I’M sure I’m not alone in confessing to the odd daft purchase.

There’s that pair of jeans bought online. A bargain they were … but way too small. I kept them as incentive. One day they’ll fit, I told/kidded myself. That was four years ago.

Then there were the twigs. You know that last wee section of Ikea, before you escape to the checkouts? The bit where all the aspirational homeware knick-knacks live? That last piece in the Ikea retail jigsaw when your judgemental defences are at rock bottom and you just want to get too many cushions, some random candle holders, a clutch of crazily coloured napkins and the one item you actually came to buy paid for so you can make your bid for freedom?

That’s where I saw the twigs.

They came artistically arranged in a distressed metal receptacle and promised to look stunning in the living room.

Except … they didn’t. The twigs kept falling over. Even the addition of fairy lights could not enhance their appearance once located in our room and not the cool Ikea living space. Distressed? I was indeed.

They made for great kindling, though. All was not lost.

So I feel for Cal Hunter.

He went to an auction to buy a flat in Glasgow but instead ended up with one quarter of a derelict property 35 miles away in Dunoon.

Oops.

Hunter, 28, from Hull, and his 26-year-old Canadian girlfriend Claire Segeren wanted to start a new life in Scotland.

The pair met in France and, after backpacking across Europe and Canada, decided they wanted to live in the “vibrant city of Glasgow”.

While Segeren was in Canada, Hunter was set the task of buying a flat in the city at a house auction.

But things did not go as planned.

Hunter said: “I was struggling with the auctioneer’s Glaswegian accent.”

A property came up he liked the look of. He put his hand up to bid – no-one else did.

“I accidently bought the wrong house,” admitted Hunter.

But it was not only the location that was wrong for them, the couple soon realised they had bought just one quarter of the rundown Victorian villa.

“It was completely derelict, and it had been for 20-30 years,” added Hunter, who believes the picture used at the auction was taken from a flattering angle several years ago – which does not really explain the location mix-up.

But the couple were determined to make a home for themselves in the historic villa called Jameswood.

They tracked down the owners of the three other parts of the house and eventually managed to buy the whole property.

Then came what Hunter describes as the “colossal task” of fixing it up.

The couple moved into a caravan in the garden and started work, carrying out repairs a bit at a time and when they could afford it.

About two years after they made their unexpected purchase, they have still to move in.

They might not be going to Ikea any time soon, but if they do they might be advised to err on caution in the twigs department.