It's taken a while longer than I had hoped but I did have some valid excuses. My 50th Birthday, The Queen's Diamond Jubilee and Half Term sort of got in the way.

I was thrilled to be asked to be a founding member of the Tots100 Home club in association with Homebase . The first challenge being "storage". As you may know I work from home (out of my dining room). I have to admit that "stock" had taken over the room to the point of not being able to see any surface and the family eating meals on their laps in the living room ! Here is the before post
How the room looked
Hubby has promised to build me my very own office *shed* in the garden this summer, if it ever stops raining, he can get enough time off work and we can find the funds ! so in the meantime I continue to work from what is now a lovely, tidy and organised space in my dining room.

These days I love a bargain, I particularly enjoy utilising things that you wouldn't normally associate them with. For example I have stacks of vintage suitcases and wicker picnic hampers which I use for storage. So for this challenge I wanted to try and find something in Homebase that would suit my taste, but which you wouldn't normally think of for indoors in your house.

I chose this :

The Homebase timber potting table. Available at Homebase at the moment for £29.99

In fact I loved it so much I bought TWO one is going in my shed/office when it gets built !

What do you think of the end result ?

Hubby put it together for me, as it was made from timber it was rough wood, I rubbed it down and gave it a few licks of paint with another Homebase great find; Sanctuary Matt Emulsion in Chalk White. A tip, just because it says its suitable for walls and ceilings doesn't mean you can only use it on those surfaces. This is my new favourite flat, chalky paint and I will be using it on my furniture projects. It comes in a gorgeous array of colours. Perfect for my Shabby chic lifestyle and reloved furniture projects.

It's so lovely to have a tidy room back again. Just hope I can stay disciplined and keep it this way.

Although I loath plastic storage boxes I also purchased several of the Rolling underbed storage boxes. I have them under the sofa in the living room, perfect for storing books and magazines.

If you have enjoyed reading this post, you can follow what we get upto on the Tots100 Home Club

You might even like to put together your own mood board with the great app available on the Homebase Facebook page

Here is my moodboard The White Approach

I'm off to start on the next project making your bedroom a sanctury !

I'm thrilled to bits to be one of the founding members of the Tots100 Home Club in association with Homebase. The other members are my great friend Jen who blogs at Mum in the Madhouse ,The very lovely Violet Posy , Fellow twin mum Heather from GrowingSpaces and the very undomesticated looking Domestic Goddess (met her at the weekend complete with tiara and pearls ! ) xx

To kick us off the theme is "get organised" with a storage task. We have have been given £100 to spend in homebase and can use it in anyway we see fit to improve storage anywhere in our homes. This couldn't have come at a better time for me. Working from home out of my combined dining/work room has always been a problem. Even more so since I started selling vintage homewares at fairs. I can't remember the last time the family sat down together at the dining table to eat.

Now your illusions of my perfect white home are about to be shattered. Look away now if you are easily shocked !

THE BEFORE SHOTS

Oh Dear ! Thinking I maybe over sharing a little too much

There's a sofa underneath somewhere

The "office "

As you can see, this challenge is very timely indeed. I am really looking forward to sorting it all out. We even get a fab app to help us with our planning. If you are on facebook you can find it here : Homebase - House of Inspiration Its a great idea. I've already had a play around with it. Its simple to use and you can even import your own pictures to really pull your board together. Perfect to help you plan any renovations or decorating plans you might have.

As we are a vintage thrifty home I am trying to come up with ideas that don't involve plastic storage boxes so watch this space and please come back and see if I manage to achieve a tidy, usable dining/work space. If you have any ideas of your own you can get involved too on the Tots100 Facebook page

Excited !