When I bought my first house a few years ago, I owned very little furniture worthy of my new home. I had a few things—a couple lamps, some dishes, way too many books—but aside from one antique dresser, I didn’t have anything in the way of actual furniture that absolutely had to come to the new digs with me.
Not even the bed.
I liked everything I had, but I had never loved it. It was a motley assortment of odds and ends, assembled from opportunity and need, garage sales and giveaways. That’s life when you’re a student for many long years.
And then, after finishing grad school, I spent a period of several years living in places that weren’t really mine. Renting a house isn’t like owning one, especially when the place comes already furnished. It was a convenient place to live for a few years, but it was never truly my space. It couldn’t be; I couldn’t customize it to my own likes and dislikes. It was frozen in its present state like a snapshot of somebody else’s life. (Somebody who had passed away of a massive heart attack right there at that spot in the driveway. I tried not to think about it overmuch.)
Living like that got pretty old.
So now I have this house. And I’m slowly making it my space. I couldn’t afford to go out and buy enough furniture to completely furnish the place all in one fell swoop. But I made a good start with a new bed, a new dining room set, a new couch and chair for the living room, some additional bookcases. (And generous friends set me up with some wonderful stuff, which, although not new, constituted a major upgrade for me. Like the huge luxurious desk in my office, at which I’m sitting while I type this.) Oh, and new blinds. That was actually pretty exciting. New window blinds of a style and color and design that I wanted? Oh, the giddy thrill of it all!
But that was pretty much it for a while. I chose to go slowly, and replenish the home furnishings budget before going on another furniture binge. And I’m pretty patient. Which means that by the time my birthday rolled around this year, I coud afford more furniture. More brand new furniture. Of a style and design that I chose for myself.
It’s getting delivered tomorrow. I’m excited in a way a younger me never, ever could have imagined.
A bit belated though it may be. I barely remembered my own birthday, the month’s been so crazy. Congrats on the new furniture! Furniture shopping was one of my favorite parts of buying my house (I used the first-time homebuyer’s rebate thingy to get some nice stuff I’d never have been able to afford any other way).