Archive for April, 2009

My daughter is four-going-on-fourteen. And while I don’t yet let her wear makeup or a lot of ‘proper’ jewellery, obviously, she does have a collection of play and dress-up stuff that needs a home. Her room is small, and what she does have is taken up by a bed, a bookshelf and a built-in wardrobe. So when I discovered her pretend earrings and lip glosses ‘stored’ under her bed, well within reach of our newly-crawling baby, I hit the roof. The very next weekend was dedicated to finding appropriate bedroom storage solutions and we tackled every shopping centre in our area (there are a few, one of the reasons I chose to live here).

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I’ve mentioned before my fond memories of childhood days spent redecorating rooms in our home. Mum would supervise; Dad would wet the old wallpaper/glue and re-hang the new wallpaper, and my sister and I would diligently strip the old paper using the scraper (many a fight would ensure as to whose turn it was to ‘have the scraper’).

It was a battle to get the new paper up before the glue got too dry, while not being too quick to prevent bubbles underneath that you couldn’t remove without tearing the new paper and giving Mum an excuse to lose the plot and hire a professional. This was unacceptable as my sister and I would have nothing to fight over.

So there was a tense speed to all our work, all the while trying to enjoy it while it lasted. It was like being forced to eat ice cream – you wanted to do it, longed to do it, but being made to do it made it lose its appeal.

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For many of us the Easter Bank Holiday marks the time to get outside and take control of the garden again ready for the warm summer ahead (a bit of optimism never hurt anyone!).

At the end of last summer we threw the removable contents of the garden into the shed or garage and went inside to hibernate. Now we need to unearth the garden table and chairs, the pond cleaner and array of garden tools and clutter and re-locate outside for some fresh air.

But before you’re ready to sit back and soak up some sunshine, you may need to have a bit of an external spring clean. The all-up-and-on range of garden and garage storage products can help you take control and re-organise your garage or shed. The range includes a number of practical storage products, from the hose pipe tidy to the long handled tool rack, all of which mean your garage will soon be spick and span. For the more active amongst us, there are also some great storage options for sporting equipment, from the ball tidy, to golf and bike racks.

And once you’re done you can dust off your barbeque, set up your Fatboy hammock and prepare for a relaxing time alfresco!