House update and what I bought instead
Mon, 21 Jun 2010 2 Comments 
If you read my real estate stalking post today you will realise that we almost bought a house. Almost but didn't. There were termite problems and the sellers would not negotiate on price to take this into account. We happily walked away. Not such bad news as Kelvin has been offered his dream job ... in the next town about an hour away. He starts in a month. Now the search has to move to the other side of the city so that travel for him each day won't be so arduous. For those of you in Brisbane that means Sherwood, Chelmer, Graceville, Corinda area ... yes the "next town" is Ipswich. I was born in Ipswich and escaped when I was 18. That's 30 years ago. I know the city has grown and improved so much over that time but we are not quite ready to move back there. For one thing I work right in the centre of Brisbane and I'd be the one travelling!! The houses are lovely up there and very cheap compared to Brisbane. We could certainly get more bang for our buck and we're not ruling it out completely but .... I love Brisbane. So the house hunt goes on just in a different area. Not many bargains on that side of town :( At least Kelvin is getting substantially more money and will be so much happier in his new position.
What does a girl do when she can't settle on a house she has signed a contract on? She hits eBay and buys more "stuff". First a gentleman's wardrobe. (70s I think. It has trouser hangers inside.) My dip and strip man won't touch it. Too fragile so I won't sand it back, too much work. I'll either give it a light going over with fine sandpaper, steel wool and oil or maybe paint it when I know exactly where it is going in the new still to be found house. We think it will be a TV cupboard. (Photos are the seller's from eBay. These have gone to our storage shed seeing that we don't have a house :P)
The second purchase was this pair of swinging doors. Same seller, different houses. We believe there were more panels at one stage (imagine a wall of them). Thinking shutters or just leaning either side of a door. Love the carving. These will be painted as well. Colour? Still to decide. I'm too lazy to strip them by hand :) Had lots of luck at the thrift stores this week. Mainly fabric and West German and Israeli pottery and there was the huge twice yearly book fest where I picked up dozens of vintage penguin and pelican books but no photos yet. Maybe next week.
Reader Comments (2)
That wardrobe is to die for Jo! I have a 50s gentlemen's wardrobe with trouser hooks in my storage space at home that I adore. When I say storage space I mean my old bedroom at my mum's. It's so dear to me, it was the first time I took an interest in furniture. I think I was fifteen and when I saw it in a second hand store I was determined to have it. I swapped my entire childhood melamine bedroom set for it, leaving me with only the wardrobe and my mattress, for which I then went out and bought a giant black lace mosquito net with my first ever paycheck. Mum was a little shocked when she got home from work that day.
Congratulations to Kelvin! So this changes up the house hunt. I know there would be some lovely old places in Ipswich...but it would still be Ipswich. Before I came to Canada I came very close to buying a beautiful, affordable 1930s beach house in my home town with my best mate. We both thought the hour and half commute to the city would be worth it. We had both left as teenagers and thought we'd stake it out before signing. We spent a few nights going to the pub etc and realized the changes weren't for the better. The modernizing had just brought chain stores and chain restaurants. It had turned into a suburb with the same small minded attitudes of old but none of the small town charisma anymore. You can tell I'm bitter, right?
That's funny...I am keen follower of Desire to Inspire.. also like bargains on ebay.. this wardrobe was on my watch list.. I wanted to turn it into a beautiful shoe storage in our entrance.. Well I know it went to a good home..
Enjoy ! Annika