Craft Space- Take Two, Secondhand Goodies and a Beautiful English Day

When we first got our household goods, I unpacked all of my craft stuff and set it up in an adorable little out building on the property.  I loved how it turned out and having my own space.

But as the winter months set in, the fact that the building has no heat really put a wrench in things.  We purchased a space heater for use when I was out there.  But, honestly, when I would go out there, it would be so cold and take so long to heat with the space heater, that it made me not want to go out at all.  I also started noticing condensation in the room from the cold, damp, English winter.  Some of my albums were damp and my paper was starting to warp from the moisture.  I knew it was a matter of time before things started to mold.

Our next approach was buying a different space heater with a timer and keeping the room steady at around 50 degrees and turning the heat up when I went out there.  It didn't seem to solve the damp issue, though, and I finally decided I was going to need to do something else or get rid of all my stuff.

I thought on it for a few weeks.  There really was no room in the house for all of my stuff.  And then, one night, it came to me in a dream- the funny little nook in the dining room:

(I still can't believe I fit all that stuff in here)

It is still not the best solution (because I know all of that stuff is crammed in that tiny corner and the OCD-I-need-clean-open-spaces-crazy-lady in me stays slightly unnerved about it all) but it will have to do for the next two and a half years.

Once I got everything crammed in the little nook, I realized I needed somewhere to fit my Cricut cartridges.  In New Jersey, I had cabinets specifically made to fit those.  In the out building here, I had them in our tv cabinet that I repurposed to the craft room (because it will not fit in our living room here).  Not one more thing could go in that nook, so I started thinking on it again.

BAM- solution!  I bought an over-the-door shoe organizer and took the cartridges and books out of their boxes and placed them in the organizer.  I let the boxes out in the out building, so it is entirely possible they might get ruined, but at least the cartridges will be okay.  I used the weight of the paper bins to hold the hooks in place and when I need to get to the shelf, I can just unhook the organizer and move it.

Now on to the shopping part of the post.  I already told you here and here about the fun finds at antique, secondhand and charity stores as well as auctions.

In addition to the things I have already showed you, I also picked up these gems:

 Hall table we picked up quite some time ago, but I forgot to post it.  I love the carving.

Monday, I found this little beauty.  The carvings around the top are very similar to the carvings on the above hall table.  So I picked this up to go in the upstairs hallway.  Look at those beautiful legs!

I needed a skinny shelf to fit in this space since there was just nowhere to put shampoo and soap.  I found it on Monday!

I've been wanting to exchange my modern towel rack for one of the old wooden ones and this little cutie was just the right price:

Finally- when we moved here to England, another family we knew from New Jersey, moved at the same time to a smaller base about an hour away.  We have been discussing since they got here that we need to meet up at some point.  Finally, we decided that the beautiful, charming little town of Ely was a halfway point for both of us and she brought a friend from Alconbury and I brought one of her other friends she had met in Arizona and the four of us met up today in Ely.

Luckily, today was a BEAUTIFUL day!  It was sunny, blue and the temperature even made it all the way up to 58F degrees!  We met around 10am, visited the antique shop, a couple of charity shops and then popped into a local tearoom for lunch.  We had initially been disappointed because the tearoom we were supposed to visit (and quite a famous one in the area) was closed today.  But it all worked out because we ended up at the one with an INCREDIBLE view (Ely Cathedral)!

My sandwich (bacon and brie) and tea:

The food was yummy, the tea was delicious and the company was refreshing. I managed to survive the trip without buying anything (miraculous, really).  The other ladies bought a few small items at the charity shops and Sara found a beautiful floor-length formal for £10 to wear to an event this weekend.

As for me- this weekend, I have no plans.  Sunday is British Mother's Day- so the restaurants will be full.  Translation: no Sunday roast for us.