Tidy Desk, Tidy Blog #2

Here's where I have been typing for the past couple of weeks.



This space is oh so easy to keep tidy. 

This is an ex-show house and the fittings came with the house.  

Including space-age light fittings!

A fitted office isn't something I would have chosen, but it does work.  

Everything can be shoved in cupboards.  

Out of sight, out of mind :-).

All but the biggest books can be stored away in the cupboards.  Paperwork, printer stuff and all the rest of the office paraphernalia 

is hidden away in the capacious, smooth-sliding drawers. It makes such sense.

I've found it so easy to work in this tidy space.  

I kept it tidy.  It kept my mind tidy.  That was the deal! 

'Aver, the desk chair that came with it was pretty but not too comfortable after a while.

So, whilst in Southampton last weekend we popped into Ikea.  

Ok, it was somewhat longer than a simple "pop in" :-).  

I don't think it's possible to just "pop" in there.  Not for me, anyway.  

Me and Ikea have history.  

I have a 1980 Ikea catalogue.  That's not sad.  That's passion.  

It's filled with classics of our time - the Poang armchair, the Billy bookcase ...

But, back to the plot.  In there I found this amazingly comfortable office chair.  If swivels 360 degrees.  It reclines.  It's so comfy I could fall asleep in it.  And it's just £35.  

Meet your perfect office chair, here, the Torkel.  You're welcome.

Doesn't it look the business?!

The stylish chair can just about be seen in the corner - it's there, waiting for guests.
And waiting.  And waiting.
I feel a bit Norman No Mates, actually. Maybe I'll move it ...

A La perchoine. 

Tidy Desk, Tidy Blog, #1.

On this rainy morning (yes, again!) I enjoyed my first coffee of the day snuggled in bed, catching up with a few of the bloggers I follow.  Because I could.  

One lovely Finnish blogger had posted some of her usual beautiful photos of her amazingly Finnish home.  In one shot, I saw her immaculately tidy desk in the background, so I complimented her on it.  Then I moved on to a Swedish blogger I visit daily.  Another shot with her immaculately tidy desk in the background.  I complimented her on her tidy desk too. 

They both write super posts.  I got a-thinkin' how inspiring it must be to work at those desks.  For the first time in my life, I experienced Desk Envy.  Big time.  My mind wandered to my own desk, the desk I mostly use day-to-day, the desk I am sitting at right now .  It is the birthplace of my posts!

Now, I do try to keep this desk tidy as, for ease of use, it is slap bang in the middle of our back sitting room.  But it is subjected daily to paraphernalia and paperwork-creep.

I am uncomfortable working in a cluttered space and I realised that, of late and without too much thought, I have been pushing beyond a 6 inch radius of my laptop a plethora of items - bills and travel arrangements, notebooks (of which there are always many in my world. for I am a list addict).  Framed photos, cards, pen pots.  Diary, scented candles, beach shells ... the list seems endless.  Add to that mix the core essentials, laptop, a phone and a camera, and it is no wonder that the poor thing appears to be groaning under their collective weight.

I realised I needed to put my own house (desk) in order.   I can't say I was so inspired that I leapt out of bed.  I left the 6.00am leaping behind me when I retired.  But I did eventually get to my desk,  the good side of noon.  And tidying is what I did. 

I scooped up every item on and around the desk.  The Quatermass of cableage was tidied and taped.  The orchids were watered and their leaves cleaned.  The desky ephemera was wiped down.  I asked myself if it was vital that each item go back on the desk.  Embarrassingly, I found myself replying in the affirmative in the main, but what did go back was placed in a considered position on the desk.  (Note to self: remember to take BEFORE shots, dearie!)

This desk is a £48 auction find - long story but I got it eventually thanks to a good punter-auctioneer relationship.  It's little brass tag tells me that it was made in Spain.  I've had it for 13 years and during that time it has been in nearly every room in the house, bar one bedroom and the obvious, those being bathrooms. utility room and kitchen.  I've used it as dressing table, conservatory dining table as well as it having been a desk in several rooms before its current home.  It is versatile.  I do like it.  It is a keeper.

I am satisfied with my morning's work.  I may not have quite got there, true Scandi-style, but it is aesthetically pleasing to me.   I have two other desks in the house which are now crying out for the same treatment but I will leave those for another day (or week - for I am a procrastinator) as I have other pressing matters to which I really must attend.  Those matters being a coffee and a Sudoku ...

Of course it is a given that now inspired by my neater, cleaner, whiter desk, some pretty neat posts will be spilling out from my uncluttered mind and on to my blog, for when all said and done, surely tidy blog posts must truly be the offspring of a tidy desk.



A la perchoine.

Pimm's Anyone?

Now look at this, my first geranium bloom this year.  I am excited.  Won't be long till summer's here!

Geraniums become my indoor plant profusion in summer; the orchids don't seem to be so giving during the warmer months so they take a back seat and let the blousy geraniums take centre stage.  And do all the work.   That must be nature's way of giving me year-round indoor blooms!

I love geraniums as, just like the orchids, they require little effort or care on my part but give me so much, they are one nature's givers.

Seeing my first geranium got me thinking about sprucing up the house a bit for summer,

so .... queue a mooch around a garden centre.  An idle hour or two at Le Friquet here

Here are some of the things that took my eye (with apologies for weak photography - I took my little pocket camera, sorry!).

Black and copper glassware.

Storage jars with well-fitting smooth wooden lids.

Lots of white lanterns, they'd look so fresh on the garden tables.

Leafy candle holders - they look like artichokes!

Pretty chunky pottery.

A tableful of glassware, ready for a summer party!



A bit of an indulgence, methinks!

 

Some cute milk churns - now I know someone who'd like these!

And finally ... mine's a large Pimm's, please !

In my continuing mission to smarten up my act, on this day the jeans came off and a skirt went on!

Yes, here I am with my legs out, yet again!  Don't quite know why but it felt right.

  I'm wearing an M&S light British wool skirt in a fine stone/black houndstooth check. 

It's an old work skirt (15 years old maybe?) but it still looks like new and is lined, so it just had to have an airing.

It's worn here with a couple of my workhorses, the Next modal top (so versatile) and the Gabor nubuck bootees.

 Just wanted to show you more of the cosy Next fringed animal print scarf. 

It's AW15 and no longer available :-(.

But it does cosy up nicely with a M&S puffa. 

Ta daaah!!!

I really do hope that a glimmer of improvement is coming through in my everyday dressing. 

I have a few ideas in the pipeline which will pep things up a bit!  Bear with me, dear reader.

And for my labours, coffee and a bite to eat. 

A just reward after fasting the previous day.  And gyming!

As mentioned earlier, I realise my photography needs some improvement

but I do have plans on that front.

And, reader, the rain stopped today.  Yes, really. 

Maybe I can finally take some photos outdoors. 

Maybe fill a flask of Pimm's and shoot from here (photo sourced here)

Aaahh, won't be long ...

A la perchoine.