Saturday 5 January 2013

Things for our new home

Hi Bloggers. Over Christmas my friend came over to visit, that being her first visit to my new house. I showed her around and she liked my new place. As we went round from room to room , she liked what she saw but then was very surprised to find it was all mainly 'new to us' and other items that had been recycled;

Porch - Ding Dong doorbell - we acquired this wireless doorbell via someone who had a deceased relative. It has lots of settings and also a flash light if you want it. We set it to the traditional chime and put the box in the kitchen. We can hear the bell from all around the house whenever anyone calls. This doorbell is still on sale and the cheapest we have seen in online is £49 - free to us.

Wall light - In the B&Q sale, reduced from £15 to £3

Cloak cupboard - It is the size of a double wardrobe and had one shelf near the bottom and pegs around three of its walls. Using the inners from the fitted wardrobes we knocked out upstairs we made three lower shelves so we have a shoe shelf each. We also put one of the clothes rails at the top of the cupboard so we can hang full length coats in the space as you open the doors. This area is something we are really pleased with as it holds so many jackets and its all neat and tidy. Cost £0

Hall - Burglar alarm - The vendor unkindly never gave us the code so when the electricity was turned back on , the alarm was ringing like mad. We had to isolate the alarm switch that was until we worked the code out. As a smoker the alarm was nicotine stained except for the four digits she used. We then knew what the four digits were but not the order. That was until we found some paperwork with her date of birth on. Guess what the alarm code was ??? That saved us a few hundred pounds getting a new alarm and the box cleaned up very nicely with some cif. Cost £0

Lounge - New suite - or at least new to us and yes it is from DFS but I bought it second hand from someone I knew for less than £300 and it is 3 years old and very well looked after. Leather and very comfy.

Wooden side table - This has had a few admiring comments, my table with a drawer cost me the grand sum of £5 from ebay .

Lined curtains - These were given to me by someone who thought I may need some dust sheets. They had a skip at their house and a neighbour kindly dumped their rubbish inside ! When they opened the bag it contained a set of curtains which was then offered to me for dust sheets. When I saw them they were almost similar to the ones I wanted from M&S , albeit these are a pale gold damask whereas the M&S were a mushroom damask. They were the right size for the window and I had them dry cleaned . People do not believe they came out of a skip ! Dry cleaning cost me £16. M&S would have cost me £119.

Ceiling lights - The vendor kindly removed the two ceiling lights, inconvenient but not to my taste. Nevertheless we had to pay to replace. Two new in the box ceiling lights , from ebay £5. When I collected them they were in the original box and they are still on sale now at £30 each.

Bathroom - The door had split and was not repairable. I found a door on ebay, not very old, newly glossed complete with door handles and hinges. Cost £2

Main bedroom - Again lights removed by vendor. A friend gave me a ceiling light and we got two wall lights from the B&Q sale, £5 each reduced from £20 each.

Spare room - Light removed again. A friend gave me a new unused cream lamp shade which coincidentally matches perfectly with the colour scheme.

Daughters room - She had chosen a big round mirror from Ikea which is £27. We then spotted the same mirror at a car boot, for the grand sum of £3.

Garden - we wanted to get some slabs for outside the shed. We managed to get some old large pavement slabs, larger and stronger than modern slabs. Got these free from someone who took up their front path to block pave instead.

I am always on the look out for things. Like other bloggers I am happy with my home and surroundings and don't feel the need to live my life out of a glossy magazine or to keep up with the 'Jones's'.  Cheerio for now x
 

5 comments:

  1. Well done you! Isn't it fabulous to furnish your home on a shoestring and know that it isn't just like the Jones' who probably have everything from Next or some such other place? I've read snide comments in blogland about DFS suites - basically saying they are cr@p and don't last 2 minutes. I bought mine over 6 years ago. I paid £120 on ebay for 2 sofas and a large matching footstool. The seller was the head at a local primary school and told me he'd just finished paying for it - a year free and then 3 years to pay. That makes it over 10 years old now and it's still in great condition.

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    1. I do admit that I find the DFS adverts very annoying how you can have one delivered for Xmas eve etc but then that is todays society we live in, have today pay for tomorrow. I sat on this suite many times in its old home so I knew how comfy it was and how it was looked after. My parents had a leather DFS suite when I was pregnant and sold it last year, it was still fine at 10 years old. I know people who have had furniture from other well known stores who have had problems. I think its like anywhere else , good and bad but I always go for classic stuff whereas the trendy stuff dates so quickly.

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  2. Just shows what you can do with some hunting and patience.

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  3. Wow, you have done incredibly well! We need more decorative items in our home but I refuse to go buy new - I feel that finding things over time at the lowest price is the way to go. You tend to know instantly if something will work in your home. I go to garage sales and thrift stores and will find things that work. We moved about six months ago from Province to Province in Canada so we sold a lot before we left to minimize moving costs.

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