The Art of the Considered Purchase

This one is for Lyn.

In April, my best friend of twenty-one years packed up her entire life, sold everything she owned, and moved to Tasmania. She bought a house — her first in Tasmania — right across the road from the beach. And the house came with furniture.

Now, on the surface, that sounds like a bonus. And in the practical, just-moved-across-the-country sense, it absolutely was. But the furniture that came with the house wasn't really Lyn's style. When I say her style, I mean our style — because after twenty-one years of friendship you tend to develop a shared language around these things.

There were big, cold leather couches. And one of them was red.

So Lyn lived with them for a few months, got settled, got her bearings, and when she was ready — she called me.

Start with the feeling.

We spent three hours on the phone. Three hours. And I want you to know that not a single minute of it was wasted, because before we talked about a single piece of furniture, we talked about the house. Lyn sent me little videos and photos — the rooms, the light, the layout. And the one thing that stood out immediately was the kitchen: a massive ocean glass splashback, visible from the living area, those soft blue-green tones that belong completely to the sea.

The house itself has an industrial edge to it — more warehouse than beach house. But that splashback? That was our anchor. Those colours, that feeling of water and light — that became the compass for everything else.

Once we knew how we wanted the space to feel — relaxed, coastal, warm, a little bit Hamptons — we could start talking about furniture.

The couch conversation.

A sofa is one of the most considered purchases you will ever make for your home. It's the anchor piece of a living room. It sets the tone for everything else in the space. It's where you will spend a significant portion of your life — reading, watching, talking, resting. It deserves to be chosen carefully.

I had already fallen a little bit in love with a couch from Early Settler called the Lisette — a gorgeous deep striped fabric, beautiful legs, rolled arms, big cushions, the kind of comfort you sink into and don't want to leave. I thought it might be exactly right for Lyn's place.

But here's the thing about considered purchases: the right piece has to speak to the person who's going to live with it. Not to me.

Lyn walked into Early Settler in Tasmania, and she fell in love with the Stitch. Gorgeous velvet, a vertical channelled back, straight clean arms, and a presence in a room that is quietly, confidently beautiful. I might have chosen differently for myself — but the moment she described it to me, I knew it was right for her. And I'm very glad she chose it in Indigo.

She also found an occasional chair — a beautiful striped pattern that sits alongside the Stitch couch like they were always meant to be together. Which, in a way, they were.

On doing this across a time zone.

Here's the part I love most about this story. Lyn was standing in Early Settler in Hobart. I was sitting at a coffee shop in Mandurah. She asked the young sales assistant to give her a minute, stepped aside, and FaceTimed me — because she wanted to talk it through before she committed to anything.

Which is quite funny, really, because Lyn has impeccable taste. She didn't need my approval. But that's not really what she was asking for. She was asking for the thing that twenty-one years of friendship gives you — someone who knows your eye, knows your home, knows what you're trying to create, and can say yes, that's the one with complete conviction.

We have never once let distance or time zones get in the way of doing the things we love together.

She ordered the couch. She ordered the chair. And now they’re in place, those cold leather couches have made way for a living area that feels warm, coastal and completely, unmistakably Lyn. She’s since added a lovely swivel armchair from Temple & Webster, too. Her home is coming together in her own time, one considered purchase at a time.

The art of it.

A considered purchase isn't about spending more. It's not about taking longer or being indecisive or waiting until everything is perfect. It's about knowing what you're trying to create before you go looking for the thing that will help you create it.

Start with the feeling. Find your anchor. And when the right piece speaks to you — and it will — trust it. Even if you're standing in a furniture store in Hobart with your best friend on FaceTime from a coffee shop fifteen hundred kilometres away.

Especially then. 🤍