Over the next few weeks we’ve a series of features around freshening up the house and garden; a sort-of spring cleaning. Although I was listening to the radio this week and learned that Spring Cleaning came about when the winter’s coal fires were done, and houses needed scrubbing from top to bottom to rid them of the coal dust and smoke.
All hail gas central heating, that’s all I can say!
But the house and garden do suddenly look tired and weary in the first bout of spring sunshine, don’t they?
So we’re looking at quick and easy fixes to freshen them up and get them ready for the summer (it IS coming. We promise).
The first thing on our personal agenda is the garden – we have large windows and patio doors which we throw open at the very first sign of warmth (twice in the last week) to let some blessed fresh air through the house. But the joy is a bit dampened when they open on to a scrawny scrubby sorry-looking end-of-winter back garden, isn’t it?
The bulbs are all flowering cheerfully, the birds are shouting, but that little pile of ‘stuff’ at the bottom of the garden is no less messy now it’s over-wintered and settled in than it was when we left it there temporarily 4mths ago…
So – step one is some Garden Storage. We do have a large garden shed, but to be honest it’s not quite big enough. Mostly because there’s six of us, and six bikes (four of which are adult-sized) take up a LOT of room!
So we’ve decided the best thing is to allot them their own space outside the shed. That has the double bonus of freeing up shed space, and also making the bikes and the associated helmets, pumps etc all far more easily accessible for teens on the run (or ride…).
Tesco have this one from Keter on offer down to under £250 – big enough to hold 4 bikes (so not enough for us, but plenty for most families), it has Piston-operated opening mechanism & steel reinforcement for stability and security.
But for the same sort of money, you could also get this rather attractive, more traditional shed-style storage which has super-practical double doors for easy access…
I know it’s bigger (7′ x 4′), but for us it’s more practical, and as we have the space it’s the best for us. We can squeeze in all the bikes, plus the associated bits which will save us rummaging through the shed for the spare pump or the extra water bottle clamp.
And without the bikes, the shed will feel positively cavernous, allowing for some re-arranging and shelf-shifting… and that pile of stuff from the bottom of the garden can finally be found a new home!
