Making Do With What You Have

"Before" shot - bedroom with pink walls - we had patched the holes at this point

Our very outdated bedroom/mattress set will be left in the Alberta home for our own use when visiting family but as a result all bedroom furniture will have to be purchased here on the Island. Something I would not do is buy a used bed unless it was from a very close friend or family member due to the possibility of bed bugs. Our temporary bed had been a Coleman double high air matress that worked very well for a short period of time but due to hubby's bad back a good mattress set was an immediate requirement.

We ended up buying an extremely high end Sealy set with the low end price as it was a spotless floor model the local furniture store was no longer carrying and had been only been out on the floor for a short period of time. Due to buying local the store was able to deliver the bed within a few minutes of the purchase - for free. Retail on the bed? $1900. What did we pay? $1175 including a really good mattress pad. That still sounds expensive but is much cheaper long term than costly chiropractor visits for hubby. We did not buy a metal bedframe as intend to buy the bedroom suite as soon as we find the right one. Although we can afford to purchase a set right away as it was budgeted for I would like to shop around as it is a really large purchase and am trying to research to ensure we get the best deal. This is the best bed I have ever slept in and am very glad we found such a great deal.

Welcome to minimalist living or making due with what you have until your circumstances change. Two rubbermaid containers are our nightstands for now - they work quite well. The tv stand was borrowed from my mother - my stepfather(now passed) had made it about twenty years ago and it works perfectly for the space - as we only have 62 inches between the bathroom door and closet door we were very limited as this is where the cable outlet is. I know, some don't believe in a TV in the bedroom. We like one as watch lots of movies together and as hubby is also an audiophile and musician we also have all the surround sound crap to go along with it - this was all transported down in my car.
"After Shot"




This setup will work as long as it takes to find the right furniture for the bedroom, and also takes the pressure off to buy furniture right away that we may not be in love with. The bedroom looks so much brighter now that we have painted the pink out. We chose an off white - lighter colours work better in this area as winters can be long and dark (but much warmer than Alberta which is why we moved here!) and is much better for resale if we should ever choose to sell - such an easy way to bring equity to your home is to paint out the bad colours the prior owner chose. We will bring in bits of colour later with our choices of furniture and art. We only painted the bedroom and still have two others along with all three closets to paint the pink out of, a project for a later date.



I thought I would also share a photo of one last piece of furniture that was sold off in Alberta - our china cupboard (was purchased for $500 about eight years ago but well taken care of). When we removed it from the dining room the space looked larger and we kept the table and six chairs for family use when we are there. We sold it for $275 and the downsize crap sold tally aka Vancouver Island fund came to $8185 (the truck was $5500 and the rest was furniture and household items). We were a little surprised at how high that tally was considering we ended up taking the house off the market and keeping some of the furniture we had originally intended to sell to furnish the Alberta home until we sell in a couple of years.

This afternoon we fly off to Alberta to make the second long run with the rented one ton truck and the rest of our "stuff" that made the downsize cut. And yes, the gigantic thistle is no more. You were all so wonderful in your identification of my flowers. Thanks and cheers!