One thing leads to a flipping nother!

"Nother flippin' thing to stress you out.

Soon be Christmas.

Ask yourself, 'Do I need it or do I want it?' If you need it and can afford it then buy it. On the other hand if you simply want it then wait two/three weeks and if you still want it and can afford it then buy it.

It reminds me of someone I used to know who decided the hall needed redecorating and ended up doing the whole house

We do not bother about things matching - apparently it is very fashionable to have non-matching stuff. Just as well! Fashion has caught up with us!!

Badenkate, that sounds a bit like us. We bought a silk runner carpet, in India, and had it sent home. It was for the hall, but didn't go with the carpet that we had. So we ended up having the whole house re-carpeted. Then to add insult to injury, the runner was about 3/4 " too wide. It is now residing upstairs, rolled up, under a wardrobe.

I know the feeling, Kittylester! I decided recently that we needed a new duvet as ours is too thin. That's ended up with us replacing our ensuite in the New Year - surely the most expensive duvet ever, and I haven't even bought it yet!

It's not so much buying stuff as knowing when to finish painting and decorating. Unless you carry on to the bitter end there is always another room looking shabby. We've just painted the bedroom but exhaustion has made us stop there!

Been there kitty, agree that a cooling off period can be helpful, if you still want it and the budget will cope after that then go for it. I find the more I want something the shorter the cooling off period is .

When you retire you suddenly have time to choose, instead of diving into the most convenient shop for something that will do! Enjoy replacing whatever you can afford and feel like. If you have not been to the Denby factory site it is well worth a visit, or take a trip round the Potteries factory shops! I have bought a heat resistant felt to fit my dining room table and cover it with a wipeable table cloth when DGC are staying, so much easier for art and craft and meal times.

DD said to me the other day that people lose "interest" in their homes and surroundings as they get older and it is true for me that if I like something I don't care if it is old fashioned or a bit (!) shabby. You seem to disprove this!
BTW it is very trendy to have mismatching china so hang on to that Denby, in fact scour the charity shops for more but in different colours!

We seemed to have changed everything since we retired we wanted to go contemporary and uncluttered/unfussy so that's what we have now. If you are selling your Denby let me know. I love all the designs.

I was looking for an advent calendar for myself, a pampering one but could only find either expensive or make up, and I don't use that much so that was no good. Ended up buying some felt, trimmings, little perfume samples to put in a stocking bunting I will make with it, but will also make stockings for the day for me and my doggie. It's true, I went online to buy cotton wool as I forgot it on my food order!

I really need a new sofa but can't bring myself to buy one as then I will need a new carpet which is shabby and then the walls need repainting so I ll stay comfortable and worn I think after all there is only me to see it all so hey ho spend the money on something else x

We changed just about everything when we down-sized, had to as the furniture we had was just too big for the space. Changed colours and some styles. It took a year before it felt like home , love it now just as well as I don't imagine we will be changing anything major in the future.

The best investment I have ever made was a huge PVC table cloth and heat protector for my (not very expensive, but all I will ever have) table . My 3 DGC love craft and my poor table shudders at the thought of glue, scissors and glitter. Wiped down and folded away once they have gone home and the table is non the worse for wear.

Ive bought one of those too, gilly and already have a heat protector for the dining room table. It might be a race to get the table covered before they get at the glue etc.

We are the same. We kept saying we needed a new settee suite but i refused to get one as our little dog was so use to jumping up beside me in the evenings i didn't want to make her old age a misery by saying 'get down' all the time.
When she passed away a few months later i said to hubbie shall we go look for some new furniture. His reply why there is only the two of us now there is nothing wrong with the settee, you can take the covers of to wash them it is comfortable, so here we are nearly four years after dog died with the same furniture!!! lol.

Our home is getting the "lived in" look, especially the carpets.
H is at the stage of spilling things and will go into the garden through the conservatory and come back in treading mud on the carpets. Obviously if it isn't one end of the age spectrum it's the other.He has become addicted to chocolate and drops it were he sits so sofas frequently have sat in chocolate (along with the back of his trousers). Oh we do have fun. I try to think of all the money I am saving by not renewing things, sometimes it works!!

"where"

I've never been one for changing things for the sake of it, but DH is decorating our dining room, which is a bit of a dark cave. It has become a receptacle for things we can't find room for anywhere else - a mahogany bookcase, s-I-l's late father's antique chair (we have been 'looking after it' for five years!), and a large dark wood wall unit with a display cabinet on the top. Just getting rid of that would increase the light levels, but I can't convince him. He's quite attached to it. It was in our living room at the last house and it suited its space, but not here. I'm working on him.

Ann60, I think I'm a few months after your husband, good at walking mud in and sitting in chocolate.
Luckily we have a conservatory which is used as a utility room between the huse and garden. We have cotton carpets which mop up most of the walked in mud etc. plus a Vax to clean them with when necessary. Just the chocolate to sort now.

[Ann] . How about festooning the chairs/sofas with throws which can be washed along with the trousers? Not sure about the carpets tho' .......

We retired and moved to a bigger house on the coast. I think the only furniture we still have 3 years later is the sofa ... and it'll be out the door too when we hopefully move house again next year.
We didn't buy posh but what we bought will last us forever ... good sturdy oak!

I've gone for the retro look, so the old Ercol stuff is super trendy. Denby is officially retro so I would hang onto it. I like the brown one with the cream stripe. You can buy bits on eBay.