January Joy - Tidy Up & Clear Out

by Bex

I'm taking part in January Joy again and two of this weeks' prompts are Tidy Up and Clear Out.

I have a big list of things that need to be tidied up and cleared out before we have to move in the summer.  The problem is, when it comes to that kind of thing, I'm very good at it - when the mood strikes!  Instead of getting on with the more important jobs like clearing out the spare room, I keep finding more fun jobs to do instead!  For example, organising the books in the living room into a rainbow...

Obviously essential!  ;)

I also recently sorted out our alcohol cupboard.  Yes, we have an alcohol cupboard!  I love cocktails and ever since I was a student, I've had a bit of a collection of weird & wonderful cocktail ingredients, boosted by my parents' collection when they moved to Saudi Arabia.  I think some of the bottles in there are the same age as I am!  Since starting my little bar in my student flat, I've slowly added more to my collection as and when needed for certain recipes (food or drink).

I also keep my cocktail recipe books in there along with straws, cocktail sticks, shot glasses, decanters and mixing sticks/pounders.  I rearranged the top two shelves so that all the fruity, interesting bottles lower down so it's easier to see what we have and all the boring but essential, usual ones at the top - brandy, vodka, gin rums, whiskys, port and sherry.  I wish I took a before picture as it was a bit of a jumbled mess before

I love being able to mix up a random cocktail if the mood strikes and I'm pretty good at making fruity punches for parties too, I love tasty fruit punch.  Nik's actually the best cocktail mixer though and makes a mean Mojito!  I have invented a couple of cocktails myself before - Peachy Keen and Sour Cherry & Almond and this weekend I made another - The Orchard so look out for that one in a couple of weeks, it's lovely!

Having seen Rebecca's home featured in Good Homes magazine recently inspired me to want to finish off our rooms properly, there are lots of little bits I have been meaning to do for ages now and I'd like to perfect them all before we have to leave this flat.  I love living here and would like to have some great photos of the place all properly finished to remember it by.  I need to finish the rainbow paper bunting for the spare room and finish the de-cluttering I started when Mum was here.  I want to turn it into a proper room rather than a place to store stuff which just gets tidied when we have people staying with us.

Our bedroom, too, could do with perking up a bit.  Obviously I don't want to make any big changes or spend any money since we will probably be moving in 7 months but I think we could do with brightening it up a bit.  I also want to convert my letter press tray into a jewellery holder like I originally planned.  The nail varnishes didn't work out - one fell off as the shelves are so narrow and it burst!  Luckily it didn't leave much of a mess - just a little drop on the curtain and carpet but they're hidden in the corner!  Watch this space, if the right mood strikes of course!