Pinch me someone, so I know it's not a dream. We are cookin' in the house!  Sure, we're still trotting down to the shed fridge for milk. Sure, there's the odd extension cord snaking across the floor. Sure, there's a motley crew of standard lamps for lighting. But once we'd lit that stove, once we'd rustled up our first bowl of pasta and supped by candlelight, once the heavenly aroma of Phil's first in-house loaf of bread had wafted upstairs and down - well, that's when the house became our home. Do take a peek:
(Yes, I have become quite fond of the aerial shot. It does look pretty cool from up there.)


As kitchens go, I've always been more of a free-standing than built-ins kinda gal. Back in antiques shop days (ye gads, was that the 80s?) I couldn't get enough colonial pine dressers - and I had those shelves groaning with Victorian china and depression glass. These days I'm a tad more minimalist. That's not to say I wouldn't love some bespoke, handcrafted timber cabinets. But with the aim of finishing the house in this lifetime - and an increasingly shoestring budget - well, we've quite happily settled with Ikea.


Phil and I have had eyes on Ikea's Varde freestanding kitchen for some time. I do think it's rather handsome in a beefy, square-edged kind of way. And I love those sturdy, no-nonsense legs and stainless steel capped feet. It's a design that manages to look fresh and modern, yet comfortingly cosy and traditional. Ikea is, in many ways, a grand experiment in retail democracy, making good design accessible to all. But that's not to say it's dirt cheap. The selection above retails at around $AU5,000 (still peanuts compared to most kitchens, I know). Yet with a bit of sleight of hand, a bit of shopping around, and a bit of luck, we managed to pull it all together for around $1,500.
So may I humbly present my top 3 tips for Ikea bargain hunting:

1. Always check the bargain basement first: To do this, you need to enter the store from the exit - i.e. the checkouts on the bottom level. It's the Ikea version of running the gauntlet. Just wait for a break in the crowd and, scrupulously avoiding all eye contact with anyone in a polyester blue and yellow polo shirt, cut a headlong dash through the registers and back into the store. Saves so much time, and adds a brief - yet not unsatisfying - rush of adrenalin to an otherwise sedate shopping experience.
One happy day, we had our pick from a palette of Varde glass-fronted wall cabinets, complete with glass shelves and quality German Blum hinges, reduced from $250 to $50.

2. Ebay: There's tons (literally, that chipboard's weighty) of Ikea on Ebay - much of it still boxed and brand spanking new. There's either a lot of people terrified by alan keys and/or Swedish instruction leaflets, or else there's a lot of flatpacks - ahem - falling off the back of trucks (an alarming thought, particularly if you're riding behind on a Vespa).
From Ebay we scored those two big Varde benches, still boxed, for $400 each. Retail price $900 each.

3. Sales: Obvious, I know - but there's usually something on sale at Ikea. Stuff gets discontinued. You've just got to be lucky.
And we were, picking up the last two discontinued Varde cabinets (see either side of stove) for $150 each. About half price, if I remember correctly.


So happy hunting and good luck. Oh, and if you like that white porcelain sink, I need to tell you that it isn't standard. It's a clever Phil hack. How To coming soon.