Yesterday the doorbell rang and a delivery man asked me to sign for a box. We were expecting a delivery of one of these, but after I signed for it, realised that it said "M&S flowers" on the box. (Snapdragon Jane, look away now!)

...far more exciting than the logmaker (or is it?...), it was a delightful surprise delivery from my friend Jill as a gift for our new home. I'd not really done anything about spring bulbs when we moved in, as with so many other things to do, it seemed like a bit of an indulgence. But I do LOVE them. So this was a very nice surprise, and a promise that Spring will arrive. Although it would probably look good by the front door, I put it in the garden just outside my sewing room window so that I can enjoy it everyday.
Speaking of which...

..still a work in progress, but I was keen to post about it now, as it will never be 'perfect' - the chances of me catching it on a tidy day with sunlight and all the pictures on the wall may be a few months off yet! So here it is Stage 1!
BEFORE... (as it was when we moved in)...


...hm, in need of some t-l-c I thought...
and for several weeks it was like this...

...war torn dumping zone...
So I much prefer it like this!

...there's the ol' sewing machine... cutting mat... ready for action.
Total cost of revamp £13.99 for the stripey Ikea rug.
We pulled up the carpet to discover the blue floorboards, which I may repaint, but quite like and will do for now.
The cream blinds had a scalloped edge and braiding that I didn't like, so cut it off and hey presto, got 2 new plain blinds! Luckily the 'weighted edge' was above the scallop, but you could always trim and rehem an old blind, as usually they are much longer than the window anyway.
The pine chest at the end of the room is holding all my secondhand fabrics. It was originally in another room and most of the drawers were stuck. With the aid of a can of Pledge and a rubber mallet (!) - oh the Boxing Day fun we had - we got the drawers out and N planed them down. If he'd taken any more off he said, they would have become trays.
The Hornsea pots on top were charity shop rescues which now hold & keeps tidy - threads, strings and things. (That's the Creative Café coffee pot there too, where we put our written intentions inbetween meetings. We then pull them out at the next meet, usually having forgotten what we put, and are surprised to discover that one if not several have come true. Mine was moving house!)
The Ikea clear fronted chest under the sewing machine was a giveaway from my friend Suzanne. Now I have a bit of a confession... I saw in a magazine a "gift wrapping table" - it looked like a huge tupperware table with legs like a wallpaper pasting table - and I exclaimed WHAT! are you MAD? - a table to store giftwrap and all your ribbons etc on extending legs. Madness I cried. Then thought, what a good idea, I'm fed up with rolls of wrapping paper stuffed behind wardrobes and squished ribbons - so they all fitted in the bottom drawer! neat and tidy. If I read this elsewhere I'd think 'anal', but actually the satisfaction of having it 'out of the way' does exceed this.
There is still the unseen end of the room which is housing some piles of magazines and some storage boxes, but it generally all is much neater and more organised and feels more efficient. Magazines come in the door, go to the cutting table, recycle bins underneath, scraps into the logmaker, cards out the other end!
Watch this space!
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