Our bottom shed, which we inherited from the previous house owner who built it for his office, it is in a dark leafy area, susceptible to spiders and other creepies. It is basically a dumping ground for all those things that we don't know where to put or just don't need anymore. However, I've found that I'm working from home more now (and saving myself the trip to London) and working from any tiny clear space I can find in our rather untidy house, it is all ways a big stress for me. I'd been using the cupboard under the stairs to store all my work stuff and it was becoming a real chore just to find and get out all the bits I need. Today was THE day, that I was going to do battle with 'the shed of doom'.

arrrrghhhh!

(before)

(after)

and after a lot of heaving of boxes and furniture and sucking up dead insects with hoover...I managed to squeeze in a little office area amongst our, now very organised *blows on nails*, storage tubs.

Lots of boxes were actually half empty and big trunks and suitcase were empty too. Some things will go to charity shop and some to chuck away...most stuff was actually just badly stacked not making the most of the space. Its amazing how much room became available after sorting.

From this space I will be running two businesses! Rust Jewellery and Junkaholique Shop.

Just admin only, no jewellery making, we do all that in London.

I ran a 30 metre power cable from my other shed, so I have power for lamp, heater, radio and soon...a printer!

Xmas decorations safely stored away in those trunks, garden equipment in the cabinet and baskets, sewing threads and stuff packing in tubs and jars...oh yes, it feel so gooood...

...got me roberts radio to listen to radio 4, whilst typing dispatch notes...

well, I do still have this stuff to deal with, but I have ordered some zink metal shelves that will hopefully house all this. A lot of our other car related stuff will go over to our newly rented garage space.

All the furniture in this shed are things we love but can't find a space for in our house (which is a not very big two bed house). I wish there was less in this shed so we could have it as a lovely room...but this will do for now. I just sort of utilised what was there. One day we will paint it inside and out...one day...

she loves helping her dad pick plums.

and when he's not looking...

with plums coming out of our ears, I made a really quick plum tart (literally just pastry with plums on top, dusting of sugar and a few drops of vanilla paste) peasy!

and truly satisfying that even if we were at war or all the supermarkets closed down, we'd still have our plums to survive on.

...well, we'd need a cow to make some ice cream but you know what I mean.

and the best thing is,....theres tons more where they came from.

But one day, some friend of ours came for a visit from London and we very happily found ourselves in my hometown of Ventnor...and my favourite beach, which was absolutely packed! Also experiencing the highest tide of the year along with big waves meant that we got soaked whilst eating our lunch in the beach cafe.

After all the blustery salty air, we visited the Botanical Gardens above the cove, which I have been coming to since I can remember. Its a great place for the littluns (our friends have a wee tot too!) to run about safely and explore.

Our littlun loves sniffing flowers and going 'ahhhh' in a satisfied manner (even if they don't have any scent).

and the huge carp and goldfish in the pond is a winner with the kiddos, they were literally swarming around it like little mosquitos.

lots of running and chasing...

and dancing

 

we loved the amazing cacti, who'd have thought they could grow in drizzly old Blighty eh!

In the evening it was the Ventnor Carnival which we try to see every year (its the best on the Island I'm told, however I haven't seen many others).

we brought along her zebra outfit but it was hard to get her to keep her 'head' on as she hates hats of any description.

she LOVED it, and loved wiggling her tail and joining in with the procession along the high street.

It was a lot smaller than Ventnor Carnival, but here were my faves...

RNLI boat

and stunning ladies on horse back dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters!

ah I love carnivals, I get so emotional, especially when I see little kiddos all dressed up, and all the effort that people have made to be creative just to make people laugh.