There's no such thing as a free lounge...

But faced with silly-season copy flow, staff at The Argus in Brighton have blown that theory out of the water.

In just a day and a half, reporter Miles Godfrey found, collected and constructed a completely free living room - armed only with the classified ads, a van and a telephone.

He set up the newly acquired pad on Hove beach, sat back and admired the view, smug in the knowledge the magnificent vista he was enjoying cost thousands of pounds less than most other seafront rooms.

With millions of people across Britain struggling to get on the housing ladder, and thousands more recently losing their possessions in horrendous floods, The Argus showed that you do not have to spend thousands of pounds on furnishings for your home.

The first item to be acquired was an upright piano, being thrown out by a family from Shoreham who needed to make space in their home.

After half an hour spent manoeuvring it into the van it was quickly back at Argus House.

Next was a bookshelf in perfect condition, being thrown out by a woman, also in Shoreham - perfect for weighty tomes on journalism law and the art of reporting.

Then the centrepiece of the room - a sofa. A woman in North Chailey was only too happy to give one away, by advertising two in the classifieds, both in good condition.

A free TV was secured from Astra TV Services, quickly followed by a chair from Brighton and one or two ornaments, all on offer in the classifieds.

Then Miles and his team rumbled down to Hove seafront where, in just under an hour, the whole lot was unloaded and set up.

Miles said: "Before you could say 'free lounge', we were sipping on cups of tea and reading the day¹s newspaper. The spectacle drew many admiring glances.

"Kirstie Cheal, from Brighton, even stopped off for a sit down and a play on our piano.

"Another passer-by, Pat Calder, on a trip from Kent, said it just goes to prove you don't need mega bucks to live fairly comfortably, and we couldn't agree more."

All the items collected went to good homes.

Miles welcomes Kirstie to the new pad