Growing up and a growing room {Ft. Great Little Trading Co.}

It is so weird having both kids at school. I think I secretly love it even though all the time I thought I'd have has very much evaporated and life seems as busy as it was before. It is different but a nice different.

The kids seem more grown up which I can only put down to school. Etta has become a child, like a proper grown up child, someone who now asks if she can go to the toilet instead of just walking off to go, and someone who has developed a very positive 'yes' attitude. It's nice. Raph also has become the ever caring older brother {being the more emotional out of the two} he just seems to have this way of talking to people when he is trying to help them which is just super cute. So yeah they are growing and as things change I am noticing a pattern in what they play with. It's hard with Christmas on the horizon; I am trying to mentally note what has become a bit redundant so I can try to ship it off to a new home before the influx of presents refills all the baskets. One thing though which I have actually hindered them playing with due to how it was stored was their dressing up clothes. As I have got older I have found a real love for neatness and putting things away. We don't really have many display things for toys and dressing up became the thing that was always put in a big chest. It was accessible but inevitably it always ended up with a basket of washing on or a pile of soft toys so the kids just ignored it really. And when it came to remembering they had all these wonderful costumes, emptying the chest filled me with dread as there was so much, and so little room, that inevitably it was always quite a big thing putting it all away again. 

A new Great Little Trading Company catalogue fell onto the doormat and as we are in the testing team we were allowed to pick a few things to try out. Now, having been with these guys for a couple of years now I have spent a lot of time writing about how wonderful they are and that is because it is the truth. I have absolutely no other want to go anywhere else for children's furniture or bedroom items and being someone who works with multiple home brands there is something about GLTC that only they have. It is something that isn't replicated and how they are makes me want to have everything to do with the brand. Not one item we have ever had of theirs has ever broken, looks old or has lost its use. I imagine these items will be in our house for a long time and will become those pieces of furniture that we never really want to lose due to sentimental value. 

Our newest pieces of furniture I got with the dressing up situation in mind was their Abberville Long Shelf in white. They have actually just brought this out in stone which was the one that caught my eye as I thought it would look nice against the white walls, but for the kids room I needed it to be white as they have grey walls. It's a great piece though; brilliant size and if i didn't have as many baskets on the shelves would be great for toys or books, or in reality absolutely anything!

We had it set for the dressing up so I got 6 Dark Grey Rope Baskets which I seriously love as stand alone items anyway and filled the four squares at the bottom and half of the top shelf. I split the kids dressing up things up and have accessories in one of the baskets so that they can access everything easily. Etta often quite fancies just a crown or something {princess} so having the smaller singular baskets means she can just help herself. 

They as so accessible for them and they just grab what they want when they want it. I have no wants to hide it away and find that refilling one basket is no challenge at all and ultimately enjoy that it looks 100% better than what we had.

The shape and style is a bit more grown up and with a few decorative things sitting on the top I love it as a unit for their bedroom. 

My change in interior styling has changed quite drastically in the last few years. I have gone from very much a country style to something so minimal and sleek. Straight lines and lots of simple colours {white or grey everywhere!} but its what I very much like right now. Really, I just love the look of this and the Abberville Range just really suits us. 

We have the storage bench in this range too which we use downstairs as Lego storage and it is perfect for small toys too. The rope basket handles are easy for kids to grab and our kids pull them along the floor to whereever they want to go, so when I saw this bigger version I knew that it would be really child friendly and allow them to be independent in their playing. This is also a big positive for me as I like them to get out what they want and most of their toys need us to reach them down from a cupboard so having a few more options available for them to do themselves is a real positive. 

Once again, GLTC have me sold on a piece of furniture which I am now wondering how I ever lived without. We also got a new chest of drawers which I will share soon which completes our Starbright Collection.

* Item gifted as part of our role on the GLTC testing team.