Two rooms done, 3 usable and one to go!!

Update on the big change round.The aim being to make every part of our downstairs rooms usable and functional and to increase storage to make cleanups easier.

After a week of sorting and building we have three usable rooms again BWG!!

Everywhere has been decluttered and storage has been the main priority.
In the sun room there used to be a couple of tired old rattan chairs and we rarely spent any time relaxing in what is a really great room.
We have moved two small bookcases from here into the dining room and this large bookcase means we now have toys,jigsaws and games available to pull out when watching TV in here.We also have books that we can just pull out as we are snuggling in here that may not otherwise get looked at.
Milly fell in love with a very large and expensive swivel chair (size of a single bed!!) in DFS but good old ikea came up trumps with a more affordable option.



The sofa bed moved from the living room into here.It was an aubergine colour and I have taken off the covers to dye chocolate brown.I was far too impatient on Saturday when the pre dye and dye I had ordered came.I just wanted to get it done and shoved it in the machine when I really should have waited and ordered another box cos there was far too much weight in the fabric:-( So at the moment I am waiting on a delivery of two more box's to try to rectify the tye dye,mottled aubergine effect they are at the moment.......So untill that comes and I can then dye them we are living with an unclothed settee covered in tea stains!!



As we go out to the back door we have made full use of this unit and have gloves scarfs etc to hand,as well as dog grooming brushes and other such paraphernalia.Many years ago when I went to Kenya I brought back a very small sandstone Elephant ornament which sits on Emily's bedroom windowsill.We love elephants and have decided to start a small collection, our first being Mummy and baby sitting on here :-)



Finally we have the TV cabinet.I initially got these box's to store toys in for easy access but they have proved to be too flimsy so I decided to store lighter things we don't use too often in here and have brought the toys down to the more substantial plastic box's in the dining room.They are still much more accessible and are easy to bring through.



The dining room has benefited from a really good sort out and I have been ruthless with old pictures and stones and bits of pot found during archaeological digs in the back garden!! I have been obviously checking with Milly before throwing anything I know she is attached to.I have been surprised at how easily she has let things go this time.



This isn't a great picture but it shows the table does get cleared sometimes and if we did want to we could actually eat here.It also shows my bargain chairs(the dark brown wooden ones) I got 6 from Impact housing(they recycle old unwanted furniture) for 10 Pounds, all they need is a clean up and some white paint and they are perfect.i have been looking around Impact every week for sofas and bookcases but had no luck with things that would fit our room but well worth a look if you don't mind used furniture.Still some old furniture to move out,this old Rattan chair is going to go to Impact housing.



The next two show Milly's new little corner.She has already spent many a happy hour listening to tapes and drawing or just lying on her chair bed.One other thing has been the things she has used because they are out at her level,Milly has never really looked in cupboards at what we have available so one of the reasons for doing this was to be able to put things on the shelves that I think will interest her.I have found it is better to do this subtly as any obvious attempt to interest her in anything is usually ignored.We are going to move some of the posters and paint a section of wall white so that she can sit and draw on the wall and we can just repaint it when it needs it.




The kitchen is the only room where things haven't been moved around but as yet has not been decluttered but this will have to wait till we get back from our short break in Filey with friends next week.

The living room is a long room and the top half had furniture in but was never used it is my new home for the computer and is still very much a work in progress.Alan has built the new furniture but as we are storing the furniture I need to sell it is still in a real mess in here.I have not ordered the new setee and chairs yet but they will take 8 to 12 weeks to come so that gives us plenty of time to sell this furniture.We have sold three items already but still more to go.I have not suddenly come into money:-) The sale of these is financing the new items but we decided to take out a 0% visa deal and pay it off as the things sell and we have 13 months to do so.I have found in life that you can sometimes wait for ever for something to happen if you don't take a chance and make it happen.We will not be left in debt as we will have the means to pay it off by then, even if the furnture dosen't sell.





We have advertised on local notice boards and will be posting leaflets through doors in the neighbouring villages.

Just in case you are interested here is the ad,and if you can get to west cumbria and are interested in anything at all just e mail me at pixiemum@yahoo.co.uk ;-))