Champagne taste on a beer budget

Celebration
Originally uploaded by dopiaza.

Reality TV does really well in America and it seems that every TV channel has a do-it-yourself program, whether it features 'normal' people making over a house, or professionals moving in to renovate someone's house as a surprise. You know the drill.

Well I made the mistake this morning of leafing through Lex's furnitures store catalogues. 'Crate & Barrel' and its funkier cousin 'CB2' are America's answer to 'Freedom' in Australia (more or less). Selling everything from fridge magnets to complete dining settings, the glossy catalogues feature page after page of delectable delights. I'd like to say they cater for all budgets, but I'd be lying. But they DO cater to my tastes and it's just not fair. I hadn't yet had coffee and already I was coveting at least one thing on each page - all the while knowing that I simply can't afford them right now.

So I'm starting to wonder whether I will just have to start paying closer attention to these DIY cable programs.

I innocently suggested to P the other day that one of the scary things about moving in on my own was that I'll have to hang curtains. I don't know how to do that. And what if I'm not strong enough to get them up there. What about putting pictures on my walls? How am I going to know if it's done straight? What if I can't reach up high enough to put the frames where I want them? He laughed and suggested THAT'S when I call for help. Of the professional kind.

I decided then that I'd keep it a secret that I plan to pay the IKEA dudes extra money to set up my furniture when they deliver it. Chances are that if i didn't do that, everything would still be in flat packs six months down the track.