MASTER BEDROOM: Bed Linen

I lost all the photos from all my bed linen research in my blog photo debacle and actually looking over the posts it was before I had selected the final solution I went for and a lot of the ideas I had then are now no longer available anyway;  so I figured it was probably better to delete both posts in question and summarise on a new post. :)

Right, so after much shopping around initially I got a nice set from Tescos in a check in the colours which I was going for in the room, photographed below....

But this was a bit too much pattern in one place and was a cheap poly-cotton mix so I knew wouldn't have the longevity I wanted for our main set, they are fine for occasional guests and nice and soft too so I have kept them in my linen collection. I then, for a period of time, had 6 months COSTCO membership and came across something rather surprising. They do hotel style plain and very high thread-count bedlinen and very very affordable prices (around £30 a set). I bought this now around a year ago and it is honestly the most beautiful and good quality bed linen which I have ever had the pleasure of using, so so soft and beautifully plain so will not date either, just had a nice simple stripe running through which gives that hotel finish but completely white. Photographed below.....

COSTCO don't seem to do the exact same set right now but they have similar sets currently in, detailed below, though they have gone up in price, in my experience they are most definitely worth the investment:

Kirkland Signature 600 Thread Count Duvet Cover Set - Double Ivory (£67.99)

Back Garden: Progress round the pond

This is how the area round the pond was when we first moved in:

This has been a major project this yr. We had filled the pond with water before we got our water meter fitted (well worth considering). This was a Coy Carp pond to the previous owners, we want it to be a nature pond, and we have lots of plans for how to make it our perfect water feature, but as with everything else these plans take a while to come to fruition, not helped by the huge quantity of rain which we have had this year.

This pond does have potential though and had been well fitted, which was a blessing. so when we did initially fill it up we knew it would stay that way. And it did for 6 months/ 1 year with nothing more down, but I have this year been sorting out the patio area in general and quite a vast improvement has taken place.

I started in May by added these vegetable wicker planters - which have been fantastic all year:

The were from Robert Dyas and cost around £16 each - they really are just perfect for this space.

Then I started painting the fence, which carried on through out the year and progressed gradually round the pond:

Also put up trellising at the back of the pond and bought some Passion Flowers from Morrisons, which were on offer for under £2! Hopefully they will now survive the winter and come back strong as the weather warms up next year. I can see that at least one of the two I planted seems to be surviving so far.

It's well worth keep your eye out for supermarket plant offers, you can get all sorts of treasures so cheap and I do feel like I'm kind of rescuing plants I buy from supermarkets, as they sadly aren't usually looked after very well.

I then re-did the wheelbarrow, this was originally left at the bottom of the garden rusty and filled with burnt out rubbish, I took it and planted it up and painted it and it is so so lovely and makes such a nice feature on the patio, and planted it up with some plug plant fuchsias which I had bought earlier in the year, they are still thriving even now in December!

I also reorganised the planters and then found a set of two beer barrel planters on Robert Dyas along with a solid wood patio set and 6 seats for under £200. This just transformed the space:

The finished effect of all these changes:

 The parasol and stand were found in a charity shop for around £15-£20 years ago and are gorgeously solid and go perfectly with the rest of the colour scheme

 I decided to put up a bird feeder by the pond and they love it there, next thing to do is put up a nesting box round that area too....

 This bug box was a house-warming gift from my friend Mary and hopefully will attract the right kind of bugs to keep my vegetables safe from pests and pollinated in years to come

I'm just so pleased with the over all result. Well worth all the hard work.

Front Garden: Planting up some bargain plants

These were all bought from the Market on Bletchley Highstreet for 50p a pot! I never stop loving a good bargain!

 Upcycled Chimney pots, Planters from my lovely friend Katie who moved to China and gave me a bunch of stuff off her balcony, planted up with bulb (which hopefully will look stunning in spring) and winter flowering pansies which my Mum gave me & lovely Hydrangea from my mother-in-law-to-be Jacky (Birthday gift).

 Herbs planted in the ground, another lovely potted plant from Jacky and hedgehog house in its new location, I hope we get some visitors!

 Heather in the ground....

 Other flowers in the ground....

 Close-ups...

I love heather, it's so pretty but so hardy too and always reminds me of my Scottish Granddad who had his own heather bed in his garden which he always loved to show everybody.

Potted left overs to use as gifts, potted in some very pretty Charity shop pots.

BEDROOM: Lamp upgrade

From this:

To this:

Nightmare accidental deletion from stupidly set up phone! - Warning!

FYI - I use a Samsung Galaxy S2 and had to take the phone back to factory settings and delete everything in order to solve a battery life problem I was having. I, as part of this went into my gallery, on my phone and deleted all photos stored there so I could start a fresh. Little did I know that this would delete, and irreversibly!, all my Google picasa online albums, because it syncs with my Google account! This is where all my blog photos for both my blogs were stored and sourced from! And basically means that I am now going to have to individually re-upload all photos for both my blogs :(

This will take forever, but at least I have all these photos stored on my PC, but I will work through this when I can, best I can to try and reinstate each photo in turn. Please bare with me and please heed my warning, do not make the same mistake as me.

I have now gone through my Google account settings on my phone and un-ticked the box which states "sync with Google picasa" - in the phone it does not (STUPIDLY) separate your photos taken on your phone from the ones on your picasa online photo album - something that really should be addressed (@Samsung). Anyway, what's done is done, rant over on both blogs :) I just wanted to give an explanation as to why all my blog photos have disappeared.

xx

Vacuum Pack Delight!

My names Gill and I'm a storage geek - I get a little unnaturally excited with clever storage solutions, I also have a love for beautiful things stored cleverly and beautifully. I finally decided recently it was time to sort out my spare linen and garden cushions by investing in vacuum packs, they really are fantastic. Please bear with me whilst I go through my before and afters, you'll either get it or find me very sad but the whole experience most certainly put a smile on my face.

... The best £16 I ever spent and still have several left over. (http://www.homestorageworld.com/)

Painting the outside of the house: Progress....

We literally started this yrs ago now and I'm still plodding through this task wall by wall. I have a few walls left, the back of the back extension and the wall with the kitchen window on it, the whole of the front of the house does have one coat of paint though and it has completely transformed it, as you can see from the photos below. This does make me strive on, you can see this little side wall section which I completed the other weekend and it is true that every section completed does give me a real sense of satisfaction. I don't know if the weather will allow me to carry on over the winter months but I will continue as much as possible and post when I do.

Before....

After...

Latest section to be painted.....

Tin can plant pots (wedding table decorations)

It's also good to know what plants work best.... this is a Chinese money plant - works well, is free as it is one of the babies produced by my original plant and is also supposed to provide luck in money (we all need a bit of that!)...

Ruby Chard is another success story, grown from seed, really nice complementary colour to the pebble I've painted the pots and its edible too....

The final collection of pots!
 

Upcycling the table which Katie gave me...

Here's how I upcycled the lovely little coffee table which my very dear friend Katie gave me...

 Sanded down....

Painted (with fence paint so it will be weather proof if we use it outside)...

Waste pipe outside the front door (from what is was back to what is should be)...

Ah the satisfaction of amending the mistake of paint colour....

Beautiful original 1930s taps now fitted in the bathroom...

From 1980s yuckiness...

 ...enough said....

...To original 1930s Deco loviness (found on eBay for under £30!)....YUM!

Bargain purchase sourced by me, including replacement tops as the first ones smashed in transit, and fitted by my wonderful Fiancé & Father-in-law-to-be