Home Sense Rules!

Home Sense Rules!

Hello there!
Thanks for stopping by.
One evening this week, I was on my way home, and the traffic going through Tunbridge Wells was savage. 
So when I got to the exit for John Lewis and Home Sense, it was a no brainer! Sit in traffic or go mooch in the stores until the cars are all gone…..
Result?
Look what I found!!!!
I have been looking for a little wrought-iron day bed to go in my little Wendy House for ages!
Would it go in the car? 
Has the Pope got a balcony?
Where there’s a willy, there’s a way!
When I went in the house and told Dave I needed a hand to get what I had bought out of the truck, he laughed nervously.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“It’s very heavy Dave. It took 3 people to load it at the other end.”
He tried hard to be happy for me, that I had found this treasure, all the way from India. But I could tell. I could tell he was groaning inside….
Anyway, I thought the cushions were delightful!
And look! It’s not far to the Wendy House!
Grace in the corner under the Ginkgo tree was cheering, too.
Dave figured out quickly that it came apart…
“I can’t let you go out alone, can I,” he said.
But I distracted his train of thought with
“Well, I just hope it fits.”
“You mean you haven’t measured it?” he gasped.
The main bit was really really solid. Weighed a ton!
But as I said, where there’s a willy, there’s a way.
Even Romeo the cat got in on the action.
“Yay! Another seat to wreck,” he’s thinking….
Time to hoover out the cobwebs and make a space….
By this time Dave had pretty much accepted that there was no going back, so he might as well join in.
Et voila!
Perfect. Beautiful. Comfy.
AND in the sale at Home Sense !!!
The little Wendy House just needs a lick of paint, after all that rain this winter. But I think I’ll break that to Dave after the Doncaster Dome Retail Show this coming Sunday, or he may just not come back! Maria Simms and Jo Rice are kindly demonstrating up there on my behalf ; my worn out neck is still posing problems, so I am delegating the strenuous job and staying at home, 
to film YouTubes and blog ahead a little.
Oh and read a book on my wonderful, colourful couch!

On the subject of wrought-iron furniture, 
here is a selection of lovely art samples 
created by some members of our Clarity Design Team, using 
(I have dropped the price for you, from £24.99 to £19.99)
and
these are only £9.99 (instead of £19.99)
in the Clarity Club Members half-price sale.
If you were thinking of joint the New Design Club stamp 
and/or Stencil Club, 
now would be a good time in June!
Maria Simms
Lynne Hammond
Emma Williams
Sylvia Marshall
Linda Spencer
Tomorrow let’s look at a brand new stencil…..
much love,

47 thoughts on “Home Sense Rules!

  1. Good morning,
    I love your new colorful sofa, it looks like a great restful piece of furniture and a good place to recharge or take a little nap. You go girl. Enjoy your Wendy house, how goes the garage project? Happy Friday. Xxx

  2. What a wonderful blog. Enjoy your space. I have a summer house I craft in and I love it. My own private space to sit in and think sweet nothing's. I need the wrought iron set to add to my ever growing collection of Clarity stamps. xx

  3. Impulse buying ….. I am not one for impulse buying but when I do I always enjoy it – retail therapy is fun!!! Love your seat – glad it fitted!!!
    Also glad to hear you are delegating – team work is what makes a strong solid focussed team – which you have!!
    So glad I got to read this at the start of my day today – I have a Quality Assurance audit at work today – so needed to feel upbeat as audits are always stressful!!
    Enjoy that couch – it looks great –
    Much Love
    Kimx

  4. How lovely to have somewhere so comfy to sit and relax, to sit and listen to the birds as you compose your blog on your ipad or just sit and have a cuppa after a day at work. I love those cushions and Dave did a grand job getting it in there! Love and hugs xx

  5. That is a lovely sofa love colours and fits lovely bob would have reacted the same but in end would said oh I like that they don't see the picture what we see hi what fun enjoy your sofa x

  6. Sorry to hear your neck is still troubling you. My Auntie suffered from cerviacal spondylosis (not sure if that is the right spelling) and she found that acupuncture worked for her. Would wearing a collar help? Not very fetching I agree but you could wear it at home and work.

    Love,
    Rosalind x

    P.S. Thank you so much for my prize of the sample swatches from your time in Brittany. I will treasure them always. I am hoping to see Paul tomorrow as he might be coming to the Craft Warehouse tomorrow (as a customer, not a demonstrator for a change).

  7. What a great wrough-iron fourniture and the colours of those cushions, I adore them. It all fit so well in your little house.
    I had a problem with my back for ages and been to an "étiopathe" (soory don't know the word in English, but you speak French….), and may be you should try to find you one in England. They do miracle. I can use my arm again for hours with out any pain, and am not in pain with the bottom of my back when I am hoovering or doing gardening. I think it is worth a try.
    Thanks to the team for those lovely cards, very inspirational (????) again.
    Laurence xx

  8. What a great find instead if sitting in traffic! So glad your couch fitted in the Wendy House. As has been mentioned the cushions are beautiful, such wonderful colours. Sorry to hear that your neck continues to be a problem. Hope you get some rest over the weekend in your Wendy House on your new couch. xx

  9. Hi Barb,
    A girl after my own heart! I would have done exactly the same and then had the same reaction from my Dave! The sofa is fabulous and looks really comfy too. Sorry to hear your neck is playing up again – the idea of a collar could be a good one. Years ago I was demonstrating to kids at school how NOT to do a backward roll and ended up straining my neck and tearing a trapezius muscle – I was in agony. Anyway to cut a long story short, I was given a collar and what a relief it was to put it on. I still have problems every now and then and use the collar to get some relief. It's worth a go. Have a great day. Love Alison xxx

  10. Oh Barbara what a great find it's lovely and I agree much better to go shopping than sit in traffic! My husband would have had the same reaction as Dave though but like Dave would have carried it and put it together for me. Aren't they lovely. Keep resting that neck I wonder if Laurence mention a chiropractor ? Mine is fabulous and keeps my back and neck sorted and tells me when I need to stop overdoing things! Enjoy your weekend love Diane Xxx

  11. Lovely day bed! The pics of your garden make me feel nostalgic – home is Hampshire however I'm currently living in Slovakia. Very pleased to see today's samples as I've bought both these sets and haven't got round to playing with them yet.

  12. I was at that very HomeSense on Monday morning! Your daybed find is adorable, I just love those vibrant colours, and it looks perfect in your Wendy house 🙂

    Make sure you rest your neck, I have the number of a great local chiropractor should you need one……. (at weekends he works at the dentists in Edenbridge, opposite the leisure centre).

  13. Hi Barb,
    It's old age love!!!
    All these aches and pains, at least that's what the doctor says to me (he leaves out the "love" bit!)
    Seriously, I know it's no fun and I do hope you get some relief soon. Try a soft collar in bed (very sexy) and a rigid collar for car journeys longer than about 30 minutes – there's a joke in there somewhere but I'm not going to comment!!
    Talking of jokes, I was awake a good part of the night trying to come up with a Unicorn joke, mmm Unicorn, soft collar, rigid collar, I'll have to work on it.
    Have a good day everyone, the sun is shining – oh happy day, aches and all xx

  14. Hi Barbara, sorry to hear you're still in pain my friend. Todays blog made me titter , but great forethought to take pics as you went along. Enjoy your weekend, new seat and a good book xx

  15. P.s. forgetfulness is a sign of old age – love the Wendy House and the daybed, and I think I'll have to try it out for you to ensure it's up to Barb standards!! I couldn't do that in my little hut. George has it filled with non-essentials like garden mower, spades, tools and other rubbish! xx

  16. SO JEALOUS! What a beautiful piece of furniture. I luurvvee the colourful comfy cushions. I had a feeling that your blog would be about your summerhouse from your comment on Facebook last night.
    Twas serendipity that you should find it as a result of a traffic jam…& that you got it in the car! You did make me laugh with your sayings and photos of Dave. Love the comic strip photo story. Took me back to teen magazines. I wonder what you'd put in the speech bubbles?
    Wishing you many happy hours in your summerhouse xx

  17. Ooooooh I love your new chair it's so colourful and well just fabby, lol
    Some great samples too from your lovely DT
    Enjoy your reading on your new chair in your Wendy House
    Jackie x

  18. What a beautiful day bed, the cushions are so colourful and lovely, a nice splash of sunshine in your room. Dave your a star, could do with you on occasions, mine is pretty useless when it comes to DIY. Hope you get to enjoy sitting pretty and learn delegate more, sometime its good to just relax. Thank you for the bargains. Joan x

  19. No wonder you bought it, it's adorable, enjoy relaxing in there, I'm just a tad jealous. Love your garden too as well as the Wendy House. Home Sense is one of my favourite shops too!
    Hope the neck improves soon. Best wishes, Joy

  20. Love this story – have been known to put very large furniture pieces into small vehicles myself too!! My dad always reminds me of his ninja turtle impression with a rattan chair over his head in the back of my little hatchback when they visited me in the states – wish I had a camera phone then, as it would have been one for the scrapbook! Enjoy your lovely sofa and your creative space – Susan x

  21. Absolutely lovely, for lovely Barb. Hope you enjoy it. What a talented bunch of creative people. Fab card examples. Made my day after a long day travelling for work. Take care all. Bxx

  22. Absolutely lovely, for lovely Barb. Hope you enjoy it. What a talented bunch of creative people. Fab card examples. Made my day after a long day travelling for work. Take care all. Bxx

  23. I love your new day bed! It's absolutely beautiful, and I wish it was mine. I can definitely see why you couldn't leave it in the shop – nothing like that here in Ireland, sadly.

  24. Ha ha I think that very funny. Love your new day bed though and I am sure it will be worth all the effort on Dave's part. Will you be allowing him to rest on it or is the Wendy house just your territory. Beautiful work by the design team but then they are a very creative lot. I am sure that Maria and Jo will do a wonderful job for you in Doncaster although I expect you will be missed. Try to rest the neck I know from experience how painful it can be. xx

  25. Pretty little day bed, love the colourful cushions. Gorgeous samples from your talented DT. I hope your neck soon improves – you'll have to tell Dave not to squeeze it so hard! Pat x

  26. I like your idea of shopping to avoid the traffic, one to remember!! What a sweet little sofa, love the colourful cushions, your Wendy house looks the perfect place to gain more inspiration for all your new designs. The card designs are beautiful. Hope your neck improves, have a good weekend. x

  27. Brilliant. Lovely couch, which looks great in your Wendy house. And you would not have found it, had it not been for the traffic. And it fits! Love the photos and Dave's reactions. Great cards from the DT too. Hope you find some time to relax on your new couch over the weekend and that your neck improves soon. x

  28. Hi Barbara. I love the new day bed, and the cushions are gorgeous. You were obviously meant to have it otherwise you wouldn't have pulled off of the road! Great photo story, it reminded me of the teen mags when I was young too, like Jeanette Butler : ) What a fabulous selection of cards, they are all wonderful. I hope you do get to rest your neck over the weekend. Take care.

  29. Love the day bed and will have to steal the idea of spending time at the sales instead of traffic queueing. I'm so disappointed that you won't be at Doncaster! People don't seem to come to our neck of the woods often (can't say that I blame them really!) and I was looking forward to meeting you! Hope the neck improves drastically to make it it worth while missing us!!! Take care, Jan

  30. He he Barb I have done the same to John on many an occasion lol and sometimes he is there and like Dave realises that it is happening no matter what and he just has to embrace it

    Your day bed is beautiful. And I love that it is so colourful.

    I hope you get some rest as I am feeling your pain quite literally. My neck and right shoulder are playing up and I get a burning pain up my neck too when I am crafting, so time to go to see the Dr and see what he has to say 🙁

    Denise xx

  31. I love the Wendy house, and I just adore that wrought iron couch and looks so comfy with those beautiful bright cushions. Sorry your neck is playing you up a bit again, but at least you have a good team of people to take up the slack when necessary, and this allows you to relax a bit more, if you can! How lovely to sit on that gorgeous couch with a drink and read a book or sketch, or alternatively just sit and muse – sounds great to me. Have a lovely weekend and have a nice muse. x

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