A sofa, a chest of drawers, the oven.

The first week or so that we were in the cottage there was not a stick of furniture, because well... we didn't have any!

Luckily Matt has some very thoughtful and kind parents who hooked us up with sleeping bags and airbeds and encouraged us to start finding the essentials.  The frugal hunt began on Gumtree and in charity shops, the English equivalents of Craigslist and thrift stores. 
The Sofa 
We got lucky here, I found this almost immediately after we started looking and the sellers were so nice.  They delivered it and helped us get it inside, which required removing and then reattaching the arms.

Thanks to Gumtree and some elbow grease we ended up with a sofa that cost us less than £100 but looks and feels like so much more!  The leather was faded and worn, but after the balm it is supple and soft.  You can really see the difference the balm and a buffing rag makes, this picture is at the halfway mark. 

 

A close up of the effects of the TRG leather renovating balm we used, we did the whole sofa and barely made a dent in the jar.  

The dresser

A little teak chest of drawers very possibly Mid Century (which we adore) that we think may have been homemade as we didn't find any ID marks.  I find it charming. 

We brought it home, cleaned it up, and stuck it in the entryway/kitchen to be a catch all for papers/keys.  Very useful as there are very few work surfaces, we immediately filled it with pasta.

The Oven.

We had some OVEN DRAMA that first week as well.  This was something we decided not to skimp on and did a lot of research picking out the right one.  The oven should have been there when I first arrived, but alas it was not.  In fact the oven we had ordered had been given to someone else and was now out of stock.  The supplier offered us a replacement, and we ended up getting quite the upgrade for the same price.  After about a week of eating in pubs every night the cooker finally arrived (a glorious induction hob) and the new under the counter fridge.  Matt and his father got it all hooked up in a jiffy, there was only one problem... it didn't fit in the space allotted.  OVEN DRAMA INTENSIFIES.  Luckily any DIYer knows that there are few problems which cannot be fixed with a hammer, his joke not mine.  

Tip: If you need to trim down a laminate/particle board counter top, use duct tape to create a strait cut line and to keep the top from chipping and cracking up.  Here Matt is being very manly about it with a huge saw.

So the cooker lives in its happy home.  We learned that the range hood does not work which adds to the humidity problem in the house, and that I am weird about reading instruction manuals.  We also got pretty hooked on finding vintage MCM furniture, but thats ok, its a big house.   

Reminder: If you buy used furniture make sure to check carefully for bugs and clean it well before bringing it inside. 

-Nicole