The little red stool...

Last December DH and I checked out the children's section at IKEA with the idea of finding something for our granddaughter's Christmas present. I noticed the little step stools and my interest was piqued.

The 'teacher part of me' could see what a versatile gift this could be. Obviously for use as a set of steps, a seat, or in imaginative play the stool could become a  car or boat, but also a possible 'stage'/ dolls house for games with the Duplo people or other toys; or whatever Anthea's imagination could come up with. 😃
But then that same 'teacher part of me' thought of such scenarios as the stool falling on little feet/toes/squashing little fingers, or a little person falling off the stool and hurting herself. My vivid imagination also could 'see' the possibility that the said stool could be used to open doors etc for a potential Houdini!

But we still bought it! And yesterday at a family get together at DsD2's place, I watched Anthea having fun with her IKEA stool.

She has learned how to climb steps and how to go down steps safely on her bottom...

I think she likes her stool!

Old sayings...and more on the decluttering project...

My mother was a great one for idioms...(a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light ); many of her favourites live on in our family through my usage and at times, also my daughters use such sayings as well. 

So let's see, what's an example?

How come when the tomatoes being sold in the shops are between $8.98 and $9.98 per kilogram and my homegrown tomatoes are stubbornly green? When mine ripen you can bet that the shops will lower the prices to as low as $1.99 per kilo! 

Even though I do realise that probably the farmers' crops aren't ripening quickly either and supply is low, forcing the prices up, that's surely an example of Murphy's Law, a saying which is used a lot ...' a supposed law of nature, expressed in various humorous popular sayings, to the effect that anything that can go wrong will go wrong.' lol

Now one  saying that my mother didn't use to my knowledge is 'there's an elephant in the room'. Its meaning, '... is an English metaphorical idiom for an obvious truth that is either being ignored or going unaddressed", is quite relevant to me I think...I'll try to explain. I've decided to work through Forever Organised's 31 Days of Decluttering, with a few changes to suit my circumstances. 

So far I've decluttered shoes, appliances, magazines (and some paperbacks) and some chipped mugs and glasses...

The gardening mags were in a crate in the built-in wardrobe in one of the spare bedrooms and I can honestly say that since I put them there a few years ago now, I have never gone back to refer to any of them! While I was removing the mags from the cupboard I noticed a wire hanger on which several men's belts were hung. A check with DH revealed that none of the belts fitted him any more...so out they went too!

Now the items that I've been sorting out in the last few days were not really that cluttered because at various times over the last few years,I've had fairly ruthless 'purges' of unwanted/unnecessary items. But there is definitely 'an elephant in a number of rooms' and it's  my craft stash. At various times I have worked at sorting out the room that I call my sewing room, especially when it was needed to be used as a bedroom for extra guests...I've given away fabrics that I know I won't use, but...well you probably know how it goes :-). Being empty nesters means that I've spread my craft materials into other spare bedrooms...

IKEA Expedit shelves and cubes in one spare bedroom...

 The shelves in one half of the built in in another bedroom aka sewing room...

 Another IKEA set of shelves in the sewing room...

More shelves with cubes of mainly yarns, plus colour coded mohair stash in striped bags on top of the shelves...

Same room's built in...yarns and fabrics are in one half with Christmas decorations and DH's excess shirt collection in the other half.

So during this 31 days, I would like/need to decide on some targeted areas of my crafting storage and then decide what I can realistically use...you know it's all about the SABLE principle...stash acquisition beyond life expectancy!

Day 6 on the decluttering poster is 'Guilt Clutter'...my next post I will write about my interpretation of that.

One coffee mug that will be repurposed as yet again I couldn't part with it. Given to me by a friend one birthday, the much used and loved mug lost its handle after a year or so of use...ahem...that was possibly 13 or so years ago. It has survived 2 house moves and a number of decluttering sessions and survived yesterday's too. But now it will be half filled with pebbles, then potting mix and then I will plant one of my new succulent cuttings in it.

So next time...guilt clutter...what do I think it is and yes I do have some! lol

Assemble IKEA furniture...check!

Last Thursday, DH and I stopped off at the IKEA shop on the way home from the Gold Coast. We bought a small shelving unit and a kitchen trolley unit and of course they needed to be assembled.

On Tuesday morning this week, while I put the finishing touches to the bunting, DH quietly worked on putting things together. It wasn't long before he got the frame assembled...

This is what it looked like fully assembled...

 A hinged flap means that the top surface can be made larger when needed...

There are 3 shelves underneath; 2 wooden and one stainless steel...

The instructions included the directions for applying a protective oil to the lovely timber surface...

Now our kitchen is rather small...this photo taken by a local real estate company a few years ago, shows how narrow it is. The refrigerator and the wall oven don't actually fit in here, and neither will this new trolley. It will be kept beside the fridge on the other side of the 'walkway' which leads to the dining room. When needed it will be wheeled into place. It will also be handy when we entertain on our large veranda.

Then DH assembled the shelves...we have 3 other Expedit shelves, 2 with 16 sections, one with 8 and now this little one with 4. These shelves are to help 'tame' the laundry. :-)