6 Major Purchases That Could Not Wait: What I Purchased & Why

When I bought a second home a few months back, I wasn’t sure how long it would be before I moved there full-time. So I had some tough decisions to make about what to purchase for the home right away, and which things could wait. After thinking it over, I did what I always do when I’m in an unfamiliar situation and not exactly sure where to start—I started with the “knowns.” In my mind, there were two definite knowns: I knew I needed a comfortable place to sleep and a good place to work.

A Comfortable Place to Sleep: If I was going to spend any amount of time in the new house, I needed a bed—not an expensive, “forever” bed, but a bed that would be sturdy and comfortable so I could wake up each day feeling rested and ready to take on the challenges of moving into a new house, a house that needed a lot of updates and repairs to feel clean, safe, and comfortable.

So buying a bed was an easy decision. I briefly thought about just buying an air mattress or maybe an inexpensive bed frame, but I couldn’t let go of the idea of buying something attractive, too. This was the bed I purchased and though it will ultimately end up as a temporary arrangement, it has worked out wonderfully! (Sorry about the dim lighting, this photo was taken before I realized the overhead light only had a single 40-watt bulb inside.) This adorable, very reasonably priced bed (and mattress) has been awesome and exactly what I needed. I’m out like a light every night within seconds of climbing in! It will work comfortably until I am ready to move here full-time. (Bed is available here: Victorian Vintage Style Bed. Mattress is available here: Mattress. Laura Ashley flannel sheets are available here: Laura Ashley Sheets.)

A Place to Work and Play: The other big “known” was I knew I needed a place to work, read, and maybe do the occasional puzzle. Before I even closed on the house, in looking through the listing photos, I knew which room I wanted to use as my office. It was clear to me that my existing Pottery Barn Bedford corner desk would not work well in this room. Also, with windows down both sides, I didn’t want to face into a corner in this room, I wanted to enjoy the views out both sides of the room. After doing some online searching, I found a beautiful desk that got me super excited about the idea of creating a whole new office space. (The desk is temporarily out of stock where I purchased it here: Executive Style Desk, but I found it available here: Executive Style Desk.)

Constantly Assessing and Reassessing: Throughout this whole process of purchasing new things for the Dollhouse over the past 3 months, I have been constantly assessing and reassessing the practicality and need for each and every purchase. I had two questions that I kept asking myself with every single purchase, no matter how big or small. Those were: 1. Do I really need this item right now? 2. Will I later regret this purchase and see it as a mistake or a waste of money?

Even though I evaluated every single purchase, some were no-brainers and in my mind an instant, Yes! Fortunately, I already had a lot of the smaller items I needed for my office, having bought those over the years during visits to see family. But there were a few larger items that I hadn’t anticipated purchasing,  at least not right away.

A Refrigerator: My realtor had written into the contract that the sellers would leave the refrigerator. I hadn’t even thought about that and was surprised to see it in the contract. In the previous two times that I’ve moved in my life, I always took my refrigerator with me. Apparently, it’s not that uncommon—asking for it to be left with the home. After I moved in, I realized that all the appliances, including the refrigerator, were very old, at least 16-20 years old. The kitchen was last renovated about 20 years ago and I think that’s around the time most of the appliances were purchased. I found a date inside the refrigerator that indicated it was 16 years old.

Two of the shelves inside the refrigerator were broken right down the center, like they had been karate-chopped on the front edge of the shelf. One was so badly broken and slanted inward, I removed it immediately. The other one I left, but avoided placing more than one or two items on it. The icemaker did not work at all, and it gets very tiresome buying bags of ice that inevitably melt during the drive home, thus causing the cubes to fuse together once they are placed inside a freezer. Not fun separating them later! So an expense I hadn’t planned to make right away, became a priority. Though unexpected, I have zero regrets about that purchase since it was a tremendous lifestyle-enhancing purchase. Plus, it gave me the chance to try a French-door-style refrigerator, something I’ve been curious about for a while. (Refrigerator is available here: French-door Refrigerator with Craft Ice and Insta-view Door.)

Dyson Vacuum: Though the seller’s realtor hired a cleaning company to come in and clean the house after the sellers moved out, they didn’t arrive until a few days after I had started staying in the house. So I could not resist buying a broom and a vacuum to get a start on the cleaning. I already have a Dyson vacuum back home, so this was one of those harder purchases to justify. Did I really need a second Dyson vac?

I justified purchasing a new Dyson vacuum for two reasons: 1. I had often thought of buying a second vacuum for the Georgia house so I would have one on both the main floor and second floor, especially since the battery wasn’t quite large enough to clean all three floors without running out of battery. I almost always had a couple of rooms left when the battery ran out and needed recharging. Two vacuums would fix that issue. 2. Since purchasing my first vacuum, Dyson has come out with a new vacuum that has a much larger waste bin, so it doesn’t need to be emptied nearly so often. Love that! So I looked at this purchase as one that would be helpful in the future, no matter what. (My favorite Dyson Vacuum is available here: Dyson Vacuum.)

Speed Queen Washer and Dryer: Justifying this purchase was much harder than any of my other Dollhouse purchases since it was a pretty expensive one, and I had just purchased a new Speed Queen washer for my Georgia house last year. On my first visit to the Dollhouse for the closing, I was only there for around 3-1/2 weeks, and I only had access to the house for approximately 10 days before I had to return home. I had brought along a lot of clothes, so I never ran out of clean clothes. On my second visit, I wasn’t sure how long I would be staying, plus, I wanted to be able to wash towels and sheets whenever needed. I’m sure my son/DIL would have let me use their washing machine/dryer, but they do a lot of laundry with two boys playing sports, so I didn’t want to be in their way. There was only one thing to do, bite the bullet and buy a washer and dryer.

Thankfully, having already gone through the arduous task of choosing a washer the year before, I knew exactly which washer and dryer I wanted: Speed Queen! Two local stores carried SQ and had them available for immediate delivery. You don’t realize how wonderful it is to have a washer and dryer readily available whenever you wish, until you don’t have that. It truly felt like a luxury being able to wash and dry clothes, towels, and sheets whenever I wanted.

I was partially able to justify this purchase because when my 41-1/2-year-old GE washer died last year, I resisted the urge to buy both a washer and dryer since my dryer was still working fine. I figured if I ever renovated my laundry room, maybe I would buy the matching Speed Queen dryer then. That won’t be necessary now when I move to the Dollhouse one day. As popular as Speed Queen washers and dryers are, I could probably sell the extra washer when that move happens. I’ve even thought of sticking it over in the corner of the laundry room in case my son/DIL needs a new washer one day, but that may not be practical since it’s probably not good for a washer to sit unused for a long period. I guess I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I’ll share more about the basement laundry room in a future post. In the meantime, you’ll find this cute rug that I purchased for that space here: Wash, Dry, Fold Repeat Rug for Laundry Room, AND here: Wash, Dry, Fold, Repeat Rug for Laundry Room.

Dining Room Table/Chairs: The most recent (and probably the last for a while) larger purchase that I’ve made for the Dollhouse is a dining set consisting of a table and 6 chairs. This was a planned-from-the-start purchase since I have never liked my existing dining room set and have always planned to sell it if I ever moved.

The Dollhouse doesn’t have a breakfast room, only a smallish dining space that’s open to the kitchen. Even though I rarely use my formal dining room in Georgia, I’m not sure how I like the dining room being so open to the kitchen. In any case, the Dollhouse has a casual, cottage feel, so I don’t need a formal dining set for this space.

Plus, I want a table with an easy-going finish that my grandsons will feel comfortable dining on, and I won’t worry too much about it getting scratched. By the way, this set just went on sale for $200 less than I initially paid, so they are crediting me back the difference since it hasn’t shipped yet. (Dining set is available here: French Market Dining Room Set.)

Hope this answers a few of the questions I’ve had about some of my choices and recent purchases for the Dollhouse. It’s really hard to not go crazy and start buying furniture for all the rooms, but that would probably not be a great idea since I would be duplicating a lot of the furniture that I already have. I’m looking forward to posting some updates that will be happening in the Dollhouse very soon, including plantation shutters for the kitchen and office. Really looking forward to bringing up the dining room furniture once it’s back in stock and I receive it. Hope that happens sooner than the currently scheduled mid-October date.