An Ikea New Year!

Oh, how Christmas already seems a dim and distant memory.....apart from when I try to squeeze into my jeans that appear to still be full of mince pies and Quality Street! Either that, or my belts have shrunk!

Early into the New Year, the day after boxing day to be precise, I embarked on a mission to review the storage/playing surfaces in the room that we call the playroom. In all honesty, this is a little misleading. My husband lists it ('playroom') as one of his 'pretentious' descriptions. It is actually a redundant room, which became a general dumping ground for kids toys and a spare TV mainly because it is a walk-through room from the front door and small entrance hall and therefore can serve little other purpose. It is where the children play though, and therefore it's a playroom....sorry darling!

Just whilst we're on the subject of my husband and his 'pretentious' labels....he also pointed out to me that my Christmas post featured another such description. He commented that referring to my parents' 'orchard' sounded extremely pretentious and that he didn't approve!


With this in mind, to any readers who may feel the same, I apologise. As children, we always referred to the end of my parents' garden, which does happen to be a little larger than your average garden, as the 'orchard'. It has a variety of fruit trees (more than one!) and the grass is longer.  As far as we were concerned it was an orchard. I have, however, vowed that I will try harder not to use language that could be construed as 'pretentious'! I haven't yet told him about the room we referred to as the 'parlour'!

It kind of got me thinking about the whole blogging thing and why I did it. Some people raise an eyebrow when I tell them that I am an online blogger. I can hear them asking 'why?' and 'Who do you think you are imparting your advice on others?' to the more basic 'Get a life!'

Well, the reason I do this is because I enjoy the writing element as much as anything else. I find it quite relaxing. Also, people do ask me questions on a frequent basis about decorating, interiors etc and therefore it is of some use to some people. I'm not preaching, just sharing a few ideas of things that might work, or not and of places/shops that may be worth a visit.

Back to New Year. The children received a wonderful array of presents this Christmas.....construction sites, garages, cars and Lego friends. Before Christmas we had a secret cull of existing toys to make way for the new haul. What we needed was more storage and good playing surfaces. There was only one answer, given that Christmas had already been the usual costly event! Ikea! You should have seen my husband's face when I suggested an Ikea trip the day after Boxing Day!

The results are as follows, and actually, I am really pleased with our purchases. Inexpensive and slightly more expensive...but still cheaper options than alternatives.

Apologies for the quality of the photographs. Believe me when I say that they look much better in the flesh.

Expedit shelving units £20 each plus £2.50 for the canvas storage boxes.

Besta TV unit (in 2 sections) £120 for the whole.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a happy and healthy 2013.