My Kids Art Wall

Well, I know this has been a long time in the making, but I am finally able to post something here and it's something that I am head to toe proud of! You know that thing where you form an idea inside your mind's eye that you just know has a good chance of being impossible (or too expensive) to create? Well, I did that with this.

Remember the big purple wall in the kitchen? It had two frames up there as a "put me on" but I always envisioned it being a space where we could hang all the kids' art. Our appliances are all integrated, including the fridge, so all their pictures were being stuck to the extractor hood above the hob and it just looked a mess. Plus you couldn't see anything!

So, a bit of imagination, a huge load of luck, that trip to IKEA plus a couple of coats of paint and...

Huzzah!! I am so so so so pleased with it! The frame was a complete chance buy from eBay. I won it for the grand total of £1.04 and only had to pick it up from a nearby town. YEY! It was stained pine, but I painted it cause I prefer white.

The wires with the clips are from IKEA and they're called Deka. They're meant for curtains, but I've seen tons of bloggers use them for clipping up pictures and photos, etc, so I can't take credit for that idea.

Had to rope in the hubby to do the hanging part, but this is a really sturdy external wall, so there are no fears about it not being able to hold the weight. Most other walls in the house are super flimsy partition wall types.

I know that I caved again to my "GET THE BIGGEST ONE YOU CAN FIND" instinct, but I think in this case it paid off. I love love love my children's new gallery space and they love it too!

Linking up to.....


 


Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Org Junkie's 52 Weeks of Organising

Organising Some Kitchen Cupboards & Drawers

Oooh, I got on a bit of a roll today. I just thought I'd quickly sort out the two deep drawers in the photo above. One thing lead to another and the next thing I knew I'd done those two plus "the awkward cupboard", "that thin cupboard" and "the medicine cupboard" Brilliant!

Here are those drawers before.

And after...

I got rid of quite a bit of stuff here. Either moved it to a different cupboard, chucked it out or put it in a pile to give away.

The left drawer (top photo) now houses bibs on the left and scruffy clothes and an apron on the right. The oven glove's in there too. We keep a pile of old stained clothes so that we can change our toddler into them before she eats anything "stainy". Mums and Dads will know what I mean - it's usually orange food that does it! In summer she will just eat in her pants, but in winter we keep scruffs for her to wear instead.

The drawer on the right (bottom photo) has tea towels, facecloths, dishcloths, dusters, and placemats. I know our tea towels are old and stained, but they're not getting replaced any time soon. No money for that! The facecloths are for wiping our aforementioned toddler after eating. I figured we were spending a small fortune on wet wipes, so I'm switching to cloth for after meals at home.

Then since the kids were being good I moved onto the medicine cupboard and the one we call "that awkward cupboard". It's called that because it's in the corner and half of it disappears behind the medicine cupboard and it's awkward to get into. Because of this we only store items here that we rarely need access to.

Medicine cupboard on the left, awkward on the right.

 

The best thing to do was just to switch the contents over. My baking things needed more space and the medicine cupboard was full of stuff we didn't need anymore like my daughters play rice (relocated) and the sharps box etc. from when I had gestational diabetes.

Here's what it looks like now:

 

I pinched my handy "extra shelf" rack from the tins cupboard because I didn't really need it there and this cupboard was so tall space was being wasted. Now I can see all of my baking things at a glance. I also collected some things together into Tupperware boxes to keep them together - cookie cutters, cake candles, piping nozzles, food colourings, and flavourings, etc.

This one is pretty self-explanatory really. I've created a little list of what's tucked away in there that is fixed to the inside of the cupboard door for easy reference because I will forget and it saves me having to pull everything out to see what's there. The glue isn't dry in this photo, but don't hate me. I was excited to show you and couldn't wait for the drying time!

Last, but not least is "that thin cupboard". Here's a before pic.

Sorry for the poor quality, I was using my small camera and it's not so good in low light.


After...

Not much has changed I suppose. It's just been tidied up really. The jelly man is my coppers jar. He rocks.

Thanks so much for reading!

Sarah. x

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New Obsessions Needed

Okay, I need to think about something other than moving house. I don't think it's going to happen now, so I need to get my mind off it and use my obsessive tendencies for good. Obviously not being at work means my mind is working overtime on random things and I need to rein that in and concentrate on something that will help us. I have chosen the following subjects:     

1. New kitchen. Since we probably aren't moving it's time we looked at the 70's-esque food preparation area and decided what to do with it. We will save money until the end of the year, so until then, I need to get brochures, have design consultations, draw plans on my graph paper and generally obsess about layout/appliances/design, etc, etc. Yes. I did mention graph paper. We flirted with the idea of an extension to the house, so I got graph paper, measured the house and each room and made several detailed plans. Prior to that, we bought new bedroom furniture so I made a birdseye drawing of the bedroom and cut out little beds, wardrobes and drawers to scale in the choices we were looking at so that I could make sure we got the best fit for the room. Yes, I am a geek. I know this and I am not ashamed. Mock me as you will.

2. Weight loss. Having 3 babies in 3 years has really done a number on my body. I'm now 10 stone 10 and 5' 4" tall, which is not good. I want to get down to 9 stone, but I'll have to do it slowly so that I don't affect the breastfeeding. Basically, if I stop eating 20 biscuits a day and gorging myself stupid on jelly sweets and chocolate I should be a good way there!! I walk a few times a week when I take the baby out and about, plus the housework keeps me active (when I do it). So my lifestyle is quite a bit less sedentary than it was when I was working.

3. Decluttering / make spare cash. I am a hoarder by nature. I find it very difficult to let things go and have random collections of "stuff" in various stashes throughout the house. Mainly I hoard books, clothes, CD's, etc. I have started to sell my old books on Amazon and have received my first payment for £45. I'm listing all of my old maternity wear on eBay and there are tons of other things I have that I can sell as well. I sent off 4 old mobile phones to Envirophone the other week and got a cheque for £44 from that. I've been answering surveys online for a few pence and I'm due £50 for doing that. We collect 50p's and I have a copper jar too, which are up to about £55. Basically, maternity pay is SHIT and I need to be able to fund this new kitchen or house move somehow. If eBay hadn't made it a prohibited item I would so start selling photographs of my feet again!!! Now that was easy money!