Hello Dear Reader,
Today has definitely been the case of putting the cart before the horse. I know I should decorate the living room before I put up curtains and make upholstery but I found these curtains in the Salvation Army shop in Liskeard today. We saw them there a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe they were still there. I checked the size and chatted to the lady there who said they were not £20 but £10. I knew they would fit one of our windows so I decided to buy them and got them home as quickly as I could.
When I got home, I checked ebay and found similar curtains for sale between £250 and £350, people were selling off cuts of Sanderson curtain fabric for around £150 for for 5 metres. On the Sanderson website, their fabric is £48.50 a metre ($82 a metre/ 1 and 1/10 yard!) These curtains would have used 9 metres. The curtains are by far the best bargain I've ever found in any charity shop. Also, Sanderson don't make curtains this large 'to go', they are always made to order. If I'd had these made, the cost including making them and delivery would have been £850. It might sound ridiculous but today, I saved £840 by buying used. I feel like one of those shoppers who didn't have to pay for their shopping because I had so many coupons!
I also found another dress today, I just love wearing dresses..........especially ones that only cost £3.50 from the animal rescue charity shop! Am I the only one who gets such a thrill out of finding and buying lovely items at very low prices? Weather permitting, we're off to a car boot sale tomorrow to hunt for bargains for the cottage.
I then decided to use up some linen fabric that I had and recover the window seat and make tie backs in contrasting fabric. I have enough left over to recover some cushions too. I'm really enjoying the challenge of renovating my home on a small budget. It's a fun challenge. One of the most satisfying points is having an old enough cottage that eclectic and shabby chic actually looks OK.
Our plans are to strip wall paper and have plain painted wall in pale colours so we can look for old water colours or prints to hang around the house. the wallpaper in the photo above will be removed soon.
We will be waxing our painted furniture tomorrow and I'll come back and share the results.
If you are in the UK, you might have had some incredible rain over the last twenty four hours. It's been a total blessing here on our new turf. It's been good to stay inside, sew and hand curtains.
Now, over to you Dear Reader, who else has found the most incredible bargain? Is anyone off to a car boot sale tomorrow?
Today's spend? £10 and the fun has been massive!
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxx