DIY hanging loo roll storage

we had nowhere to store our bulk bought loo rolls. piling them up at floor level meant that they were within reach of wee-j-the-loo-roll-shredding-andrex-puppy-baby. i decided to utilise the dead space behind the bathroom door by making some hanging storage, here's how; i screwed a hook into the door, cut a cross in the top of a tennis ball using a hack-saw, shoved one end of an elastic bungee into the tennis ball (i had to cut a piece of the hook off with the hack-saw to get it to fit!), threaded the loo rolls on and hung the bungee from the hook, hey presto!

domestic greenery

the little bird who seemed to be heralding the beginnings of spring has gone very quiet. it's freezing cold here with icy gales and intermittent snow, enough already. it's good to have some green in your life when it feels like you're in a perpetual winter. maybe i'm grown up enough to have house plants now i've earned my nurturing stripes caring for the kiddos? 

mama's day present bean seedling that o-o planted at nursery, makes us both happy to see it shooting up.

triffid that we found in the street and dragged home to live in our bathroom. lots of more domestic greenery here.

first fire

hello autumn.

world map wallpaper & mum tip #3

hey! we have another finished room... finally got round to hanging the world map wallpaper in o-o's bedroom, we bought it using money he was given for his second birthday so once again we haven't been the quickest out of the blocks on the home improvements. grampy b brought his wealth of experience and knowledge to the project, i merely assisted, mainly by dropping the pasting brush into the bucket of paste. o-o and m spent ages this morning looking at the map and discussing the different countries, o-o likes the 'broken sea bits' (groups of islands!).

wallpaper from here. wheel-y storage boxes from here. solid-as-a-rock-non-wobblesome-so-worth-paying-a-bit-more-for big boy bunk beds from warren evans. the bed linen is ikea and the rainbow big squares blanket was knitted by great auntie g. i customised a jumble sale blanket with pom-pom fringe to make the curtain. my lovely cousin made the bunting.

also, my top mum tip (#3) for transition from cot into a big bed; foam bumpers. they work a treat, you just put them under the sheet, no need to screw anything into the bed frame. kiddo can't get wedged or trapped like with some other guards and they are easy to take on holiday. they make the bed feel extra cosy, o-o clambers in happily very night.

storage for children's books

o-o loves stories and already has a vast library of books. it would be great to have somewhere to store them that was easy on the eye and kid friendly. here are a few nice ideas...

book tree by shawn soh

corner library via ohdeedoh

design classic, penguin donkey

nice ikea spice rack hack found here

from weheartit.com

country living via leberpr

love the colour spectrum filing system in the corner library image and the fact that you can see the covers of the books, makes it easier for the tiddler to choose a story.