Thursday 7 March 2019

The Dining Room


Now it's time for the final 'room' of the living space ... the Dining Room.

Just a table, four chairs and a little wall cupboard which to be honest is neither use nor ornament.  It looks ridiculous if I leave it empty,  and to me a bit cluttered if I put things on it.  BUT, and yes it's a big BUT ... if I leave it with less on it will acquire clutter, so I try to set it out in an eye pleasing fashion.


I guess the little cupboards hide a multitude of sins, and are at least handy for hiding the keys to various places in.


My little drawers from Poundland are  handy addition to keep batteries etc from rolling out when the door is opened.


The table always looks like this ... I like to keep it set up ready for a dinner party. 


Haha ... yeah right ...


... this morning it looked like this.

This is real life not Instagram!!


The picture under the wall cupboard is my Jack Monroe artwork, from the 'Cooking on a Bootstrap' books Kickstarter plan.  I thought the grey frame and the monochrome words and images fitted the Van perfectly.   I shall bring her other 'Parsnips' picture here too one day.


Suky says "is this a shopping bag Mum?"

I say no ... it's my mobile office.


So, no food then!!  😔



And here we are back in office mode ... but tidier.

It was good to get all the crockery and glassware out for the photo earlier though as it gave me chance to wipe out the cupboards 🙂

We usually eat at the table at breakfast time, but tend to have lunches or other meals over in the living room.  I love eating out of bowls rather than plates as I'm a real pasta lover these days, and no matter what anyone says I like to eat in front of the television.

So that's the living end of the van thoroughly dissected.

Tomorrow a whizz through the remaining rooms.

See you then.

Sue xx

34 comments:

  1. Just caught up with this blog after being away from blogging for nearly 2 weeks (working like crazy so we can get to Wales next year). You have a really lovely space, I can see you will love it there, and the little garden area is just perfect. Enjoy your smaller life. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Why are pugs so greedy? The unanswerable question I suppose. I have had them in the past and they are such lovely dogs but they are almost as good as a vacuum cleaner at picking up crumbs on carpets.
    Your van looks smart - I am pleased you like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They really are greedy aren't they, and being spayed seems to make it even worse. I was warned at the time that that would happen. Yes, I love it 😀

      Delete
  3. What a lovely place to live in!.I used to have a caravan and I loved my time there.You made me laugh because as I scrolled down and saw your lovely set out dining table..I thought..if I had that all my cats would be curled up asleep on the plates!.Then I scrolled down to your next pic and thought..thats more like it!!xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know I could never live like that, I hate 'show homes'. Much better real life, a bit of stuff out and a happy home 🙂

      Delete
  4. I'm really enjoying the daily window into your new lifestyle, you have a lovely new home that you are moulding to suit your lifestyle.
    Please tell me to mind my own business if you don't want to go into details but I'd be intrigued to know how you spend your days now that you are free from the daily lifestock, horticulture and preserving tasks, it's a huge chunk of your life that you no longer have to deal with.
    Also, again tell me to keep my nose out, but are weekends mainly spent in the van or in Wales?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've explained ALL this in the first post when I started living in the caravan. If you want you know when our homes are empty ... as my Mum said today ... it looks very suspicious. Are you currently wearing a black and white jumper and carrying a Swag Bag!!

      Delete
    2. Oh, I see what you mean! no swag bag at all, just wondering how often you'll be getting back to Wales. We are doing something similar, we bought our retirement cottage near Llantrwst but can't live there full time yet so we are spending weekends there for the next year or so. However when it's cold and wet with sideways rain (I never knew that rain could sweep sideways so dramatically until I saw Welsh rain) it's tempting to just stay put at home in Cheshire and save the petrol. It will be different when are there full time because all of our stuff will be with us so we can busy ourselves with the normal wet-day pastimes.
      BTW, I know that you used to have a LOT of cookbooks and had them logged on Eat my Books. I saw that it was a good idea and did the same, O think that at at one time I had over 300 logged there. I had an epiphany 2 weeks ago and sorted them all out and cut the collection by half and donated them to charity. I'd have to live to over 200 years old to cook all the recipes that I'd marked with a post-it sticker! I can't tell you how liberated a feel! I've kept a few books that have lots of post-its and all my baking and preserving books - but they are the next ones to be culled. I'm preparing for my slightly smaller Welsh life just a bit at a time

      Delete
    3. I'll mostly be back to Wales every other week for 3 days.

      Lots of my cook books were carbooted last year and more will be going that way this year. I haven't updated my Eat My Books page for years now ... it must be very out of date. I got a free lifetime subscription for helping them to launch the site.

      Delete
  5. I was so relieved to see your second photo of the dining room table!
    The caption under the first one had me thinking, surely not!
    I’m glad that my image of you hasn't had to undergo a drastic rethink.
    Everywhere looks well organised and very comfortable.
    Enjoy. Sue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha gotcha ... albeit briefly 😉

      Delete
  6. What a lovely dining room. The Van is so smart but so homely - you have a really lovely space and I like the little cupboard in the dining room. I have a little open cupboard on a kitchen wall and yes, it is filled with clutter, but I don't mind a bit of clutter. By the way, thank you Sue so much for answering my comment yesterday. I get where you are coming from now as I have been in a similar situation. Living in our house when our son was young we had no money whatsoever and nothing got done to the house. I decided to sell up and try to follow my dream by moving to Anglesey. Unfortunately our dream turned in to a nightmare. I love the header to your blog with the gate and I wonder if this view is near where your Van is? It's been great to see each of your 'rooms' and look forward to the next instalment. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The gate in the header photograph is in the town nearest to me, and leads to a very special place ♥️

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the tour of your new home, I have been enjoying it. Glad to see a "real life" table also, it's hard to keep mine clutter free. I like your mobile office, very practical as well as attractive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a pleasure to show you all round,and yes, I much prefer a real life table 🙂

      Delete
  8. I also like the mobile office bag. If I was in the same circumstances I would have used a cardboard box or a small plastic crate - neither would have looked as stylish as your straw bag

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've had this bag for years, it's as though I knew I would find the perfect use for it 🙂

      Delete
  9. Hello Sue, no the reveal isn't too slow....... It gives us time to have more photos and description. When we go on our Van holidays I often turn the table to give us more floor space as we only need 2 chairs. We had a Dalmatian who would push her head so far into the shopping bags as they came home sniffing it was like carrying a ton weight. Enjoy your day and I hope you get a lovely walk along the river bank xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funnily enough I was thinking about turning the table around.

      At the moment Alan is cutting down a round table we have been given, well asked for really, as the person that owned it was taking it to the tip. We both think a round table would work much better in the space, with just two chairs and two stools.

      Delete
  10. I love your new home. I have always loved 'trailer's they are called here in US. When I was first married we bought an 8x30 trailer that was pink!! I really loved it. Your home really looks charming!! Is it far from your other place in Wales?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thsnk you 🙂

      As I answered the other day it is a two hour car journey.

      Delete
  11. Hi love your new static home, could you use the small wall cupboard to store your condiments then they will be above the table. Heather

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not really I use them while I'm cooking first, so they are better near the cooker, and it is an awkward reach to the cupboards and shelf if someone is sat at the table.

      Delete
  12. When I first saw the dining room table I thought 'WT....' those dishes and glasses will get all dusty sitting there all the time. Then I saw the 'real' picture and thought-now that's more like it'!!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. A mobile office is a great idea!! Love the way you have set up your little cupboard.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It makes life easier having everything I need in one space, and tidier 🙂

      Delete
  14. I'm so pleased that you mentioned your mum in one of the replies.
    She sounds a lovely lady .
    Because you are not blogging about your family she hasn't been mentioned and I wondered how she was but didn't like to be nosy!
    Sue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She is doing her best with difficult health problems. I see her every week and we go for lunch and have a good girly gossip. My brother lives a few minutes away from her so they go shopping together every week, and he's there for emergencies. At the van I am half an hour closer to where she lives in Cheshire.

      Delete
  15. What a jolly good idea for batteries, I will look for similar in my branch of poundland. I am so glad you got your bootstrap prints, I lost faith and asked for a refund on my kickstarter in the end!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a dinky little set of drawers isn't it :-)

      I couldn't have given upon Jack, we've been blogging and Facebook buddies for years now.

      Delete

Comments are now turned off for this old blog of mine. Thank you for reading the posts, I hope you enjoyed them. xx

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.