Sunday 21 December 2014

Getting a Settle

When I first moved into this house, I had no furniture at all. Fortunately, my mum was clearing out the furniture from her old house in North Wales, as she'd decided to stay on her Greek island permanently, and she generously donated the lot to me.
Her house was slightly bigger than mine is, and some of the furniture was always an awkward fit.
Then a small amount of money was left to me in my step-dad's will (which I wasn't expecting) so I decided to use it for special treats.
I started to look at furniture.
Last year, I bought a new double bed, and then I started looking at a replacement for the sofa. I've always fancied a settle, partly because they are good for storage under the seat, which is always useful in a small house.
I saw a wonderful Prairie settle, with drawers under the seat, at Huws Gray - but it was bigger than the sofa I already had, and cost around £2,000. A bit out of my price range, even if it hadn't been too big to get into the house.
I considered the sort of bench where the back swings over to make a table top, but couldn't find one that I liked.
Then last weekend I was chatting outside Nantiques in Backfold, when I looked through the doorway and saw the perfect thing. It's a solid wood chest, with carved arms and an upright back, with a cushion for the seat and upholstered back.
I looked at it.
I sat on it.
I went away - and came back with the deposit.
It was delivered yesterday.

So now I need to get rid of the sofa.
It's a while since I was on Freecycle or Freegle, though I still get their emails regularly - and I found that I couldn't get access to their Yahoo Groups. My password took me to a 404 error message, even when I changed it. Fortunately, Hereford Freecycle now also has a Facebook page, and Brecon Freegle is on the ilovefreegle website. So I'm hoping that somebody will give it a good home.
In the meantime, my front room looks like an old-fashioned railway carriage.

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