It initially starts off with much excitement - a little like the initial stages of the courtship but after 20+ months there lies much anger, cynicism and missed opportunities we were almost resigned to not ever finding anything.
No. 31 came as much of an afterthought. It was between an afternoon tea at the Wolseleys that I viewed the property much at the persuasion of the estate agent (who's now becoming a little bit of a nightmare. But hey! He hasn't met me yet! Until now....lol). It turned out to be a charm. More of disbelief that Mrs D could live with 3 young children (under the ages of 7), be a homemaker and keep the house in suchan immaculate condition after staying there for 7 years!!! How did she do it? It was more an aspirational moment as that's something I could most NOT definitely do.
After a second viewing 2 days later and 1 day before we were off to Japan we made the offer and it got accepted the morning we flew off for our holiday.
Much twists and turns later (lots of drama, scheming etc.), we've taken that one big leap and now solicitors are involved. The people at No. 31 have decided they will rent rather than buy (as this is their 4th failed attempt!) and we will hopefully move in end July.
I must say, house-buying is worse than getting married. It seems like there is so much more financial commitment at stake! lol....along with tears and trepidation and nightmares that come along with it. It is possibly also worse than giving birth. (though I have had no first hand experience, I've heard many accounts and some don't seem too bad at all)
Now comes thee better part of house-buying - home decorating.
Luckily for me, some of my quirky tastes have been (so far!) acceptable to Dr O and he actually quite likes some of the things I have picked out: notably a Chesterfield-type sofa, 50s vintage wallpaper, and mid-century Danish dining chairs.
As the former items will take much more measuring and did not provided instant gratification, my focus of much of last week was on mid-century Danish dining chairs.
The vintage Danish dining chair has always been my dream dining chairs. The slimline design, slightly curved back yet all made in solid teak wood along with the darkened patina that only comes with age appeals very much to me. The fact that it's also highly environmentally friendly to recycle, reuse something (rather than buy something out of a flatpack) and the fact that it's lasted 50+ years and still looks this good and feels so solid says much about its construction and durability.
I'm pairing my dining chairs with an Oval white acrylic table and the worries of a clash or a miss-match were completely unfounded. The oval table for all it's simplicity takes on any chair with a gust! - like nothing is too difficult to conquer and overcome.
The chairs meanwhile are, ... how shall I say, so so beautiful. I wake up every morning and after making my morning cuppa, sit into it and admire it's slimline design and solid construction.
These chairs that I have sourced from a dealer in Kent are not of any famous mid-century designer collectables (hence minus the expensive price tag) but are everyday items in Denmark in the 50s. They have been sympathetically reupholstered in a mid-weave herringbone that has tiny specks of orange yarn amongst the brown-beige fabric. Here's some pictures of this new darling of the house:
ooooh-- these are some very lovely chairs indeed!
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