Tuesday 11 March 2014

What I found there... (5)

A while ago last Winter I took to wandering around the house on Sunday mornings; looking and really seeing. I've been taking a further wander - to catch the bits I missed before and see some of the changes in rooms I've been wandering before.

Our bedroom of course houses the bed (and as a King Size bed in a not very large room it takes up a lot of room!). There are also a lot of shelves and (slightly oddly) my desk. I work at home on occasion and needed a bigger desk than the one in the living room as I used to measure drawings. Nowdays all I need is room for my laptop and the desk encourages my 'never put anything away' habits.



Large toad was a gift from Husband, the sunglasses he is wearing were a hen-night gift. The watering-can was a gift from my brother- and sister-in-law and the light up frog a gift from my brother. The pot-pourri I bought as table decorations for my grand-mother's 90th birthday party (lavender - very calming). The pink hanging blossoms on the edge of the picture swing round when a candle is lit underneath them rather like angel chimes; birthday gift from my lovely friend who remembered my love of all thing pink!


Clarence on the top of the boxes was our first ever musical decoration for Christmas. He has wings (kept wrapped up safely) so he is called after the angel in "It's a Wonderful Life"; he plays 'Silent Night' on his violin. The big white box he's sitting on holds my wedding dress wrapped in acid free tissue paper. The big black box underneath that holds our wedding photo album, an entity in an of itself!


The beige cushion was an impulse buy from Next when I stopped off at the usually quiet coffee shop (also the only place to get coffee in that area of Bugsby's Way). The red cushion was bought with vouchers we got as a wedding gift.


These boxes hold more wedding memories and also mementoes from my hen night. They are rather tasteful for not terribly expensive nesting boxes from WHSmith. They also prevent the cat from being able to jump onto the top of the shelving unit.


This shelf has my penguin collection. The golden pair on the left were going to be a centre-piece for our wedding table, but they were really too small. The rest have been bought for me by Husband; fuelling my love of penguins and the romantic aspect - the fact that most of them (apart from King and Emperor which are the ones there) mate for life. The puzzled looking frogs are actually condiment holders. The cardboard at the back has a cute sentiment for Mother's Day written by my Husband on behalf of our cat. The ring for tea bell doesn't get used as we have cordless phones which can call each other.


Bagpuss is keeping my book collection company. My brother bought Bagpuss as a Christmas gift for me one year. The books are almost exclusively bought for me by Husband (sometimes Mother). This is the headboard of our bed. Useful to keep things in.


This little black cat is a 'Jelly Bean' product, and his name is actually Casper! Our Casper came first... well in this house anyway.


This print I bought many years ago in Ikea and it has followed me around many house moves, and hung in our bedroom for over a decade!


The canvas prints are of Molly (right) which looks quite like a painting because of the back lighting and the kittens - also looks a bit like a painting as they were lying on the white furry rug.


This lovely Lego set was made for our wedding by a friend's daughter. She bought it with her to the wedding and put it in front of our places at the table. Too cute!


Our living room isn't large, so our wedding photos ended up in the bedroom! The left-hand frame was a free gift from the company who did all the Orders of Service and Table Plans.


My pin-board changes contents with the season. Drawings from my friend's children, thank you notes and underneath some permanent occupants. The arm hanging down in the corner of the shot is a rally-monkey... big in baseball once upon a time!


The pink lei hanging from the desk lamp is from my hen-night. The calendar in the background gives a monthly dose of penguin! The orange bottle holder held a rather nice bottle of champagne, a wedding gift from my colleagues.


Glitter ball. Plugs into a USB and lights up, it has a lava lamp friend somewhere. The photo frame is my lovely dog Jack, sadly crossed the Rainbow Bridge.


My mother has a habit of buying lovely porcelain mugs which I'm far too scared to use so I keep pens in them. The desk hutch is decorated with pictures evoking London. The hand-print in the background is from my cousin's daughter.


London Calling! An amazing gift from my dear friend and bridesmaid. Husband got me the frog (admitting he had no idea where I'd put it) and the three little black cats have been around a very long time... oddly I think they came from Betterware or Kleneze (door-to-door catalogue sales).


The end of the bed rail is scratched as Casper is of the strong opinion it is there for his personal play and exercise needs! This rather chaotic bookshelf holds my complete Stephen Baxter collection and a few other books. The three little girls are my god-daughters.


This CD shelf was rendered obsolete by not having a CD player and therefore not needing regular access to CDs. It is now used for decorations. Here we have our cake topper from the wedding made by my talented friend (also one of my bridesmaids). The snow-globe was bought for me by Husband, a happy reminder of the day at the zoo in our honeymoon.


Crystal bears, a light-up polar bear, a crystal star, a heart-shaped paperweight and a butterfly-shaped box. The definition of knick-knacks.


This snow-globe penguin is actually a Christmas decoration (lots of my snow-globes are) the frog is a pomander!


More snow-globes. The baseball glove is a Yankee snow-globe. The bear with the rose I think was a promotion by the Post Office (many years ago) and you had to collect and send of stamp books. He used to have a friend who got lost in one of the many times I moved house.


More snow-globes... the Psych one isn't actually a Christmas one!!! The balls are magnetic and the frog is a candle. Odds and ends.


The lone duck tile was an end-of-bin type thing at B&Q one day. He's keeping the very Christmas snow-globes company. Santa and Rudolph are musical.


Odder and odder. The nutcracker plays 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' when opened... the duck was a Christening gift (cleaned up by magic product courtesy of efforts by MiL). The mandala came from Portugal (oddly). The frog is obviously aimed at a much younger market than me, but he is still cute!


Large Yankee baseball. Bought back from New York by friends. The top left is the corner of my certificate that makes me a Freeman of the City of London.


Biscuit tin bought only because of the phone-box element (although from recollection the shortbread was nice). Casper in full 'pose' mode is being joined by some of my duck collection.


Here's that hand-print again, so cute. The photo of Casper and his late brother above is cute as they are both on pigeon watch with almost identical profile poses!


London baby... and a frog - the frog from recollection came from a moving house notice 'new pad' and all?!


This poster is actually an advertising shot from the wonderful Fab. They used to be a bit like Etsy but not community wise but they seem to have stepped back (in Europe at least) and now do furniture rather than gadgets and decor.


Our bedroom doesn't include just me and Husband. It also includes the cat. These are his 'bedroom mice'. He also has teddy and a bedroom brush and comb. Spoiled? My cat?!