Tuesday 31 December 2013

The End of The Big Unit


This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end. 

Actually, you weren't that beautiful Big Unit and you're certainly not my only friend. Cause that would be remarkably sad of me, and I'm sure there will be a medical name for people who personify and feel affectionate towards furniture.


Although you were an amazing gift of storage, you were an imposing, dark hulk. The Ikea Besta TV and Storage Unit overshadowing our living room with your large squareness and never looking tidy for longer than half a minute. You became the ultimate catch-all for clutter, your shelves being so far out of the reach of children. It was too easy to place things atop your tallness rather than seek out the proper, neat placement of items.

So we took you apart.


Each time we took a section away we had to wait until that piece was in its new location AND find a temporary home for all the mountains of stuff that was contained therein before we could take the next section away...


 But we persisted until there was naught but the little TV section in the middle left...


Aw, isn't it cute! This is the only section we got rid of - we just gave it away. The rest of the sections were used in other parts of the house. After all, good storage is as vital as breathing! Well, it is in our house where clutter seems to breed of its own accord. 

But look! When I painted the living room I didn't move the Big Unit, I simply painted around it. And when we took out the fireplace Scott just screwed a big piece of plywood across the hole. In fact, part of the reason why the Big Unit was so big was because we needed a unit that would cover that fireplace hole so we didn't have to sort it out properly. 

Alas, these things have to be dealt with eventually so we got a professional in to plaster it up for us. 


Yes, that is a patch of mismatched carpet where the hearth used to be, but thankfully the new unit covers that up. Also, Scott patched in the skirting board. 


I have an actual real office space now with an actual DESK and everything

So my beautiful friend the Big Unit is no more. Former office in a cupboard, ironing pile storage, crafting stash holder and clutter catch-all. Gone. And in its place...


Why it's an Ikea Besta TV and Storage Unit of course!! 

Wasted Space to Memo Place


I had this completely wasted space right at the end of the high kitchen units. I have always thought I could do with doing something with that area but never knew what exactly. The main thing was I didn't want to screw anything into the unit itself to spoil it, so many of my ideas fell flat.

Then while I was browsing Amazon I came across this stuff - Adhesive Chalkboard Wall Sticker. Ah-mazing! It's a blackboard sticker! And it doesn't leave a mark when you take it off. Genius!

I already had a chalkboard that I used for menu planning, but it was just stuck on a shelf and I was irritated with having to keep taking it down and putting it back and stuff. 


Anyhoo, I forgot to take a decent "before" photo, but here's one from a while ago where you can just about see the edge of the unit on the left.


And this is what I did with it.


The clipboards were also from Amazon here: A4 Brown Clipboards, and they were a bargain at £1.69 each when I got them. I mainly put those there to get rid of the paper clutter from our cooker hood. Because the cooker hood is the only visible magnetic surface in the kitchen it was getting overloaded in invitations, Lyric's school menu, leaflets, etc. I guessed it was a bit of a fire hazard too with it being directly above the hob... 


I used the super-awesome Command Hooks also from Amazon (no I am not an affiliate, but maybe I should be, lol!) They stick to surfaces without leaving a mark when you want to take them down. I use the little clear ones for all my Xmas decorating and these larger ones can hold up to 1.3kg apparently! 

Don't mind the bit of graffiti on there, it's just what HAS to be done to christen every writing surface. It sat there as a place holder until I did this week's menu plan. 


And the great thing is that because the double doors to the living room are glass we don't have to worry about not being able to see what is there.


Nope, there are no Friday meals planned! I got bored and figured I'll have to go shopping again for LooLoo's birthday shizzle, so I might as well save me the brain effort of planning Friday as well.

I hope you all have a fabulous New Years' Eve! I will be staying in with my Chicken Pox riddled kiddos, getting grumpy when the fireworks wake me up at midnight. Pretty similar to the last three New Years then! Ha ha! :)
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