SHOPPING: Some new second hand store to check out in the area

Preen Furniture Bank
Furniture Bank Biggleswade

Unit 2 Shortmead Industrial Estate

Sun St

Biggleswade

Beds

SG18 0BP

01767 600 332

info@preencic.org

Opening Hours

Monday 10am  - 5pm

Tuesday 10am  - 5pm

Wednesday CLOSED

Thursday 10am  - 5pm

Friday 10am  - 5pm

Saturday 10am  - 5pm

Sunday 10am  - 4pm

 

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(will add photos and descriptions once I have checked them out)

MASTER BEDROOM: Bedside Lamps

Once again our current bedside lamps are from the old house and are quite sizable. I will utilise them somewhere else in the house (most likely in the hallway and the living room) but I think I may well go for wall set lamps for the bedroom now, again in a bid to save as much room as possible around the bed. Once again on this IKEA has come to the rescue with these lovely ÅRSTID wall lamps:

Simple, timeless and very good value @ £15.31 each.

Key features

- Adjustable head for easy directing of light.

- Shade of textile; gives a diffused and decorative light.

 

Assembled size

Depth: 38 cm
Shade diameter: 145 mm
Cord length: 2.5 m

Product description

Wall plate/ Arm: Steel, Brush finish nickel-plated
Shade: 70% polyester, 30% cotton

 

Good to know

Supplied with pull switch.
May be completed with other lamps in the same series.
Light source is sold separately. IKEA recommends SPARSAM low-energy bulb E14 7W.

MASTER BEDROOM: Narrow Bedside Cabinets

The cabinets which we currently own we brought from the old house. They're very nice, solid pine with three drawers and I definately intend to use them elsewhere but they are too wide for the space each side of our bed in our new master bedroom. I am temporary using a narrow cabinet which I also had from the old house on one side of the bed and it measures 35cm wide by 25cm deep so I know that that is the sort of size I am looking for, though it doesn't matter if its a bit deeper, as long as the width isn't much more. I was determind that I would not spend a lot on getting matching small bedside cabinets as they are far too small a piece of furniture to spend a fortune on. I couldn't believe at my first google search that a lot of the nice shabby chic bedside tables came out at around £150! Then I found a link on a forum and I think I may have just found my solution....

ASPELUND bedside table from IKEA. Simple, cheap and unfussy and looks lovely in a bedroom setting. I also like the shelf area for putting bedside books as that is always a storage issue.

Key features

- The door can be hung with the opening to the right or the left.

Assembled size

Width: 36 cm
Depth: 35 cm
Height: 63 cm

Price: £20.42

MASTER BEDROOM: Proposed Floor Plan

OK - so here is my proposed layout for our Master Bedroom:

It will probably take us some time to complete the whole thing but it's always good to start with the overall goal. We want to get pretty much done by the end of 2011. I have put approximate measurements of all the ideal furniture on here and I will use it as I start to purchase furniture. I would like to update the bed at some point but we will see how I get on - I have a stunning bed in mind though it costs over £700 so is very much a pipe dream at the moment. I'm hoping to source all furniture second hand and good quality wood. Other than the fitted wardrobe which will more than likely come from IKEA when the budget allows it. We currently have bedside tables and lamps from our old house...

...which I think are too big so I will be looking for more narrow solutions. Will keep you posted of all our progress. So far the wallpaper is all stripped. Next job is sorting out the electrics as we currently only have a single plug socket for the whole room! I want to get a double one on each side of the bed and another double one over where I want the dressing table.

Some very wise words.... "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" by Mary Schmich

These words were first published in the article  "Advice, like youth, probably just wasted on the young" by Mary Schmich in 1997 they were later used in Baz Luhrmann's successful music single "Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen)", released in 1998. But I love them and truly think they are very good words to live by, I hope you find them as powerful as I do.


If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it.The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience…I will dispense this advice now. 

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh nevermind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked….You’re not as fat as you imagine.


Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.


Do one thing everyday that scares you.


Sing.


Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.


Floss.


Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.


Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults; if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.


Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.


Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.


Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.


Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children,maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary…what ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either – your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.


Enjoy your body, use it every way you can…don’t be afraid of it, or what other people
think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own..


Dance…even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.


Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them. Do NOT read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.


Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings; they are the best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.


Understand that friends come and go,but for the precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.


Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.


Travel.


Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders. Respect your elders.


Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.


Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you're 40, it will look 85.


Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.


But trust me on the sunscreen…

Beautiful Candle Sconce in on the wall at last - thank you Baby! x

Thought of the day....

As this doing up our house thing continues, and I do more research into each room, it is dawning on me more and more how gradual this process really is. It really is worth looking at spaces not just full rooms and enjoying the process of finding, and if necessary doing up, each piece of furniture. It may take a long time to complete, what might seem to the outside world, such small projects but there is such a massive sense of achievement when you do. And you know you did it, with your own hands. You made that bit of your home that much nicer and you didn't, hopefully, spend an arm and a leg achieving this.

I was very set on a linen cabinet and matching dressing table to put in our master bedroom from Ikea and maybe if money and space wasn't an issue then I would just dive in and get them, but to be honest, if I were in that situation, I bet our house would end up looking far more boring. I have so far measured the space for just the dressing table in the room and I do think it is just a bit too big for the space, which made me start to look at alternatives and the internet is literally filled with a million of them. I always end up coming back to faithful eBay and vintage and second hand shops. And you know what, when I do get my bonus through at the end of Feb, I hope its a decent amount but whatever it ends up being I'm going to hunt out practical beautiful bedroom furniture with a bit of personality, maybe not all matching but items which I will treasure. I will keep you posted....

xxx