How I Plan To Furnish A Second Home

I shared with you all this last week that I am embarking on a HUGE project.  My retirement goal.  You can never start planning too soon for retirement.  It happens sooner than we think it will.  One of my co-workers just turned in her retirement papers last week.  She said it feels rather strange and surreal.  It's hard for her to believe that it is actually happening now.  It was only a year ago we had discussed her plans in the break room and I'm sure she'd be the first to agree it came around awfully fast.  I have some time to wait until I'll be turning my retirement paperwork in, but that doesn’t mean I can't get started right now.

I also have a short amount of time, less than two years, to wait until my finances are where I want them to be before I actually purchase my second home.  So while I wait I plan to work on some smaller projects geared toward furnishing my new home.  Not only will this allow me to accumulated the items I will need but it will keep me busy while I wait.  And it will be fun.

My hope is to find a little house around 600 to 800 square feet.  Much like the home my great grandparents had in Spokane, Washington.  Preferably built in the 1940s, my favorite home I've ever lived in was a rental built in 1946, and because I love the warmth and coziness of those little homes.  Especially those hardwood floors and arched doorways.

My home now is more contemporary in style and as you may recall I refurnished it with all new furnishings, on a rather tight budget.  I love how my home looks and feels.  The reality is that the stuff in my  home now will be old and worn by the time I retire.  And honestly, I'll be ready for something different.

eBay purchases

This time I don’t plan to furnish my second home with all new stuff.  Quite the contrary.  I want some used things, vintage things, things from the 1940s and homemade things.  And the reason I want to furnish my new home like this is because I plan to take all the wonderful things I have inherited from my grandparents and finally have a place for them.  My grandma's Tiffany lamp and her china, my great grandma's oil lamps, my other great grandma's framed floral print (a calendar page from 1929), her Boston Baked Beans crock and her mahogany side table, my other great grandma's silver and her pretty vase and oodles of other treasures I am fortunate to have.

My latest doily creation

I want to make A LOT of stuff for my new home.  I'll be searching thrift stores, antique shops, eBay and craigslist too.  Finding things to revamp and fix up will all be part of the process and I'll be posting my projects as I go.  Perhaps you'll be inspired to try a few projects yourself.  And if you do I hope you will share.  J

Time to get busy!