So, let’s move back a couple of months. In mid June this year, after I had completed my final exams, Phill and I moved to Glasgow. We were very lucky, because we were given a huge amount of help from Phill’s parents throughout the whole moving process. When we actually reached the day when it was time to transport our belongings, they helped us to drive the things from Nottingham since neither Phill nor I have driving licences (yet). We have a lot of things, and managed to fill both a small van which we had rented and Phill’s mum’s car. However, in Nottingham we lived in a furnished flat and in Glasgow we moved into an unfurnished one. That means that there were still a lot of things we didn’t have and we therefore have a lot of furniture projects and purchases ahead of us.
In terms of the flat arrangement, we have been given incredibly kind help from Phill’s parents there too. I am so grateful for the deal we have worked out with them. Basically, the flat we live in is owned by them, and we are covering the costs of all maintenance, utilities (of course) and also the furnishing of the flat. The idea is that this deal will hopefully benefit both parties in the end since the flat can be sold on and hopefully give a bit of a profit a few years down the line.
Anyway, the point I am getting to is that when we walked into the flat we basically had a blank canvas to work with. It was actually quite literally blank because all the walls are white. My plan is to let you, readers, follow the transformation of our flat, as that blank canvas turns into OUR homie home.
Since we moved in we have started to really put our touch to the place. We have been frequent customers at IKEA (and will continue to be for a while). The only pieces of furniture we had with us when we arrived were a desk that we bought last year in Nottingham and a sofa and sofa table which had been given to us. The first priority was therefore to buy a bed. We slept on the floor for three nights while waiting for it to arrive… but luckily we were so exhausted during those first days so it didn’t really matter; I slept like a baby anyway!
Next in the furniture line came a table and four chairs and after that a cd-stand. Phill’s birthday was a few weeks after we moved and he used gift money to buy a desk for his office/studio space. That’s as far as we have gotten. During the summer we have had limited money resources and even some of the things that I mentioned above we are still paying back because we couldn’t pay it all at once. But in the autumn when I start working we will be able to add on a few more pieces of furniture which we would like.
Both Phill and I are interior design enthusiasts, but we have different approaches to it. I am the stingy one who doesn’t want to buy unnecessary things and who is prepared to chose something less than ideal just to save the pennies. Phill is more of an idealist. He wants the things that will look and feel the best and he has a more longitudinal financial thinking. While I would rather buy a cheap thing now, he wants things with good quality which will last for 20 years, meaning that they are more expensive to start with… Despite these differences in attitudes we have now agreed that we will order the next batch of things at the end of September and we have a good budget for it so it won’t be a problem. I will keep you updated!
Phill building our table
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