But when it comes to furnishing our home, 10 years after buying it, we still have mostly hand me down or cheap furniture. Our three big purchases have been our dining table set (bought almost entirely with wedding gift money so barely counts), our tv and our mattress (and those together were under $1k). Our couches were $100 for the set from Matt’s brother. We received our front porch furniture set as a wedding present. We both came with desks and night stands. Matt’s dowry included our bedroom set. Almost everything in our house that wasn’t a hand me down or given to us Matt has built – multiple bookshelves, Luke’s dresser, our patio furniture. And the things we have bought have been mostly cheap. Our coffee table was a Target clearance item. Our kitchen table was from the Target auction for $15. I guess we did buy a tv stand from IKEA but that really doesn’t fall in the expensive category.
Part of the reason for all the hand me downs and being cheap is just because we are pretty frugal. I have a hard time thinking about spending a lot of money on something when what we have is already functional and in at least decently good shape. We also don’t plan for this to be our “forever” house and with the prospect of moving always (kinda) looming, we don’t want to buy something that we aren’t sure will work at the next place.
But, seeing as this whole kid thing has taken longer than expected, we’ve mostly committed to living in our house for at least another 5 years (unless something really crazy happens like we get placed with triplets and then immediately get miraculously pregnant with twins. In that case we would have to move, not that I would be complaining…that actually sound a little awesome although I’d prefer not to have 5 kids within one year…) and I realize we’ll be pretty near 40 by the time that semi-planned move happens. 40 is not as scary and old sounding as it was a decade ago but still seems a lot more “real adult” than early 30s (how long until I have to be mid-30s? Please don’t say 34.) I remember my parents turning 40. And being ages I remember my parents being just makes it seem a whole lot older.
With all that in mind, we’re trying to make more intentional purchases when it comes to our home. Slowly phasing out the hand me downs and cheaper Target things although there will still be a pretty big balance of things Matt’s made which is pretty wonderful too. I don’t want to wait for our next house to pick out things I really want instead of just making do with what we have. That’s all well and good but…I feel like by our 30s we’ve earned a little quality over quantity type of thing. We can spend a little money on our house. Especially on parts that drive me crazy.
We recently bought a rug for our room. We didn’t NEED it. We had one in there but it was too small and brown so it basically blended in with the floor. And the new one isn’t from Target! We bought this one in 8x10 from Wayfair on a Labor Day sale and I was very excited the night we rolled it out in our room. Took a little finagling under the bed but now, every time I see it I feel more like I real adult. We have a large rug in our bedroom, partially covered by multiple pieces of furniture! That’s not something I would have spent money on 5 years ago!
It brightens up the whole room, making it a little more bearable until we can get to the massive to-do list I have in mind for the space – painting (you may notice some paint samples on the wall...which had been there for 4+ months and we have yet to decide...or have the time to paint anyways), Matt building furniture, upholstering, new shelves, changing out fixtures, etc. Basically an almost complete remodel and I’m very excited about it…if it ever makes it to the top of the list. For now, I’ll settle for appreciating the new rug and be glad we’ve gotten this far! It is a much bigger impact than I anticipated it being and just motivates me to keep it moving.
Also, having something soft to step on when I get out of bed, for the first time since I moved in, is pretty wonderful. I feel so fancy. And maybe a little bit more "grown-up".
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