Monday 22 April 2019

Squeezing quarts into pint pots??

By 'eck, I've got a lot of stuff!  And I was absolutely determined to get said stuff into my new craft shed, by hook or by crook!  Obviously, I completely forgot to take photos of the shed before I filled it to the gunnels ~ but I guess you are used to my lack of comprehensive photographic records by now LOL

It took me quite a few days to get it all stashed away, and I was knackered by the time I'd finished, but I'm thrilled with my little world 😍


I have a motley assortment of furniture that have come my way over the years ~ ideal pieces for my craft shed.  The pine sideboard in the corner used to be in the back bedroom of our old house, and was used by Beverly and Sam when they were still living at home.  It's a bit stained and bashed these days but I plan to give it a lick of paint at some point.  Do you like the flooring, by the way?  It was cheap 'n' cheerful but I think it looks very nice.

The Singer sewing machine table belonged to Adrian's Mum and still has the sewing machine inside, although it would need extensive restoration to actually work.  It weighs a bloody ton and moving it from the house out to the shed was a nightmare!  Still, it makes a very useful base to stand a dolls' house on.  Since they are two-a-penny and therefore don't have any monetary value, one day I will see about stripping back the manky varnish and either restaining or perhaps just polishing up the wood.

The little cupboard next to the sewing machine table belonged to my Great Aunt Mary.  It, too, has been bashed and battered somewhat over the years ~ before I got my mitts on it, I might add!  I'm very curious about what the wood looks like without that heavy dark varnish, so I may try to strip back a little in an unobtrusive place to have a look.

The little square table is another piece destined for eventual stripping and, hopefully, simply waxing. It was given to me by my Mum ~ I'm not sure how she got hold of it, but I seem to recall her telling me that it originally came from a pub.  Perhaps she smuggled it out in her handbag.....😄 


This will be my "dirty" bench.  Again, it came from Mum who got it from where she used to work.  It is a sturdy beast and rather weighty.  I had to ask the guys to help move it out of the house as I couldn't manage to lift it with Adrian ~ I felt the strain on my back straightaway and decided to be sensible for once!  The black ash file cabinet was my sister's; it used to be on castors but wouldn't fit beneath the bench, so Adrian took them off for me.  It's functional, capacious, and therefore extremely useful but really not at all attractive.  Still, never fear, my loves,  I've got ideas a-plenty swirling around in my head to pretty it up.  The mint green trolley is a recent acquisition from Hobbycraft.  It was half-price and will be extremely useful as a work-in-progress holding area.  With it being on wheels, I can easily move it about in the shed to where I happen to be working.


The bookcase in the corner started life, many many moons ago, as an LP storage case.  Adrian got rid of his vinyl collection some time back and I took the case off his hands 😉 It's very sturdy and makes a great bookcase, especially since so many of my dolls' house and craft books are hardbacks and therefore collectively rather weighty.

The dresser also belonged Aunt Mary.  It's similar to the little cupboard but not quite the same.  It, too, has seen better days and the dark varnish isn't all that appealing.  I think I will have to experiment, unobtrusively, on it as well.

The pine desk in the corner is the computer desk we had at our old house.  It's a nice piece of furniture but too big to fit inside St Abbs anywhere.  It is going to be my "clean" table.


The craft shed soon filled up with all the crates, bags, boxes, baskets.....


that had been cluttering up every nook and cranny (or so it seemed!) inside poor St Abbs.


I have to confess that I felt pretty overwhelmed with it all.....


and simply sit and stared at it for quite some time!  I'd forgotten just how much stuff I had ~ and all this was after I'd done a humungous downsizing before we moved up here!  I did eventually pull up my big-girl-panties, though, and got stuck in.  I had to keep telling myself that the only way to eat an elephant is just one bite at a time LOL

I've almost finished putting stuff away now, just waiting for a small flat-pack bookcase (I bet that'll be fun to put together!) to arrive for the rest of my books.  More photos will be forthcoming, for the "grand opening", just to prove that I did manage to fit everything in 😉 

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