To everyone out there reading this blog who was pulling for us to get the house of our dreams (remember walk-in closet and outdoor entertainment area) thank you thank you. We signed the lease on Monday night. To everyone out there who did not read out blog post, and was not pulling for us, thanks to you the owners would only commit to a one-year lease. So in a year or so, I may be pounding the pavement for new digs again - which will give all you non-blog readers a chance to redeem yourselves. But no use fretting over moving out before we've even moved in.
No, there is plenty of other stuff to fret about. Like how in the heck we will find someone to move us on 30 December when the whole city of Joburg (or the Big Smoke as it is sometimes affectionately called) closes down!!
Equally fretable is that the new place is unfurnished and as you know our current place is furnished - therefore doing the math, we will be moving with no furniture. Well, other than a bunkbed and chair which Aimee and Matt bequeathed to us so at least the kids will have a soft place to lay their heads, and Bill and I will squeeze into the little leather armchair to sleep.
Okay that is a little dramatic. Bill took the morning off yesterday and we flew around to all these furniture stores where I had done prior reconnaissance to check out the options. There is some beautiful furniture here, and I find myself caught between wanting a house furnished like I am a well established grown-up yet in the financial situation of a graduate student. Anyone have an old sofa they want to get rid of?
So, beds, dining table and a sofa are first priority. Oh, except fridge and washing machine are right up there too - rentals don't typically come with those white goods, so we must buy them too. And of course, a pot and some silverware will come in pretty handy, not to mention sheets for aforementioned bed. I was in our bathroom today, looked down and saw bathroom rugs. Okay, not first priority but you get the picture - there is a lot of stuff to buy when you are starting out with barely anything. Will our walls and floors stay bare for our duration here? Why why why didn't I pack a painting or two of my dad's?
Are you asking yourself why we find ourselves in this position in the first place? Because we thought for sure we'd be renting a furnished place - no need to bring a thing from the states. Then I found out from realtors that owners jack up the rental for furnished here beyond what I considered reasonable. So I got the bright idea that we would buy the furniture (which is very nice and very grown-up*) from the owners of this house we're currently in. They are divorcing and selling this house and I thought that they would want to liquidate all assets and sell cheap. Au contraire - they wanted to sell expensive. By the time I found that out I was already deep into the unfurnished rental market and there was no turning back. Especially when I found this house with you know - the walk in closet and covered outdoor entertainment area big enough for a dining table and lounge (did I already say that is South African for living room.)
And of course, said outdoor entertainment area needs to be furnished if we are to actually get any use out of it. Maybe I'll just entertain in the walk-in closet.
Stay tuned for photos of our new house come January.
*In fact it is the furniture in this house that has me coveting more grown-up furniture. You know our house in Boston - for heaven's sake half of the furniture we bought off a friend who was moving to South America and she had bought it from a second hand place; and the other half of our furniture was Ikea. Our dining room table was falling apart as Peter Twichell can attest to since his dinner nearly went on his lap one night. Our kitchen table was a hand-me down from my father and Marie. And Bill and I have never ever had a headboard - just box springs and mattress on one of those steel frames. In this house, we have a real headboard, and bedside tables that match. Twenty five years ago I was living in Africa in a house with no running water or electricity - now I am back in Africa, and I want a headboard and matching bedside tables. Oh how far I have fallen.
No comments:
Post a Comment