Tete en l’Air’s Feet On The Ground Diary

Dinah93

I've been doing a lot of ebay furniture shopping lately, have got some fantastic stuff for absolutely peanuts. Bargain 2 days ago - 4 M & S chairs, originally £780, I got them for £35.75 and they're almost as new!

Flower08

Dinah93 wrote: »

I've been doing a lot of ebay furniture shopping lately, have got some fantastic stuff for absolutely peanuts. Bargain 2 days ago - 4 M & S chairs, originally £780, I got them for £35.75 and they're almost as new!

Ooh might have to have a look! The house we are getting has two brand new leather sofas in, so dont have to worry about buying sofa which saves some pennies, also bedroom has built in wardrobes which is another bonus

** Scuttles off to check out ebay ** :rotfl:

Dinah93

Sorry Tete, thread hijack. Just going to show off my recent ebay bargains

Chairs

Table

Drawers

I've spent the last 20mins drawing a plan of our house, working out what furniture we have and where it will go. Our bedroom is looking sparse with a dressing table and chair in it, and there is an astonishing lack of bookcases for people with over 4000 books, but other than that we actually seem to be doing quite well. Some rooms are looking really well, have a lovely big table from ILVA to use as a desk (its actually a dining table but I bought it years ago as its dark wood and chrome and I loved it - another ebay bargain!) and then a freebie leather chair to go with it for the study, and the dining chairs and table above along with a pine sideboard I might restain a bit darker to match better to go in the conservatory/dining room. Really happy with how the house is taking shape in my head.

poddle911

That's great news Flower - really exciting!

How was the drive by, Tete?

Dinah, you're right about ebay; there are some brilliant bargains to be had! one of my friends said she just bought an amazing 60s sideboard which she's sanding and painting. I'm watching loads of things too atm! Just off to look for some tiles for our bathroom...

ETA: Nice bargains Dinah! I really like the french-style 'shabby chic' furniture - i'm looking for a console table to go in our hall at the mo'

Flower08

Dinah93 wrote: »

Sorry Tete, thread hijack. Just going to show off my recent ebay bargains

Wow you got some real bargains!! I love the table - i would love one like that but kept thinking we wouldnt be able to afford it, maybe i will be able to find something similar

Dinah93

I know, I've seen loads of boring pine ones go for £100 or so, so I was chuffed to bits with this one. It's gorgeous, can't wait for it to actually arrive!

Why do I whinge I hate ebay? I must have gone to 20 different tile websites and 3 different showrooms (resulting in a lot of whinging and blood blisters on my palms from the crutches) and ebay have what I only found in one showroom, and at 22% of the price! The seller will send a sample strip for £1, and he has 4 which could be right (although I'm fairly sure which one will be) so I'm not ordering them today (finally managed a NSD!) but next time I do have a spendy day I'm going to order the samples so I can take them over to the new house at the weekend and see what they all look like.

Birdie85

Wow you really did get some bargains! Will have to keep an eye on ebay for dining chairs as ours are are little tatty!

That's fantastic news about the house Flower!

Poddle, I had to think what you meant when you asked about the 'drive by', I immediately thought, 'Shooting?!?!?' LOL!

Tete_en_l'Air

Nice bargains Dinah, better than my 99p blue table! But I'm hoping it'll look better with a lick of paint and a new knob I like the drawers especially, bargain!

Flower08 wrote: »

Got a bargain aswell, managed to knock £65 pcm off the rent and £200 off the deposit.

See, you make it sound so easy! I tried to knock a measly £25 pm off the price of that one we loved AND that was whilst promising a 12 month contract and just got a flat NO. Glad you've got sorted though, very exciting!

Well, *about to pour heart out alert*. Yes we went to have a look at the house but my mind wasn't really on it. OH was telling me last night all about how he's been researching into going to Australia, and is now really keen to do it soon - he's looked into prices, wage levels, house prices, been on ex-pat forums and so on. They only take so many applications each tax year and have filled this year's quota, new tax year is beginning of July.

Suddenly I felt really overwhelmed by it all being an actual thing and not just an abstract concept in the future. I DO want to do it, but I'm worried at the thought of leaving my Dad and Grandma on their own (she's my mam's mam so they don't really have contact with each other) - neither of them are completely alone but I do have a lot of contact with my grandma and don't want to be selfish and/or abandon her. But at the same time you can't live your life for other people can you? It's a bit of an internal tussle I guess.

The timescale of it is bothering me as well, as I said in my heart of hearts I sort of assumed we'd be married before we moved but if he's wanting to look at going next tax year it's not going to happen. We don't talk seriously about this stuff enough, and I know, and it's probably because I'm secretly afraid of what he'll say.

I basically clammed up last night so we're meeting up again tomorrow night and I'm going to have to be brave and say 'look, I do want to do this, the adventurous travelly life, I do, but I also want the traditional marriage and kids' and see what he says. And if he says he definitely doesn't want those things I'm going to have to decide which I want more, that or him.

So I'm feeling pretty down about it all today really, I'm not even excited about payday Sorry to ramble.

Flower08

Tete_en_l'Air wrote: »

See, you make it sound so easy! I tried to knock a measly £25 pm off the price of that one we loved AND that was whilst promising a 12 month contract and just got a flat NO. Glad you've got sorted though, very exciting!

I didnt even really bartar for it that much, we just decided it was too expensive for us and we werent going to go for it - when we told the letting agent they got back to us with the offer, couldnt believe it.

So sorry to hear your feeling rubbish, sounds like you do need to have the 'serious' chat with OH and see if you are both thinking along the same lines.

I understand you must be worried about leaving people you love, but you are right you cant live your life for or through other people. Its a really difficult one though.

I hope your talks tonight go okay.

Oh and try to be excited about payday!

Birdie85

Sorry you're feeling down and overwhelmed today Tete! I think you do need to ask the difficult question, you may find that he actually feels the same but was worried you don’t?! Would being married make the application go more in your favour? Just trying to think of reasons to give him for why it would be better to get married before heading off on your travels! Do you have any ideas of his stance on the marriage and kids thing? After my ex had been so anti-family (and that was part of the reason we broke up) I made sure within a month or so of being with OH that we were on the same page regarding a family, he thought I was a bit crazy but it all worked out well in the end!

I think that although your Dad and Grandma will miss you they’ll understand that you’ve got a life to life and there are so many ways to keep in touch now, you can teach your grandma how to Skype! July is quite soon though, how soon would you be moving there if your applications are successful?

This is a bit overwhelming, and I’m not even you! OH and I talk about going to America for a year because he could be a Rugby coach in a university over there, since Rugby is an up and coming sport there they’re quite keen on getting it into universities but I have no idea if it would ever happen. We’re tied down with the mortgage now and secretly we’re both too chicken to do the crazy thing and take a chance!