C l a r i M i c h e l e

Our little cottage has really come together in the last year, and it feels so good to be fully settled in our home. It’s almost hard to remember what a long painful process it was. Almost. I still haven’t forgotten how stressful and frustrating it was when all our belongings went missing for 8 months before finally being delivered last March. But the good news is we’ve made some wonderful memories in our cottage that help balance out the stressful ones. I’m looking forward to making more happy memories this year, and finishing up projects around the house.

Living Room

First on my priority list is finishing the living room. Remember how I made a dyed tapestry for the empty wall? Well, our delightful cats decided to make a few alterations to it – mainly a giant rip down the middle, so it is sadly no more. I’ve since come up with this plan:

We already have the chair, of course, and we also have the posters. We got them for a tenner each at Southbank Centre Shop after we went to the Christmas Market. I’ve had my eye on that table for months. MONTHS I tell you! Andrew finally let me buy it, but it’s not being delivered until April! It’s a sore subject at the moment, but I know it will be worth the wait.

Garden

I also want to create a seating area in the back garden. Last summer I planted a few flowers, and shaped the tree a bit.

garden, and yes, it came with that blue bucket.

This summer I want to be able to fully enjoy the outdoor space that we are lucky to have. The Ikea coffee table that I stained with tea has been outside for awhile now, and I’d like to add bench seating. Who knows? It might be my next One Room Challenge.

New Mattress

The next item on the list is a bit boring, but it’s not something we can ignore much longer. We’re still sleeping on the super thin mattress that we bought right after we moved here, and it’s uncomfortable to say the least.

Up til now, visual improvements have been the priority, so the bedroom looks 100x better than it did, but feels the same as the top photo.

Office

Last but not least is Andrew’s office! He has most of the furnishings already, but it’s basically the “catch all” room, and definitely needs to be organised. I see a trip to Ikea in our future.