Quick Hanging Basket

My husband came home  from work today with a hanging basket he picked up at Home bargains at lunch time, it was £2.50.  That will do, seeing as the one we saw made up  the other day was £12.   I had plants already from the ones I bought on Sunday so it was up in no time.  I know you can get the plastic ones for about £5 but they usually only have about two plants in and I think the actual basket on this one is much better.

After tea I finished the other bridesmaid dress, so that is another  job out of the way and finished off the miracle morning the book I couldn't get on with last time.  After looking back I couldn't see if I had posted about it before but anyway it was better this time.  It mostly focuses on having a good positive morning routine that starts early and leads you towards getting more done. 

 I do wonder if I enjoy certain books more depending on what mood I am in to begin with, does anyone else feel this way?  The part about habits feels spot on , I know there are things I have been doing for years which come easily because they are routine.  In short if we get through the first, difficult weeks of forming a new habit and make it to a month we will have incorporated it into our lives.  There are a few good habits I would like to add.

Just Gardening

Today has been mainly a case of getting on with the garden, we go through phases I think where we believe we are on top of it and then we leave it for a while and there is nothing in the pots and the weeds creep in.  So while we have it fairly low maintenance anyway it was time to put a bit of colour in, and pull a few more of those weeds.  Hottest day I think so not the easiest task but there will always be an excuse so we got on and did a bit, there is still a lot of topsoil needed for a bed down the side but that was not something to be bought at the local garden centre.  It can be bought cheaper and delivered in a larger quantity I think.

We didn't go too mad, we bought a couple of dahlias yesterday and another today and a few packs of bedding plants at 3 for £6.  It has made the front of the house look a bit brighter and filled a couple of pots on the back, I still need to do the hanging basket, there are plants left for this but we decided the actual basket had seen better days so we need o source another in the next couple of days.

A few on the front

A dahlia for each side of the door, I already had all the pots.

There is actually a grape vine in this pot that never has any grapes.

Amazing what a difference a few flowers can make but of course the sun is also shining and that always puts a better light on everything too.

I have started to re-read The Miracle Morning which I originally read and said it wasn't very good but now it feels altogether different, funny how that happens sometimes and the saying goes you are not who you were a year ago so this time around I am getting something from it. It does make me wonder about all those books that have gone to the charity shop though because I thought they were rubbish, maybe if I had held on to them  I would have enjoyed them at a later date.

That last thought however brings me on to something I was thinking about earlier in relation to clutter. The bottom of my wardrobe seems to have got out of control and I was tidying it and adding the shoe racks when I thought 'what happened to getting rid of an item a day?'  Now that was something I started a while ago as a war on stuff but it has somehow been neglected, so I am beginning again to remove one item a day (it doesn't matter how small) of useless stuff from my life.

Decorating for Free and Odd Jobs

I've been quite busy this week without actually going very far, I decided that I wanted to repair and paint my oldest son's bedroom ceiling but then of course I had to paint the whole room.  Fortunately we always put away any odds and ends of paint in the garage so I had the white paint for the ceiling and some masking tape.  I also had the two colours left that I originally did his room in a couple of years ago, a mint green and a sunrise (opposite walls).

As I was on holiday from work I decorated over a few days, I did the ceiling one day and coving, the orange walls the next and the green walls today.  I also scrubbed down all the fitted wardrobes, the window surround was done last week.  I always try to something like this when I am off work, last holiday I rubbed down the living room and dining room floors and varnished them. This ensures I don't have to pay anyone to do jobs I am quite capable of doing myself and by breaking them down they don't feel as daunting.

Earlier in the week a neighbour also gave us  load of purple slate that he wanted he rid of because he had taken all he wanted out of the bag. This was great as we have that on our garden but it is wearing thin. (You know picking up after dogs, you always get a bit of slate with it!)  So I carried that around the back bucket by bucket as the wheel barrow won't fit through  the gate.  I'm really pleased as we were going to buy some, he wouldn't take anything for it either.  Earlier this year we gave him some vintage computer games that were my brothers a big box and a bag full and he was really pleased with those so nice gestures do flow around people.

Back to the decorating and I was going to say that when I decorated youngest son's bedroom I had some white paint left and I just bought some tester pots in a bold blue and made a really good shade of blue for his room, not free but nearly.  However people always have odd tins of paint left so if you are in need I am sure a few relatives may have odd leftovers of white left that they may be happy for you to take and if there is a colour in there why not experiment?   Paint is such a difficult thing to dispose of and not great for the environment so it is really for the best that we use every last drop once it has been manufactured.

Anyway after the DIY not a lot of sewing going on this week.  I did resize the charity shop dress that I bought...

I altered the shoulder by this much.

I have taken it in by this much at the sides but forgot to take a picture as I wore it Easter Sunday straight after I fixed it.

I made a new little coaster as my youngest dog keeps eating them as this is apparently a really fun game, quick chase me I have your coaster!

A bit of elephant fabric there for binding, remember I use every bit.

Oh and a birthday card, recycled bits of course.  Fabric from previous projects, the ribbon from inside a blouse (you know those annoying hanger tabs at the shoulder) button from an old shirt and recycled envelope and newspaper.  It has a green insert to write on.

Other things I have been up to this week; I have just finished 'Miracles' by C.S. Lewis, as  a friend of mine said he is hard going. I enjoyed it but I feel I will need to review it again, quite heavy stuff but so well written.

 I am loving listening to Switchfoot the band, I have heard them  before but lots of listening this week while decorating and now I am a huge fan, with a CD  on order. ( I know such a mum ordering a CD but I like them for the car.)

Also watching  a new series 'Department Q' BBC Four, only three of them but all feature length, Danish and very good acting.  Only watch if you are interested in crime dramas as they are quite intense in parts.  Maybe I will get more sewing done over the weekend.

Caravan Upholstery Update

Just recently I made over the caravan seats for a colleague of my husband and I shared the images of the finished cushions.  Well things always look better in the correct location and the owner of the caravan has very kindly sent me the images to share.  I have to say looking at the cute little caravan has got me a bit nostalgic for ours that we sold.  These particular caravans are called Freedom Sunseekers and they are small and light with a pop up roof, they are so light they can be towed by smaller cars.  This was always something we looked at when we had a caravan as you don't want to be driving a large fuel guzzling car all year just so you can tow the caravan a couple of times a year.   We always looked at the weight first.  Anyway here are some images...

Here is the sleeping area at one end, I love the fairy lights over the bed.  The curtains are blackout lined.

Seating at the other side where you can eat.  My boys used to sit and play games at that end of the van when we had ours. 

It looks nice and modern inside.

There is just one side that she doesn't have foam for and I have saved one bit of the fabric for when she wants that one doing. This pattern of fabric is very wasteful for matching so while the curtains line up and match and the seat back and base it was tricky for the sides without wasting too much.  The piece saved is big enough for another box cushion and I know it was expensive so I didn't want to waste any of it.

We are hoping that in the future we will buy a motorhome, when we retire we are thinking it will be easier to travel with dogs and quicker to set up, stop off and see more places.  We are saving for that time and I know there are lots of beautiful places in the UK that we have yet to see and explore.

Thank you to the lovely owner of this sweet caravan for sharing with us.

Retro Cupboard Makeover

A few weeks ago I bought a couple of items of furniture from the charity shop  with the intention of painting them.  The first is a set of drawers which was intended for my sons bedroom but as he didn't love it as much as I did we did a swap and he had the drawers from our hallway and I decided to keep this new (new to me) set.  I keep a large chest of drawers in the hallway for shoe storage, lined with paper it is a great way to keep them all out of sight and off the floor.

I looked at lots of images of different items of furniture painted in  bright colours but after much thought I decided on a mint green for these drawers but only the frame was to be painted as the drawer fronts are such a lovely colour and go well with the green they will be left.

I love the shape of these and the little legs...

Strange light in my hallway does not give good pictures.

I like the brown with the green but I have found the varnished fronts mark really easily, I may have to coat with more varnish or if they start to get scuffed they may have to be painted to match the rest at a later date.

Temporary cut fabric for candle will be hemmed later.

It was nice to begin with I thought but I think it looks a bit more up to date now it is painted.  The colour I used is called cut grass, I don't know why it is nothing like the shade of cut grass.  It is also one coat paint but I still gave it two one never looks right to me.

Here it was to begin with...

 Right now that one is finished I am in the middle of the next piece which is a writing bureau for my dining room, I am painting that one a pale grey.  Both pieces of furniture were sanded first then given two coats of primer and then two coats of paint.  I will hopefully share the bureau tomorrow if it is finished.

 

Frugal Bathroom Blind revamp/makeover

I redid the bathroom blind last year or was it the year before? Using a bit of fabric from Ikea but as we have recently redone our bathroom it no longer went with the colour scheme.  As it was so easy to do on the cheap last time I had no intention of paying out a ridiculous amount of cash to get the look I wanted.  Lets face it a roller blind is just a bit of fabric with a channel in one end for a bit of plastic and it is attached to a mechanism on a cardboard tube!

Here it is...

This is what I did.
As the bathroom is a damp place and my window is right next to the bath I decided that this time I was going to use the coated fabric. You know the kind you use as wipe-able table cloths, so we went and had a look and found this...

It has little pebbles all over it which will go really well with two pictures I have in my bathroom.

This is the lovely orange one I took down, but don't worry that fabric will be washed and pressed and I am sure it will come in useful for something in the future.

It is a great design but it does not go with the current neutral colours.

All I did was remove the old fabric by taking out the staples from the tube, I lay the new fabric over the top to get the right size and then stitched a new channel at the bottom for the plastic to go in (the bit that weights the bottom down).  If you are starting from scratch you could just make this from a bit of dowel.  I didn't even need to hem the sides this time because the fabric being coated it does not fray.  We just made sure it was lined up straight on the tube and stapled it with an electric stapler.  I'm sure strong glue could probably be used for this bit.

I showed my mum the fabric and she said she could do with something like that as things get splashed on her blind and she has a hard time keeping it clean. I told her to have a look for something she likes and we will do her blind up next.

A Smaller Garden

I posted a while ago about how we were having to move our boundary fence due to a letter from Network Rail, well last half term we stayed home so my husband could move the fences and take down a small wall etc.  The garden is quite a bit smaller now and there is still work to due, plants to go in and we haven't decided what to do with the stone from the small wall that was at the top.  Some of it has been used to make a retaining wall for a small rockery but that is all.
Here is the top of my garden now ( work to do still so excuse poppies and bits poking through!)

We have had to move the seat sideways on now to make it fit, before it was beside the tree seat at the top.

This is how much garden we lost down the side.

It is a shame but nothing we can do, the weeds and brambles will grow back up to the fence now as Network Rail never maintained the land. Maybe we should send them a letter about trespassing when their brambles start to grow over our fence again!

We are off on holiday and my parents are house/dog sitting for us (dogs not coming with us as we are going to Barcelona) so rest of garden work will have to wait.  Must remember to get outdoor furniture out as my dad likes to sit out in the sun, if there is sun here next week.

Changing the subject a little if anyone knows of a good online fabric site that delivers to the UK could you send me a message. I'm having real trouble finding fabric that isn't all the same stuff they have been selling for years. I don't want to be wearing the same pattern for the rest of my life so I have resorted to buying a couple of bits to take away but it always annoys me as I could have made them if I could get hold of the fabric. There are some fabulous U.S sites but the delivery to the UK is ridiculous I don't understand why as I have bought books and CDs from there and the cost has not been so ludicrous. So if anyone knows of somewhere that stocks fashionable fabric please share.

Books and Garden Plans

The weather today has not been very good here, lots of rain and grey sky. So while we were having a cup of tea and looking outside at the gloom we were thinking about what to do with our pond.  We have had a pond at all three houses we have lived at and my husband has built all of them, recently however we have lost all of our fish in quite a short time, over a couple of months.
 We had ten very large koy carp, we had them from small and some moved here with us, a few months ago they started to disappear and three died. This has left us with an empty pond, my husband thinks it was a heron that took them as we have seen it around but due to the nature of where our pond is they can't usually fly in at that angle or so he thought.  It did crash into the kitchen window one day though and went with a right bang!  So, I'm not entirely convinced that it got away with so many huge fish but what other explanation?
This has made him think is there any point adding more fish for them to be poached by the heron, so earlier he suggested keeping the stone base there and building me a greenhouse on top. He would have to cut an opening at the bottom and build the wooden frame and roof.
Here is our empty pond...

So I quite like this idea, I have a bit of extra time in the week now that  I finish at lunch on Thursday, it would be good to try and grow stuff we can eat. We would probably keep the little pond at the side for a feature.

I had a look at a few images and liked the look of this one...

I don't know if this image will last it's just one I found on google images, just as an idea that sort of door, plain frames, painted but we would probably have it all wood at the back as we wouldn't be able to get to clean the glass on the other side.

So if we can source materials cheap enough this may be happening later on.

I visited the library earlier and got three books to read, well two to read and one cook book.

I thought the Allergy free cook book might be useful as I am not impressed with the gluten free cooking so far! It used to be the case that I could make pastry and buns and everything would be edible, now it is all very hit and miss and sort of puts you off trying any baked goods.. The gluten free bread that I made was great when fresh but when I froze it as recommended it did not taste good defrosted! Or toasted. 

 The other two looked interesting the cover of smart change mentions how technology is supposed to make our lives easier but people are more prone to procrastination than ever, checking facebook etc.  I can see that would be a problem I know there are people who are on that all the time, I choose to have a look about once a week just in case there are messages for me on there but I  have thought maybe I will close it. The only benefit I see is  that you can sometimes sign into stuff with it for speed. 

Black Swan is about random, improbable events and how we can't always rationalize or have predicted them, it looked a bit different and was likened to Outliers on the cover and I enjoyed that. 

Easter Plans

We have had to change our plans a little for Easter, we did intend on taking the caravan out for its first adventure of the year but thanks to Network Rail that wont be happening. About a month ago we got a letter saying that our fence was in the wrong place along with a plan. By the look of the plan a lot of other properties along the line had also got to move fences back so it wasn't just us.  What's more it said if we didn't move it within fourteen days there would be legal action! Well we moved the lovely fence, seating area, deck, stone walls and all the lovely work my husband had done because they refused any offers of purchase or rent of the extra dead space that would be left.  After all the work was completed my husband took photos and emailed several times to check they were happy before we spend any further time and money finishing it all off in the new position (e.g making the bottom of the fence secure for the dogs as the railway is at the other side and it has to be solid at the bottom for safety.)
We have heard nothing! First they threaten you, then when you are being decent people and saying is this ok? Let us know so we can secure our property safely, they don't want to know.  So we have had to go ahead and finish the bottom of the fence not knowing if they will complain again. What is worse is that they will just let the bramble grow up again and weeds but never maintain the land.
Here is what the top of the garden looked like last year...

Where the little blue plant pot is now where the fence is! The seat has been moved to the left of the picture and we have lost about five foot all the way down the right hand side of the garden. The shrub to the right  has been moved and stone walls dismantled. We also had a deck at the bottom that has been there for seven years that is now in bits leaving a small deck with a gap that needs fixing. 

This has left an awful lot of tidying up work so aside from the usual church visits our Easter will consist of making this good and putting it right.  It will be beautiful again just a bit smaller.  We have also saved all emails to network rail in case  they come and want to spoil it again. They only noticed the boundaries of properties because they were chopping down hundred year old trees in the middle of the night!! If you live beside the tracks you will be familiar with the fact that they think it is ok to use industrial machinery at two a.m in the morning at weekends for hours at a time. They also leave all the mess beside the tracks! Surely loose logs are more dangerous!  Anyone else had unexpected change of plans? Never mind it will all be good.

Do it yourself! It's cheaper

I painted the rest of the kitchen yesterday and was pleased to have this completed, it didn't take that long as a lot of it was tiled and I spray painted them the day before. It took three coats to cover the existing dark colour red, I had the radio on and I really don't mind painting and always do our own but it got me thinking how much would it have cost if we had to get someone in to do it?

The room is a lot brighter in pale blue.

I had a quick look around online to get some ideas and found these prices here, £200 just to paint a small room, I don't understand why any one would pay that, but my next thought was maybe I should do that!  I'm sure there are plenty of ladies who would rather have a female come and paint their house instead of some strange man ( not that male decorators are strange, but you know what I mean from a safety point of view.)
Then again I would probably not enjoy the process any longer if I had to do it day after day.
I think the ideal way of working for me would be to do a collection of things, some alterations one day, dog walking service, a bit of decorating and any other random thing that would bring in a bit of money and mean that I was my own boss.
I really like the idea of not having to answer to anyone else, tricky customers could be a problem I suppose but you could always move on from that. If anyone has that way of working it would be good to hear from you and how you make a go of it.
That said though I would like to encourage anyone thinking of hiring a decorator to paint your room not to! Just have a go yourself, I had not decorated before when we bought our first house 20 years ago but you soon get the hang of it. The good thing about paint is, it washes off, you can go over it and even if you do make mistakes they will be quite easy to fix and still cheaper than hiring some one else.
 Wall papering also just needs a bit of practice, buy cheap paper the first time and try it out in spare room or just one wall, again if it goes wrong it comes off easy enough but don't be put off, plus a few bubbles are normal when it is damp and will go when it is dry, loads of big bubbles and you might need to do that bit again!
I  have a bit more organising to do now in the rest of the house, for some reason when we all at work and school things get shoved in cupboards and drawers just out of the way but now they are full of clutter.  I wonder how it happens so quickly?  When you move house you tend to have a big clear out and think you will never accumulate so much random nonsense again but then you do!
Of course it is harder when you a have a family  as you are battling their stuff every where as well, I'm thinking of having designated boxes in a cupboard in each shared room so that if stuff is left on sides I'm just going to scoop it into there and then into the cupboard (once the cupboards are clear of course!). Then I will take the box out once a week and say get everything out of here that is yours and either put it away properly or it goes in the bin.
I am hoping this will work or at least stop us plonking things down on the work tops or coffee tables. That is what seems to be a problem, you think I will clear an area but then all the stuff belongs to different people and you don't want to be wandering around the house doing it for them all the time.  I hope the box system solves this.
One last thing I need to do is try and get us removed from some mailing lists or all of them! I spend too much time picking up mail from the floor in the hall, tearing it up and walking to the recycling bin!

Kitchen Tiles Upcycle

I have been having a lovely time being off work but yesterday decided it was time to get on with some of the jobs I have around the place which need doing.  I posted a while ago about changing the handles on my kitchen cupboards, well another thing that has bothered me for a while is the colour and pattern of the kitchen tiles.  When we have moved into a house in the past I have changed as much as I can almost immediately, when we moved here 6 years ago everything had been freshly done so while we did put our stamp on it, it would have been foolish and wasteful to change everything.  I have lived with the tiles which wouldn't have been my choice but now it was time for a change.
 I thought about re-tiling but that would create mess and a lot of expense.  The main thing I don't like is the beige colour so I looked at tile paint, now I have done this before with an undercoat and top coat at the old house but to be honest I didn't think the finish was that good up close.   We had a look when we were out at the weekend and found this...

You don't need to undercoat first just give your tiles a really good clean with bleach to remove any dirt or grease.  I have to say if you are going to use this cover everything including your mouth, have every window and door open!  It is really high in fumes and I had to keep doing a bit then going to the back door to breath.

I covered everything with newspaper and masking tape and still found a coating of the dust on the floor behind me nowhere near where I was spraying, so like I said cover your mouth. 

 I also had the annoying matter of running out halfway through, I bought two cans which my husband said would be enough, wrong! It took three so I had to pop out for more, I was glad of the breather though.

This is the before picture, the border tile all the way along is beige that doesn't show clearly in this image. 

Despite the fumes I am really happy with the way they turned out.

I think it has transformed the look and the room looks much brighter, it is not a very quick job as you have to spray it on evenly in a fine mist then re-coat at 15 minute intervals, if you try and get complete coverage all at once you will get runs in it.  I found this out the hard way and had to wipe it quick, and I mean quick as it dries fast.  The coverage is much better than the old paint it on method as you can get right up to it and it is completely smooth.

Today I will paint the remaining untiled walls in the kitchen pale blue, they are a dark red at the moment, I did this room a few years ago and they are ready for a freshen up now.

I had a nice surprise brought home for me yesterday, someone at my husbands work was selling her set of Game of Thrones books so my husband bought them for me at £5 for all of them! I have been watching the show but thought I would like to read the books as they often miss out things in the adaptations for the screen. 

They should keep me busy for a while!

I am also reading another book which is actually about not worrying about stuff, now I have to say I don't really worry that much, (I suppose we all do sometimes) but it was recommended and I have read some of his other books so I thought I would give it a try.

A lot of it is common sense, the things we worry about often don't ever happen, or worrying about them will not make them not happen so what is the point.  Also giving thanks for what you have, there is always someone worse off. 

 The most relevant points I found were about keeping busy and helping someone else, they key thing being don't allow yourself to sit and wallow about things go and do something and really throw yourself into it, that way you will be too pre occupied to think about worries.  Also find some way to help someone else as people who help others are not so inward looking as to be concerned with their own troubles all the time.

Some of the writing is a little dated but the message is good, anyone who has a problem with this ought to take a look.

Organised Sewing Space

I have not done  a lot of sewing recently but we have been away, that is the first excuse, the second is that I could not see my sewing table for mess and I think I had become a bit complacent about sorting it all out.  I have kept adding to the clutter and so has everyone else in the house! Not all the stuff on there is mine,  some of the stuff is used school books my son was asked to sort but he has just popped them in a pile on my desk.

On the table are also some of my T shirts I need to shorten ( my own alterations always get left and other peoples get done straight away) also my Spanish book (two weeks of school holiday over and I have not done any) and of course various bits of fabric, bags of fabric on and under the table, a tin of decking stain beside the desk (why??)   So I think this was no longer a very inspiring area.  I got on and went through every bag, you would not believe the amount of fabric under the desk. It took ages to clear this small area as I culled all the fabric bits that will never be used as I have had them forever.  Small shelf from beside the desk has been removed as people see it as somewhere to stuff shoes because it is near the door and other nonsense.  When everything was wiped down and clear I felt so much better and I wonder why I have let it get that way. (oh yes, procrastination)

That's better you can actually see desk now.

I have some sewing to do for a couple of friends and my mum this week so that will get done, I always prioritise other peoples stuff.  I need to get some sort of order in my life for prioritising my own projects though.

  I have not made any more baby dresses as  I only sold two privately from a friend through facebook and I really didn't want to get stuck with a load of them, that feels a bit like giving up but the cost to make them is not worth having them sitting in a cupboard forever. 

 I know people who sell have loads of stock sitting in storage or whatever but it just drives me nuts.  The money saver in me is always complaining I have wasted cash but how can I get anywhere if I don't try.  

I need to have a serious think about what I can try next, but whatever it is, time consuming and expensive it shouldn't be, as people do not have the funds at the moment and they do not want to pay a premium for all the hours it takes for custom items.  

I have a tidy space to work in now, I just need some ideas and inspiration before it's time to go back to the day job!

Garden Makeover Update

I posted a few weeks ago about the bottom of my back garden which was in need of some attention.  We had bought the garden seat and my husband had made another piece of seating to go around the tree.  The final job was to sort the fencing and remove the middle fence that divided the top of the garden in half in that area.  We used the fence panel that came on the back of the seat we bought, (it was supposed to be fixed to it but we used it as a fence panel) to match up the fence at the bottom and just painted with stain we already had. My husband used random large rocks we had to make a little wall in front and to make a step down, this was because it was too high to level.

This is how it looks now

This is what the tree seat area looked like at first with the old fence around it on both sides.

This is it now and I would say we are finished. We have lived here for 7 years and everything we have done to the garden has happened a bit at a time.  We have saved up and done each bit when we could.  The fences on the right got replaced a few years ago when the original ones blew down in the wind, decking has been done in different areas over the years and is maintained by my husband, when he sees the stain on offer he buys it and puts it away for when it is needed. Like I said yesterday pots have accumulated over time.

We do not know a lot about gardening but fortunately my husband is good at woodwork and if I have an idea for what would look nice he can usually make something and we try to do it on a budget (remember the tree seat materials were free)

We will spend a lot of time in the garden over the coming months so I think it is worth the time and money.

Gardening and Aldi Planters

It has been so lovely today, some might think too hot but I love the summer and the chance to spend more time outside.  We went to the local Nursery to get some plants and we were really pleased with what we bought.  We had a look in B&Q a couple of weeks ago but they didn't have much on offer that we were prepared to pay their prices for, the Nursery near us was much more reasonable.  We use the same pots every year occasionally adding a new one or if we need to buy a particularly large one to re-pot something.  We also had to wooden planters that my husband spotted in the Aldi the other day, they were reduced from £10 to £5 each and he bought two to go outside the front door.  We also had some bright pink wood stain that we picked up reduced in Asda a few weeks ago so here's  what we did. (Or he did)
My husband assembled the planters which looked good as they were but we wanted them to stand out a bit.

He then painted each one in the shocking pink stain, he said it actually smelled like bubble gum, now I couldn't smell that so I wonder if his mind was playing tricks because it looked like bubble gum?

Next attach the inner bags that line the planters and pot up with two pink Dahlias.

We positioned one each side of the front door to brighten the place up a bit.

The other plants we bought I potted up and positioned them on the back garden. We don't spend on plants a lot, we tend to find each year we will get a couple of things that come back year after year and a few cheap bits for instant colour.  We bought three Dahlias at £2.49 each, a cordiline £11 ( the most extravagant thing but much cheaper than anywhere else).  Also a couple of purple leafy things (ha! I can't remember what they are called) and 6 pertunias for £6.   

We have different areas of purple slate and pebbles on our garden so most of what we plant does go in pots  the reason for this is that we have dogs and found that they wore a race track around the lawn when we had one so that did not look good, also dog wee kills grass. I like the way it looks and we have hedges all the way around us and trees so there is no shortage of greenery.  

Tree Seat

I was busy last week but I said I would share what my husband had made with the free decking boards  he was given.  It has been a week but to be honest the next day when I wanted to photograph the finished seat it rained, I managed to take a good photo as soon as the sun made an appearance so here are the images of our new tree seat.

Here is the shape all cut and laid out on the floor, he made a tiny one first which I forgot to take a picture of just to check his measurements. The whole deck below it needs re-staining, that will be another days job.

Here it is complete with legs, I don't think it needs a back rest. It just gives this little corner of the garden a bit of interest.  We had some paint left from the garden arbour so he managed to paint it all to match at no cost, he just finished painting and then it rained.  The paint was ok, it's under the tree and I think it was quite quick drying.  I had to wait a couple of days though to take a picture without rain.

The rather past it fence has come down at the side also this week as we have opened up that top bit of garden. The remaining fence at the back is a bit mismatched as you can just see the other fence panel poking over the top in the picture. We are going to get some reed screening to cover the back fences to make it more attractive.  The arbour is also moved to the top in new position so I will take more photos as it all takes shape up there.

I was really pleased with this as it didn't cost anything, the bits of deck were given as the owners were throwing them away and the bits of paint were left over.  The tools my husband already has as these mount up over time when doing jobs around the house, also some were passed on from his dad. 

 I saw a garden tree seat here...

It's very nice but £129. If anyone is interested in a seat like this but doesn't want to make one the site is Coopers of Stortford