I have new furniture! I know that for a lot of people this isn’t terribly exciting, so let me explain.

When I moved into this flat, it was unfurnished but apart from a bed, chest of drawers, 2 lovely chairs and some kitchen equipment (which is quite a bit of furniture but not enough to furnish a flat. For the four-ish years before I moved, I had lived in other people’s houses and my furniture (along with most of my other possessions) were in storage. This gives you a strange sense of having stuff but not needing it. So when Ma needed some new plates, I gave her mine, because I wasn’t using them. My bookshelves went the same way. Wardrobe? Gave it to a friend. TV? Went to a friend too. Table? Another friend.

So when I moved there were things I had to buy. Bookshelves mostly, a really cheap canvas wardrobe that would tide me over until I found one that worked in my new bedroom, but also the small stuff you don’t think about (a kettle, a toaster, a laundry basket, an iron and ironing board) not exciting stuff but the stuff you need to live. The flat was a bit bare

Except a month after I moved in, I lost my job and spent 9 months unemployed. Thanks to my mother I got a table for the kitchen (birthday present) and a sofa (Christmas present – from the second hand shop down the road).

When I started working again furniture was not high on the list of priorities and I learned to live with the ‘problem’ areas.

Anyway, there was this corner of my living room that was an issue

This was it, tidy, about a month after I moved in. It never looked that tidy again.

Then passing the second hand shop yesterday, I saw this:

Most of my furniture comes from IKEA, so it’s nice to have something that looks a little less from the factory (although, I’m sure that in it’s time that’s exactly what it was) and with a bit more personality..

It makes me happy and made me dust, which can only be a good thing!

Now to think about a wardrobe…