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Hey Owlets,
When i first moved into my home my budget was basically 0. Everything in our home was picked up for free or only a few pounds on Facebook marketplace. The new things that we bought were in the sales on Argos or eBay and we actually only bought two items brand new. There is genuinely nothing wrong with this - I encourage you to work with what you have and if that’s no budget then making your space feel like a home is still totally doable. Having said that, the things that we bought new for as little as possible have fallen apart so it turned out to be a false economy. Since moving in we have changed and upgraded several pieces and it’s really taught me the value of investing in your space if you can afford to. Whether that’s buying a more pricey secondhand piece or a new piece from a more reputable brand or small business, some things are just worth the money. With that in mind I thought we could take this opportunity to learn from my mistakes and talk about the pieces that are worth investing money into.
Your Bed (and any furniture which sees a lot of use)
When we moved into our home we bought a second hand bed frame on Facebook Marketplace for £50 and a brand new mattress for £100 on eBay, and it really didn’t take long to learn from this one. The bed was uncomfortable from day one and the frame squeaked, twisted and swayed whenever you sat down, stood up or turned over in the night which would constantly wake us up. Once we’d saved up we bought another bed from Facebook but it was almost brand new and much higher quality (we still only paid £170 for it though!) and were kindly given a mattress from a family member that had bought it for their spare bed and never used it. The difference in sleep quality is huge without spending that much more, so if you possibly can afford it then I would highly recommend you invest in a good quality bed. On the same vein, when I say “any furniture that sees a lot of use” I mainly mean movement; we have two sets of draws that were free and a bookshelf that’s from Ikea and both are falling apart!
Art Prints and Frames
Yet again, another complete journey with this one. When we first moved in I was convinced that we didn’t need art on the walls - just get enough furniture for us to live and it’ll be fine. Past me wasn’t wrong, we were fine, but it didn’t feel like a home. We invested in some art prints to liven up the big blank walls but tried to save money by buying cheap frames. This was, of course, a total disaster. After spending hours trying to hang the pictures my uncle (who’s a handyman by trade) came to put them up and also took several hours because the frames were such bad quality. After a few months the frames were starting to slip down the walls and were bent out of shape by their own weight so we ended up replacing those too. We bought proper frames and they’re fine now, but just take my advice and don’t try to cut corners. If the company you’re buying from offers framed prints then just trust me when I tell you that it’s worth paying a little extra!
Fine Art America have some great options in at the moment if you’re looking for inspiration - personally I’m obsessed with the “Hipster Animals” collection because I love the mixture of humans and animals into a kind of high end cartoon (and there’s an owl, obviously). Fine Art America have a huge range of art prints and frames prints on different subjects like landscapes, cars and animals so if you’re a little stuck on what to choose it’s a great site to check out.
Kitchen Utensils
Yes, another thing we cut corners on and hated ourselves for later. Why would you spend £15 on an oven tray when you could spend £3? The answer is that the coating lasts approximately 5 minutes and you will soon be caught in a trap of buying £3 trays every few months until you admit defeat and spend the £15 to buy the good ones that you should’ve bought to start with. The same goes for cheap whisks, cheap saucepans (particularly the non-stick kind - the coating peels off way too easily) and even kitchen technology like blenders. I would rather have gone without a blender until we could’ve afforded one than be in the situation now where it’s falling apart and we need to buy a new one. It’s a waste of money and it’s bad for the environment.
I’m going to leave this here now because I could go on for ages about stupid purchases that we made when we first moved in. If you’re just moving into your first home (or a new home) then please just take my advice and invest in quality - whether that’s art pieces or a bed frame - because you will very much thank yourself later!!
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