Spring is here!!

28/04/17

Spring is a beautiful time of year, but you never quite know what you’re going to get from one day to the next! Within the space of a few weeks we’ve had storm Doris, snow, brilliant sunshine and hail to name a few. One thing is certain though, Spring gets most of us thinking about our homes. It’s a time to breathe new life into tired décor and re-vamp dated schemes. We start to think about how things can be organised a little better, in order to make our hectic lives that little bit easier. There’s nothing quite like a spring clean in my view, as we immerge from the cold dark hibernating depths of winter  it   encourages us to look forward to longer brighter days when the windows can be flung open and bedding dries as fresh as a daisy, on the washing line outside.

So where do you start? Well I’m always inclined to think that starting from the top downwards is always a good plan. Clothes- how many of us hang onto clothes for years thinking that one day you’ll wear it or one day it’ll fit me (to name but a few reasons!). I’m a definite victim of this thought process, so I now have a solution that works for me: for all the clothes that don’t fit but I still like, and for the ones that I can’t bear to part with for whatever reason, I put them all in a black bag then put them in the garage. That way, I’m not throwing them away but if I want them again, I still have them. It frees up valuable wardrobe space too. Odds are; I won’t miss them or fit into them again. So after 6 months, a year or so or until I get around to sorting the garage out,  I’ll charity shop them, confidently knowing I definitely don’t need or want them. Think of it as a phased separation! I use this strategy with my children’s toys too and it definitely works.

For the rest of the house, the same solution of a phased separation can apply. Our house is decorated in calming neutrals, so that I can swap and change the look just using accessories. I have a bit of a thing for cushions and, over time, I do see nicer ones that I like. This causes a husband problem. Now I’m blessed with a husband that never ever wants to shop with me, has little if any opinion on the décor of our house, and doesn’t really notice anything new. Once, I painted the kitchen whilst he was away, from a light blue colour to a Farrow and Ball very light taupe (shaded white) colour and he never noticed until about a month after! Now whilst this may horrify some women, not me. I have carte blanche with all décor decisions and purchases, which suits me just fine! My point is, I can introduce new cushions or throws without too much bother! The old ones get put in a bag in the garage and I feel like I’ve got a fresh new look, just by changing a few pieces around and buying a few more bits.

On the subject of changing things around, we’ve made the bold decision to lose our downstairs loo and have a pantry instead. With the arrival of fitted kitchens in the 70’s, most people knocked out their pantry to gain more cupboard space. I’m championing the return of the pantry for its pure organisational simplicity and brilliance; and pantrys are making a comeback according to kitchen designers. Whilst our space isn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination, I’m looking forward to being able to have jars and tins two deep, instead of the current 10 deep in some of our cupboards as this causes us a problem because we’re never quite sure what we have. During a quiet time in the shop, I’ll have a trawl through Pinterest to search out ideas, then dutifully ‘pin’ them and dream about how ours will look! I’ve sketched and measured everything out, check out the finished article in photos at the end of the blog! What will I put in the cupboards instead I hear you cry?? I’ll change my cupboards and drawers around so that things that are staying, have a little more room and I’ll now use things that would normally be pushed to the back of a cupboard or piled on top of all sorts of other kitchen accessories. My Husband likes his kitchen gadgets, and whilst I’ve absolutely no problem with this, gosh they take up lots of room and aren’t used every day. So in our new pantry, they’ll have their very own shelf too.

Good luck with any spring cleaning/moving furniture/sorting out you do this spring! Remember our extensive range of high quality baskets, in all shapes and sizes, could help to organize a variety of items in every room. Happy sorting ;)