keeping an eye on her Blog because no doubt the book will be travelling on again pretty soon.

Many thanks to all those of you who took the time to leave comments to be entered into the draw and indeed to all those of you who leave comments on any blog post I write.  Your feedback sometimes keeps me on the straight and narrow and always makes this blogging world a delight to be a part of.

So four more items from the top of the chest of drawers to go into my charity shop bag, which means four less items in the house.  I'm making it my mission to take a bag of things into town whenever I go in from now until Christmas.

Happy Monday folks ..... and here's to lots more decluttering.

Sue xx

Decluttering 365 - Giveaway

I read this book last week, it really is inspiring ...well it spurred me into action anyway.

All this year I've been decluttering and entering the things that have left the house on the to page at the top of the Blog, but I had ground to a halt recently.  I guess I was uninspired ... so this book was just what I needed.

Of course it would be wrong to keep it for myself, I've read it, absorbed the gist of it and have now sprung back into action going through cupboards and taking the things I find to the local charity shop in Llanrwst.  I don't even know what they raise funds for but those that they help no doubt need the money that my things will get more than I need the things.

After all I should take more notice of this little box that permanently lives on my sidebar!!

I am determined to, at the very least reach my target of 365 things gone by the end of the year.

One giant declutter that has just happened is one of our cars.  

We have had three cars for a while now, for very good reasons ..... but the Corsa died a very un-dramatic but untimely death on the motorway last week, losing all power and then stubbornly refusing to work at all.  Leaving Lovely Hubby stranded for a while in the pitch black at the side of the M6,  then he was shunted from pillar to post by the AA for almost twelve hours.  I will give them credit that when I Tweeted about this the next morning they immediately sprang into action.  Paying for one of Lovely Hubby's taxi fares from the garage where they had left him and the car to his digs and then onto work, and also extending our membership for an additional six months.  The power of the Tweet!!

So that's us down to a much more manageable and sensible two cars.  We worked out that the cost of the repairs to the Corsa, quoted at over £1,200, would be more than enough to pay for the additional fuel that the Mitsubishi uses when compared to the smaller car.  And hopefully it will be safer for LH travelling long distances over Winter in the 4x4 and we will save on the car tax and insurance.

This must be the biggest declutter we have done for a while!!

If you would like to be entered into the draw to win this book, please just leave a comment on this post.  I am very happy to post to anywhere in the world.

Sue xx

Draw Now Closed

Space

 

Space, I love it !!

 

The top picture is where the coffee making machine used to live and now it's gone it's so much easier to wipe everywhere down properly each day.  I do like to whizz round with a cloth whenever I start any food preparation in the kitchen, well you have too really when there's a cat and two little dogs jettisoning fur in this hot weather. 

 

 

This is where the toaster used to live, so no more lifting it everyday and wiping the crumbs left underneath into the chickens treat bowl before I can wipe the area down properly.

 

I'm preferring the space on the worktops to the gadgets that used to live there, and I love the time I save not having to move things around to clean under them.  It's making me think that it's time to do one final push around the place and see if I have enough things to maybe do one final car boot sale.  If this little bit of space makes me so happy how will I feel with even more in the cupboards and around the place.

 

I think it's time for my 'Decluttering 365 Challenge'  (see the page at the top of the blog for more information) to be drawn to a close now.  One hundred and thirty items have already left the house for good, so that means I have to find another 235 to be able to call this challenge over and done with, and I think that many items will make for a good boot full of things to sell.

 

I think I'm going to start searching around again and see how much more space I can make.

 

Sue xx

Clutter ?

 

Looking at the shelves in the kitchen it's beginning to look a little cluttered.

 

But somehow for me clutter in the kitchen is not the end of the world.  I like to have my things around me, I like them to be within easy grabbing distance when I am getting on with things.  I like to look at what I have and remember when I used them last.  But saying that if something has not been used and is not earning it's place on the shelves it won't stay for long.

 

There are a couple of things on the shelves that will be going soon if they don't either get used or have a use found for them.

 

 

Something that is definitely staying is the little mini Aga, it was asked about in the comments the other day and I forgot to answer - sorry.  It is in fact a lovely little tin full of shortbread biscuits that my Mum bought me when we were out together just before Christmas aren't Mums lovely.  It's just the same as my big Aga that it sits next too and makes me smile every time I look at it (well they both do really).   :-) 

 

Something else that I will be keeping forever is this new handmade bowl we bought when we went to River Cottage last Autumn.  The words around the edge sum up the way we want to live our lives perfectly.

 

As a couple of you have already noticed I've started a new page at the top of the Blog to help me deal with the clutter again this year.  Called simply 'Decluttering 365' it is to inspire me to jettison at least another three hundred and sixty five objects from around the house this year.  Hopefully they will all be sold at a car boot sale in Spring and the money added to the mortgage overpayment.  So I'm aiming to sort out at least fourteen items a week for the first twenty six weeks of the year ready for selling.

 

I better go and get sorting then :-)

 

An answer for Sarah.  Yes, I bottle my pasta sauces similarly to making jam, sterile jars (heated in the oven), piping hot sauce poured in and then the tops put straight on.   As the sauce cools it draws the top down and creates a vacuum, thus preserving the sauces for a long long time.  I always have a couple of those tops from commercial jars that have the little dimples in the middles then you can hear the 'pop' as it pulls down and you know it's worked.

 

Sue xx