Flash Speedmop review

I received a Flash Speedmop to review and was all ready to extol it’s advanatges.

After I unpacked it and assembled it I found the wet cleaning “cloths” used with it were in fact disposable.

I tried it on the kitchen and bathroom tiles and it was so fast and it worked like magic. Then I had to throw the “cloth” into the bin. I found the thought of 365 “cloths” going into landfill from one house alone each year was so sad. I am not a fanatic about recycling or saving the planet but I can’t say that I recommend this product and can’t even add a pic of it – sorry Flash but this is not acceptable to me.

Twelve Years A Junk Room…

So S

Seems so long since I posted anything on here, my excuse is I have been doing major decorating and upgrading. We had an unused room full of junk and after twelve years I have finally culled loads of junk, sorted out what was left and decorated it. I hate the electric fire (we only use it if the central heating fails) so I am hiding it with plants and candles. This is a work in progress!

Mum’s 60’s glass and the Lalique esk vase in the middle was a birthday present from my husband – it was a lamp once and I still hope to find the matching shade!

These leather sofas were in there as we found they were too small for the lounge. I inherited the old drop leaf table in the corner and the old school music centre is mine – my husband’s is in the lounge.

I painted the desk (couldn’t get a new one to fit!) , the chair was made for my Grandad in the 1890’s. Since I took this pic Gyp has been treated to a new cream bed and blanket!

The bits of Hornsea and Ulrome pottery remind me of Happy holidays on the East Coast. The tartan box is the start of my Christmas Eve Box. I am not big on Christmas and like to hibernate with a book and a glass of wine so that is exactly what I started with. I am adding to it each week and have started one for husband and dog too!

I finished this room a few weeks ago and have been decorating one of the bedrooms – I will add some pics soon.

Bye for now, Loma.

 

Spring Cleaning no Hacks just hard graft!

I always begin by opening the windows wide & letting the fresh air in. My first job is to take down the purple curtains and stick them in the washer and then I am on to getting rid of loads of clutter, I empty the wardrobes completely and examine each item before it wins a place back on my (now clean) rails ditto each drawer and the under bed store. My tally was two black sacks full of bedding, a bag of rags (very old towels and sheets!) a carrier full of faux fur kept just in case I felt like making a stuffed tiger and a box of ornaments and cd’s.

This is just some of it – we have done one charity shop run with the back sacks full of double duvet covers (no double duvets only king!) and single sheets (no single beds!)

The actual cleaning comes next – wiping, hoovering polishing.

Now the bed – I like to turn my mattress regularly both top to bottom and turn it over and with a king size it is very heavy. The mattress is given a good hoovering on both sides. Keeping up with mattress maintenance is a great way to keep it looking new, but if yours is too old and you’re in the market, check out Leesa for some online mattresses“. I have a clean topper, new summer duvet and new bedding – one set is butterflies and one is birds on blossom – both match the purple curtains. In the past I have had a lighter set of curtains for Spring but these keep out the early morning sun so well they will go back up when dry. As the early mornings are still cold here I have folded my white faux fur throw but left it handy on the dressing stool rather than across the bed.

I love my pillows and cushions – two satin rose cushions and my favourite one  the Scottie dog go on next.

I love to re use something and as I can’t have real flowers in the house as they make me sneeze I “borrowed” this huge salad bowl from the kitchen and filled it with faux Spring blooms for the bedside stand.

I still have some oddments of a glass dressing table set which belonged to my granny – a pair of candle sticks and a few small bowls. I added the sticks to a few more I found around the house ( I always have candles about as we have quite a few power cuts) and made this display on a little antique table. The vase has a few old pearl necklaces in the base – I love to use old beads in plain glass vases.

I have a small collection of china flower brooches and earrings and these look pretty in one of Grannies bowls and the winter amber and jet goes away for the summer months.

With the curtains back up and all the surfaces given a final polish and shine my bedroom is all ready for Spring.

A well deserved cuppa!

Spring is here and that means cleaning !

I have not been active on here for a while but will soon be live with a bedroom (cleaning and freshening ) related post.

My Bluebell Path at night…

My bluebell path at night.

Sitting out bit of the Garden ready for the sun!

This is the second warmish day this week – yesterday I made the mistake of working all morning and the went went behind the clouds in the afternoon.

This is as you come out of the back door, I have scrubbed the old concrete with both patio cleaner and Daz – The Daz won! It was a packet of handwash /twin tub I picked up by mistake and had been in the back of the cupboard ages.

The bench gets the sun at lunch time but it is a bit hard on the posterior! I saw this padded bed scarf (what are they for exactly?) in the charity shop for £1. I cut it in two and stitched the two halves together to make a square. It just fits and I’m going to try it out at lunchtime!

The two long planters were a bargain at the Friendly Forrester’s car boot last sunday. Two very friendly ladies were selling garden stuff and publicising the Old Town Open Gardens event. I don’t think I will be going as my other half is very uninterested in plants and other peoples gardens but we had a good chat. The planters were £1 each – I would have bought more but I only had a quarter of a sack of compost left and other half hurt his back lifting it into the car boot and refuses to let me buy more. What I had only half filled them so I had to dig my own compost out of one of my three composters. It was very hard work and loads of bees seemed to think it was their hive – it looked good stuff though! I planted nasturtiums and sunflowers in them.

I decamped outside with my tablet and mobile – just got comfy when the landline started to ring. I decided to find out who it was and make a coffee – Indesit! Trying to persuade me to buy an extended warranty on my new dryer. Third call in 3 days – next time I speak to them I will be very firm with them.

I hope in a couple of weeks I will have some colour but I swear I heard a passing pidgeon saying to his mate “Oy down there new dinnerware and a few tasty seedlings. Get In!”

When a lazy day turns manic….

I had planned a lazy day pottering about in the garden, reading and relaxing.

 The builder who is coming (sometime) came rapping at the door – he had forgotten the measurements of the fence panel. As he flexed his metal ruler I commented that I had found a new fence panel in the shed. This little shed we only use to store the garden furniture but it has a sort of loft / mezzanine floor. (If it was in central London we could sell it as a detached studio residence with a sleeping platform for mega bucks). The fence panel is upstairs on the sleeping platform however underneath is a mountain of cardboard boxes, garden furniture and parasols and above it lots of new wood.

This is the said shed…

He said he would use the panel when he comes (sometime) so I decided I had to make an effort to clear out some of the clutter. The new wood I stacked behind the door, the garden table and chairs are now outside and scrubbed ready for summer. I use the cardboard in the compost bins – I place a layer of cardboard, a layer of grass cuttings and repeat. It works and saves it going in the blue bin. One carton is torn up and put into the bins  and the others sorted and stacked neatly. I also found 3 curtain poles and 3 roller blind poles – these are waiting for a skip run.

I planted a few seeds before the rain came down…and at after 4 pm I can start my relaxing day.

Spring is here – I have just mown the back lawns

All winter we have been able to use the back door into the garage and then just when the grass started drying out we had 3 days of heavy solid rain. The door swelled up and we could only use the up and over door. I have been trying every day and finally this morning it opened and I was able to get the lawn mower out. It could look better as I used the hover not he rotary. I am well and truly tired out now, just the front and side to do tomorrow!

Worst Alarm Clock ever?

I have been quiet over the past days as I have been doing a spring clean. One bedroom finished! Yesterday I decided to recover a small chair. I had covered the seat with sand coloured suede but my o/h decided to use it as a makeshift dressing table and managed to drop gloopy hair gel onto it. I thought I could turn the suede over have  the cream leather side upmost. For some reason that did not seem to fit so I decided to use part of a chenille cushion cover.

I am quite pleased with it – the studs are not quite in the right places but I had to go with the holes already there!

We are now getting to the alarm clock part – the dog ran off with the old leather cover and managed to chew part of the corner off it.

This morning my dog vomiting alarm went of at 6.30am…..he is now sulking because I will not give him his breakfast.

In my freshly cleaned bedroom the bedside rug has just been shampooed and it is still not 8am.

My first home of my own…

This is me age 20 very pleased with myself, my first home of my own. Mortgage and savings – no help from Mum and Dad (except Dad stood as guarantor – he knew I would not let him down with paying). I decided to look at the property on street view – it looked real smart. The lawn was now block paved and under the window was shrubs and plants.