Getting things done

Thanks to maternity leave I've been able to straighten out our home, I'm afraid I'm not naturally tidy and I usually let things build up until I'm overwhelmed by the mess!  Well, our house was at that stage again, so I've been having a blitz, not just a put things away and hoover type clean, but a real sort through things and chuck away.  A deep clean, a finding places for things type of clean!  I've started room by room, the kids first!  Trying to designate areas/boxes for different types of toys etc and *whisper* even thrown old/broken/rubbish toys away! They haven't noticed, which means they weren't loved and that we have too many anyway!

Storage is our real problem and at the moment we don't have money to invest in any, so I've been making do with what we have and clearing out what we don't need, which means lots of books gone, old clothes & shoes gone and even a sort out of my fabric stash!  I managed to only keep really lovely fabric, most of the sheets/duvets I've bought from charity shops thinking they'll be useful, have had to go back to the charity shop (where they'll at least generate more money for them) as I can't justify keeping everything when I'm trying to make room for a third baby in our two-bed shoebox of a house!

I've actually moved furniture to hoover rather than going round it!  Which hasn't done much for my painful pelvis though :(

I've had some fabulous help from my family with painting the hall and our feature wall in our lounge - which is now a more darker teal colour and looks fab. 

I've sorted out all the pictures I wanted to put up on our stair wall rather than waiting in a pile and mounted and hung them.

The Ercol shelf is finally up and looks fab, I got this from the charity warehouse months ago for about a fiver and it was quite a dark colour. I'm quite proud of it, after a good sanding and waxing it looks really lovely.

 I shall have to remember to rotate the display!

And I've been experimenting, more Annie Sloan!  I've got two of these chairs and I did start sanding them down to wax but haven't finished them, so I thought I might paint one for an instant make-over.  I did the legs to test but I'm not sure now, the red is so matt it's not very bright, not sure whether I can varnish over to get it glossy?  Or whether it would look cheap if it was shiny?  Any thoughts?

The other bonus of maternity leave and the kids finally being back at school is the time for knitting!

I've finally finished the Debbie Bliss cardigan - the seaming's not very professional but I doubt the baby will mind!

and I'm almost done on the bunny mobile..

All pattern info can be found on my Ravelry page, where you can find me as HoldMyHand.
I've already got the yarn for the next project, another Debbie Bliss pattern!