Inbound turning outbound

We recently replaced this wooden cupboard with
a larger one. I would have loved it as a linen closet
but we couldn't take it upstairs due to the tight stairway. 

Yesterday was a day that made my husband very happy even though he had to take some trouble to see it happen. We delivered the first item I have ever sold on an online auction to its new owner.

I am a great supporter of sustainability and have favoured recycled and second-hand products in my shopping for years. In fact, I have built up the sort of enthusiasm someone might call a passion for this kind of a lifestyle always preferring a reclaimed item or one made locally to something new and transported from a far-away place. My husband sometimes claims even our grocery tour is taking too long because I read the small print on the packages to see where the products I pick into my cart are actually coming from and don’t let the local labelling fool me.

In a world filled with perfectly usable used products, I do hate the thought that something – especially if it is a larger item such as a piece of furniture ­­– might have been manufactured, perhaps unethically, at a remote location and shipped across the globe just for me.

Moreover, like so many of us these days I’m counting decorating as one of my hobbies. So my house is full of reclaimed pieces and vintage finds from flea markets and charity shops, not to mention from the largest online auction in our country covering almost anything between heaven and earth. You wouldn’t believe the number of hours I’ve spent browsing on the site but the effort has been rewarded with quite a few great bargains and fabulous finds. Also the wooden cupboard I now sold was found on this online auction a few years ago.

The hall corner returned to a lighter decor.

However, it is this steady flow INTO the house that is starting to disturb my husband. I tend to become rather attached to the items I have had great pleasure and satisfaction in tracking down or sniffing out but I do agree we’ve reached the point when some clearing out is desirable. If only to bulldoze some space for the next outburst of sustainable decorating ideas to create my ‘perfect’ home.

Teresa Maria