Blinds and shutters with Thomas Sanderson

No doubt like me you've heard of Thomas Sanderson and their conservatory blinds and shutters and think you know their products. I did too, but when I visited their stand at Grand Designs recently, I realised that maybe I didn't after all.

It's been a long time since I've looked at blinds, and I think it's safe to say that I've never really considered conservatory blinds.  But with the work we have going on in our conservatory at the moment I was interested to find out if conservatory blinds really could be for us. 

I was surprised to learn that Thomas Sanderson have partnered with Laura Ashley to bring two great names into your conservatory.  There's twenty two colours in this range and while I didn't see them, I'm pretty sure the colours will be classic, muted, easy to live with and coordinate easily with every kind of conservatory decor.

There were a couple of other things I learnt on my visit too, and it seems that blinds are no longer just blinds. I expect the design to be elegant, and functional of course, but I never expected blinds to be full of innovation and technology.

The Duette energy smart blinds have a honeycomb layer, which is where the innovation comes in.  These two layers of pleated fabric offer superior insulation, keeping conservatories warm in winter and cooler in warmer weather - clever hey?  Someone's been doing their homework on the typical UK conservatory! 

Thomas Sanderson's website says that these blinds can "reduce energy bills by up to 25%" and as well as keeping the glare out they "absorb up to 45% of noise pollution" which is quite something.

The technology I mentioned before is two-fold.  Instead of manually raising and lowering your blinds you can opt for a remote control, which was new to me.  But even newer, and only to be expected is a new app.  I told you it was clever.

Shutters provide a completely different look for a conservatory and are also suitable for kitchens and bathrooms.  Thomas Sanderson have developed their LifeTime shutters to keep the heat in, to not fade or turn yellow from exposure or sunlight.  Which sounds exactly what you want, and like their blinds don't have to be boring, as the image below from the stand shows.

It was fascinating to learn more about modern day blinds, and both MOH and I walked away from the Thomas Sanderson stand truly inspired and wowed by the possibilities for our own conservatory. 

What's put us off even thinking about conservatories so far is thinking that blinds were fuddy-duddy, but these certainly aren't.  Another consideration we thought might make blinds a no-go is the width of our window, which is around two metres but we learnt that this shouldn't be an issue either, and the people at Thomas Sanderson's have clever ways around this too, if needed.

Since we've been back from Grand Designs we've given blinds in our conservatory some serious thought.  We are tempted but at the moment our priority is getting through this part of the refurbishment and it's something we'll come back to and give further consideration to once that's done.  The unknown though is the price, and while I understand that Thomas Sanderson is committed to craftsmanship and personal service, it would be nice to know if they're in our price range before booking a design consultation, which for me, is something I'd do once I was seriously considering taking this forward.

I know from our visit to Grand Designs that it's well worth talking to their people, not only were they well informed and knowledgeable, they were also extremely personable and proud of the company they represented.  And how a company's people operate tells you a lot about a company, I think.  So thanks to Debbs and her team at Grand Designs for making us feel so welcome, and for sharing their knowledge, it was much appreciated.

* This is a collaborative post but all views are my own.

Ideas for creating your own home library

I don't know about you but I've always been a book person, from spending Saturday mornings "doing my homework" at the library to more recently when sometimes I accumulate them faster than I can read, which from my perspective is a great problem to have. 

What I'm always looking for though is the ultimate way to store them.  I've experimented with organising by colour, and by topic and the more traditional alphabetical way, but sometimes my TBR (to be read) pile just feels a bit like this:

Photo by Gaelle Marcel on Unsplash

So today in this collaborative post I'm sharing some things to consider for creating your own home library, which feels like a little bit of luxury.  Like any home project it will need a some planning and a clear idea of what you want to achieve.

Choosing which room

You might not have too much choice here, but if you're lucky enough to have a choice of rooms then there's a few things you should keep in mind.  For instance, a room that lets in a lot of light could be harmful to your books, will it "bleach" the covers, and does that matter?  Depending on your books it could devalue them or even more simply spoil the covers.

Likewise basements and lofts are areas that are more likely to be damp or humid and therefore more likely to risk mould and/or insects. 

Storing your books

Once you've chosen where you're going to place your books, the next thing to consider is how you're going to store them. Are floor to ceiling shelves for you, or perhaps built in units, or even the flatpack sort that you and your family can have "fun" putting together first - you know the sort.  There's a wide array of storage options available so it's worth identifying how much shelf space you'll need, and remembering to add some extra space too, as all bookcases need some room to expand.

Deciding on your organisation method

This is likely to be the most fun, and possibly the most controversial part of the process, but often for book lovers it's the best part, but if you have trouble deciding on how to organise your books, don't worry as someone's probably already tried it before.

You might be a traditionalist and wonder why anyone would organise in any other way than alphabetically, but alternatives include by genre, or by colour.  I've tried a mix of these, and I know a good system helps me find what I want more easily. 

Adding somewhere to sit

For me adding an easy chair in front of our bookcases was a real game changer, as it gave me somewhere to sit back and enjoy my favourite books, and somewhere to just sit and peruse when I need some me-time.

It's only a single chair, and a relatively small one, but it's comfortable and somewhere to escape too.  Positioning what is likely to soon become your most favourite spot is key too, arranging seating at a slight angle can help make the room feel more casual and welcoming.

Photo by Karim Ghantous on Unsplash

Consider lighting

Lighting in every room is important, but when it's in your reading place you'll want to make sure it's comfortable to read in.  While I *might* have been caught *once or twice* reading by torchlight under the covers many, many years ago, now I'm much more of an advocate for the right light in the right space (even though the torchlit reading was fun and adventurous at the time!)

Layered lighting is even more important in this space, and don't forget accent lights or perhaps a funky floor lamp that can direct light just where you need it.  But whatever you do, don't forget natural light, and if your space allows it consider flooding it with light with a lantern roof.

Keep it you

Making spaces work for you is all about making your space unique to you, it doesn't have to be the latest trend but it should scream "you" to everyone that enters your reading space.  You'll know how you can personalise your space better than I but framed artwork that's personal to you, a handcrafted throw or perhaps a piece of furniture that you've upcycled. 

Even in the smallest of spaces - whether thats under the stairs or in an alcove, it's great to have a space to show off what you love to read.  

How do you store, and organise your books?

A touch of gardening

Much has been made of the long winter and with that and a north facing garden, this year my gardening has been off to a slow start.  I missed making anything of the brief spell of good weather last month as we were prepping for work in the conservatory, which we later discovered would be delayed.  But the good news is, the gardening has started and both of our green wheelie bins were full to the brim last week, and will no doubt be every week for the next month or so.  We compost our garden waste in our own garden too, but at the moment both 'daleks' are full and need emptying, so we only manage to squeeze in a bit each week.

There was no room for the fatsia leaves, and with their waxy finish they take a while to compost so after cutting out at least three of the older stems, the plant was a lot less dense and our bins were a lot fuller.  It seemed though that wherever we worked in the garden was in full sun, and so plenty of breaks were needed.  This weekend it's been a little cooler, and a preferable temperature for gardening, though of course today I've spent some time in the greenhouse instead. 

The fatsia remains one of my favourite plants in this garden as whatever the season it looks good. The birds hadn't found all of the berries this winter though, so even some of them went out to the green bin.  I cut at least three of the older stems out and it's looking much less dense, and happier for it now.  I know though, that it'll grow back before I know it, it's the sort of plant that sees being cut back as a challenge to grow more!

Elsewhere in the garden the sleepers have weathered the winter well and the French lavender has grown dramatically.  The ice succulent has fared less well but I plan to take some leaves from the plant to propagate some new plants.

In the autumn I discovered that the squirrels had taken a shine to my trug of succulents with many of the leaves separated from the plants, and one or two of them with bite marks in.  So I picked them all up into a a plastic container, left them in the greenhouse and promptly forgot about them.

So discovering two plastic containers looking like this, was a bit of a win: 

Plenty of free plants, with no effort at all!

The small Christmas tree is getting ready for a growth spurt too by the look of things.  It had started to look a little weary in the heat last summer but has recuperated well over the winter.  This year could be the year I finally get to cut it to make some wreaths, we'll see.

Just above the small Christmas tree is the lilac, whose height we reduced by half last year.  It's repaid us with plenty of pretty and scented blooms this year, and what's better is that many of them are at head height so it was well worth cutting back.  If you're planning to cut yours back, wait until it's finished flowering and then do it, otherwise you'll miss out on next year's flowers.

We missed the chance to cut down our dogwoods in February/March as not much was tempting me out into the garden earlier this year, so we do have some flowering dogwoods for a change.  I'm considering cutting some of the stems (not all) so that we can still benefit from some red stems over the coming winter.

There's plenty of new growth around the garden, and quite a bit to be tamed. But not this fern.  It's another of our plants that is very low maintenance, and I'm always pleased and slightly shocked that it comes back each year.

The forget-me-not weeds are still coming, but now they're joined by the blue - and pink - bells.  The markings on these, especially the pink are exquisite, we've some while varieties in places around the garden too.  I like the bluebells, for now, but they have a lot of greenery with them and once the flowers have gone I'm keen for that to be gone too.

On our side of the fence our Chilean potato plant is just starting to flower, the buds look heavy and fit to burst.  Looking out of the first floor windows it seems, that they've well and truly burst into flower on our neighbour's more sunny side of the fence.  

The camellia continues to flower and continues to shed its petals like confetti.  The concrete hare (one of a pair) has a look of being caught about him doesn't he?

At the end of the garden the lily of the valley are making their scent known, and the bluebells are trying to get in on the act here too, along with the variegated ivy, which does look as if it's been artistically painted.

Throughout the garden we have many types of aquilegia, columbines or Granny's bonnets, whichever you know them by.  We've some already in flower and this shot looking down on the flower is a favourite of mine.  The trick is to take off the seed heads before they self seed - it's not something we always manage, but the results are pretty enough.

This year our laburnum tree is putting on a spectacular show, brighter and for longer than I remember last year.  It's great to see a pop of yellow from the conservatory, something that usually the forsythias deliver in our garden, but this year they've not been so vivid.  It's been the turn of the laburnum instead. 

The berberis and holly have been clipped into their lollypop shapes, and I'm waiting for the mass above them to flower before I trim that back.  It's closer than it was last weekend, but that whole space will be full of tiny pink flowers, and I don't want to miss them.  This could also be the last hurrah of my step ladder as if I'm honest, it's seen better days (and probably had when we moved here fifteen years ago).  The bottom step is a bit wobbly, which isn't so good - but it'd be worse if it was one higher up, as I'm wobbly enough up a ladder without help. 

It's future isn't helped by the fact I tried out a Henchman ladder, the sort that I put on my garden wish list, at Grand Designs last weekend.  I liked the wider base, but it was wider than I expected and while I managed to go up a couple of rungs, MOH went almost to the top and was impressed too.  They're not cheap though, but it's the sort of thing you don't buy every week either, is it?

While my garden to do (and shopping) lists are growing, I'm pleased to have got out into the garden to can start to tackle the work that needs doing, it's taken a while this year to get my grow-jo* back!

* aka gardening mo-jo!