We are always talking about how much we love our exclusively designed Northcote Storage as it is both practical and stunning. However it is always good to hear first hand from a customer what they think to our storage solutions and how they have used it to make the most of the space in their home. That’s why we were delighted when Heather from Growing Spaces offered to review our interlocking storage units and drawers.

Here is Heather’s experience of our interlocking storage solution along with some beautiful pictures of how Northcote is perfect for living room storage….

Heather Young – www.growingspaces.net

Back before I had kids I considered myself a storage pro. Nicknamed Monica (from Friends) by friends and family, I was confident that my organisational skills couldn’t get much better. I thought I’d utilised every nook and cranny of our house, and we couldn’t possibly need any more storage.

Pride comes before a fall and when our twins joined our household three and a half years ago, we found ourselves buried under an explosion of kid-related paraphernalia. How could two tiny people need SO MUCH STUFF? Toys, puzzles, books, clothes, craft stuff – all of it needed a home, and we just didn’t have a clue where to put it.

At the end of each day, when the rampaging duo are in bed snoring upstairs I want to relax in a space that doesn’t look like my twins ram-raided a toy shop. I want tidying up to require as little effort as possible because most some days the magnetic pull to be horizontal on the sofa for the duration of the evening is so strong that resistance is futile.

When I saw the Northcote interlocking storage units and drawers, my heart raced just a little bit faster. Modular units that offer plenty of storage, but are compact enough not to feel like they’re taking over a room. The flatpack boxes the Northcote Blackboard Cupboard and Northcote Toy Box arrived in felt reassuringly heavy. I put my OH on assembling duty and he commented on how solid the components felt, and how well they fitted together. I believe “good quality” and “well-constructed” were some of the words used.

The Northcote Blackboard Cupboard and Toy Box in my Kitchen – it fits perfectly in the corner and looks stunning.

This unit sits at one end of our kitchen and it stores all the kids’ craft stuff. The cupboard is the right height for the kids to go and get what they need themselves, and the toy box, with its easy pull-out drawer holds all the bits and bobs we’ve kept for junk modelling. As huge blackboard fans (we already have a huge blackboard wall in the kitchen), we all love the blackboard doors on the cupboard, although most of the time they look considerably messier than in my picture.

We use our Northcote Cupboard to store the kids’ arts and crafts. The blackboard also makes a great memo board for the family.

The beauty of the interlocking system is that you can keep adding to and adapting the combination of units as the needs of your children change. I’m already planning what we might need next…

Heather,

Growing Spaces

www.growingspaces.net

The end of Spring Term is approaching and it’s that time of year when the letter comes home about parent’s evening – for some it can be a nerve racking situation!

We asked Phoebe Doyle our Guest Blogger to tell us about her experience of parent’s evening, having been a teacher herself, we wanted to know - what is it like as a teacher-parent?

When I was a teacher, back in BK (Before Kids) I knew what kind of a parent I’d be. I’d be rational, fair, balanced and wise. ‘ Course I would.

Then out popped my offspring, and needless to say, it was all change. Along with gaining a small infant following labour, I also seemed to lose a great deal of sense; where once I was calm and had the ability to assess situations, I now was suddenly overwhelmingly emotional, protective and fierce.

 Now as a parent of a school-aged child (Rosie is Year 2 and Charles will start Reception come September) I take all of this emotion with me on such occasion’s as parents’ evenings, like the one I went to last night. The ‘Teacher-Me’ doesn’t care about ‘Practise-Me’ as ‘Teacher-Me’ knows it’s all about data, stuff the school should care about but not really me. Kids develop differently, at different paces…. It’s all good. The ‘Parent-Me’ knows no such thing, “how’s she doing compared to others?” I ask anxiously, “is she keeping up, I know she sometimes struggles” says I nervously (non-sensically!)

 ‘Course as she’s at such a lovely school, with fantastic teachers and basically skips to school each day nothing  else really matters. She’s learning ‘cos she’s happy. She’s flourishing because she’s safe; safe from harm of course but safe to ‘have a go’ too. So when Charles starts school will I be able to keep my head on Sensible Teacher Mode? Will I be rational? Calm? Collected?

 …….I doubt it!

Phoebe Doyle x

 So, what was your latest parent’s evening experience like? Were you pleasantly surprised or will next term require some fair and balanced parent teaching?

 Read more of Phoebe’s blogs here at Tremendously Two in particular we love her Ramblings and Reviews!

Phoebe, Author of the Tremendously Two blog sent us this little bit about Charles’ musings!

Quit dropping me in it!

As my son Charles carries on with this business of ‘learning to talk’ he remains persistent at dropping me right in it.

The vocab he has is clearly gained from the life we lead – the life that Charles and I lead,that is, whilst Rosie is hard at her school work and “Daddy” is out earning a crust.

Just last week we were all walking through town when Charles (the consumerist tot) spots one of his most favouritist logos; “darbux” he says. “Starbucks, did he just say Starbucks?” “Errm not sure, how funny, what’s that over there?”

Cripes it’s not like we’re always sipping bambinocinos whilst you two are sweating away – not always.

Then on we go meandering through town until we happen upon our destination – we venture into a local non-Starbucksie type cafe. Charles points at this humongous chocolate cake topped with a gallon of butter icing, marshmallows and Maltesers and shouts for all the clientele to hear “Mummy’s cake”. The little squealer! I had that cake once, about 6 months ago and it had been your suggestion!

Well Charles all I can say is if it carries on like this there’ll be no more cakes or hot choccies – remember, my boy, what happens on our meanders stays there. High five little one.