Where to look for 1st house furniture bargins.
Discussion
I'm soon to be moving into an unfurnished flat.
My girlfriend and I have some money set aside for furniture. Unfortunately, seeing what we will need to buy, it's not loads in the big scheme of things.
Where can you get bargins? We're after some big items like a double bed, sofa, dining table, desk etc..
The bed for example, we want it to last and not get the annoying creek a few months in.
Are there any gems out there going unknown?
My girlfriend and I have some money set aside for furniture. Unfortunately, seeing what we will need to buy, it's not loads in the big scheme of things.
Where can you get bargins? We're after some big items like a double bed, sofa, dining table, desk etc..
The bed for example, we want it to last and not get the annoying creek a few months in.
Are there any gems out there going unknown?
ihave a nice dinning table with 4 chairs for £100, i cant think to be honest, Ikea is one of your best bets, try searching online theres got to be lots out there, sure someone on here can help 
PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
Edited by paul26982 on Thursday 18th June 19:23
paul26982 said:
ihave a nice dinning table with 4 chairs for £100, i cant think to be honest, Ikea is one of your best bets, try searching online theres got to be lots out there, sure someone on here can help
PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
Have looked at Ikea and will be popping down. Just I've herd some things can lack the build quality.PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
Edited by paul26982 on Thursday 18th June 19:23
Something like a bed, you want a good one to last a while. Things like chest of draws and cupboards seem fine in flat pack, I just didn't want a flat pack flexy bed for example. I've broke two before and the current one squeaks. Don't know how this comes across!
Anyone anything to say on the quality of Ikea? Planned one a few things from there.
Gingerbread Man said:
Anyone anything to say on the quality of Ikea? Planned one a few things from there.
As far as I'm aware Ikea stuff is tested to destruction. I have had no issues with the quality considering the price.With flatpack it is often down to assembly. When building Ikea stuff I always try to beef things up a bit, glue on the dowels etc.
Gingerbread Man said:
paul26982 said:
ihave a nice dinning table with 4 chairs for £100, i cant think to be honest, Ikea is one of your best bets, try searching online theres got to be lots out there, sure someone on here can help
PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
Have looked at Ikea and will be popping down. Just I've herd some things can lack the build quality.PS its always hard first starting out, learn to crawl before walking, dont get yourself into debt for wanting everything now!
Edited by paul26982 on Thursday 18th June 19:23
Something like a bed, you want a good one to last a while. Things like chest of draws and cupboards seem fine in flat pack, I just didn't want a flat pack flexy bed for example. I've broke two before and the current one squeaks. Don't know how this comes across!
Anyone anything to say on the quality of Ikea? Planned one a few things from there.
tbh you cant beat ikea though who cares if it wont last 10 years will you want the same thing in 10 years?
B17NNS said:
Gingerbread Man said:
Anyone anything to say on the quality of Ikea? Planned one a few things from there.
As far as I'm aware Ikea stuff is tested to destruction. I have had no issues with the quality considering the price.With flatpack it is often down to assembly. When building Ikea stuff I always try to beef things up a bit, glue on the dowels etc.
ive had lots of things from ikea, bedroom furniture, draws and a bed, wood low japanesse style, was great quality, just buy a matress from there too or you will have a gap at the side and bottom of the bed if you dont as there european sizes, alittle larger than our uk ones, my furniture was from the malm range. to be honest on a sofa too, dfs we went too, paid £1000 about 4 year ago we due for a new one next year even though its still in good condition.
This won't fit well with PH but DFS, SCS etc all have the option of interest free credit, which will expand your sofa budget. Alternatively local auction sites, Ikea beds are great and are designed to last the Malm range will hold up better than a cheap bed from one of the furniture barns, nothing worse than hearing your bad crack and groan while you are enjoying the benefits of living together 
/
/Join Freecycle and get it for nothing
Cancer research / Lions Club / Sue Ryder / etc shops
Junk shops
Car boot sales
Paper small adds
The local Furniture Recycling Project
Ask friends and relatives if they know of anyone who has something you might find usefull. They often do, sometimes they have stuff in their garage or attic that they'd like you to have now you mentioned it.
Any surviving small shops dealing in furniture may undercut the bigger shops on some items, always worth a look.
We have bought all our white goods from a small appliance shop for twenty years and he's always undercut the big shops by usefull ammount.
Find out if there is a community project van that you can use to get the stuff home. We used the local Fair Share group van to bring home our three piece suite.
Cancer research / Lions Club / Sue Ryder / etc shops
Junk shops
Car boot sales
Paper small adds
The local Furniture Recycling Project
Ask friends and relatives if they know of anyone who has something you might find usefull. They often do, sometimes they have stuff in their garage or attic that they'd like you to have now you mentioned it.
Any surviving small shops dealing in furniture may undercut the bigger shops on some items, always worth a look.
We have bought all our white goods from a small appliance shop for twenty years and he's always undercut the big shops by usefull ammount.
Find out if there is a community project van that you can use to get the stuff home. We used the local Fair Share group van to bring home our three piece suite.
DON'T buy sofas from DFS or such like, they are crap, all of them, I mean every single thing they sell. I am a upholsdterer ( run my own business uxbridgeupholstery.co.uk ) and we also have 4 shops selling new furniture ( UB8.co.uk ).
All of the shows we go to we see the sofas that DFS and the ilk buy, you see the buyer walking around and havign the meetings, as a basic rule what ever they sell the sofa for in the "sale" is roughly 4 times what they pay for it, so the "double discount" leather three pc suite with dining table thrown in for £895, cost all in about £225, I can;t even get the leather to cover the sofa alone for that price, so there are MASSIVE shortcuts taken frame wise and padding wise.
I won't even recommend buy a second hand one, but if you can get it cheap enough then fair enough. I do alot of repairs of these sofas, and I am embarrassed to tell people the Italian leather sofa suite they bought for £2000+ and is "high quality" is a pile of toot, sometimes I have to do reports for court cases and when you show people what is on the inside ( cardboard instead of webbing and Hessian, chipboard, fibre board instead of hardwood frames, staples instead of screws) they quickly get angry.
People will say they have had a sofa from there that has lasted years, and thats great but trust me it isn;t the rule.
Best bet is a secondhand sofa in the ads bought originally from somewhere like John lewis or M&S, Furniture village are not bad retailers.
I feel very sorry for the people who end up paying full price, it is like paying £28 for a Macdonald's, worst thing is they end up convincing themselves they bought a gourmet burger.
All of the shows we go to we see the sofas that DFS and the ilk buy, you see the buyer walking around and havign the meetings, as a basic rule what ever they sell the sofa for in the "sale" is roughly 4 times what they pay for it, so the "double discount" leather three pc suite with dining table thrown in for £895, cost all in about £225, I can;t even get the leather to cover the sofa alone for that price, so there are MASSIVE shortcuts taken frame wise and padding wise.
I won't even recommend buy a second hand one, but if you can get it cheap enough then fair enough. I do alot of repairs of these sofas, and I am embarrassed to tell people the Italian leather sofa suite they bought for £2000+ and is "high quality" is a pile of toot, sometimes I have to do reports for court cases and when you show people what is on the inside ( cardboard instead of webbing and Hessian, chipboard, fibre board instead of hardwood frames, staples instead of screws) they quickly get angry.
People will say they have had a sofa from there that has lasted years, and thats great but trust me it isn;t the rule.
Best bet is a secondhand sofa in the ads bought originally from somewhere like John lewis or M&S, Furniture village are not bad retailers.
I feel very sorry for the people who end up paying full price, it is like paying £28 for a Macdonald's, worst thing is they end up convincing themselves they bought a gourmet burger.
Edited by Tampon on Friday 19th June 10:09
Gingerbread Man said:
I'm soon to be moving into an unfurnished flat.
My girlfriend and I have some money set aside for furniture. Unfortunately, seeing what we will need to buy, it's not loads in the big scheme of things.
Where can you get bargins? We're after some big items like a double bed, sofa, dining table, desk etc..
The bed for example, we want it to last and not get the annoying creek a few months in.
Are there any gems out there going unknown?
Ebay - we've sold a £3k leather suite for £120, table'n'chairs for peanuts - as long as you're prepared to hire a van to collect, you'll save a fortune. Keep it local, and inspect the stuff first. Loads of 'bargins'.My girlfriend and I have some money set aside for furniture. Unfortunately, seeing what we will need to buy, it's not loads in the big scheme of things.
Where can you get bargins? We're after some big items like a double bed, sofa, dining table, desk etc..
The bed for example, we want it to last and not get the annoying creek a few months in.
Are there any gems out there going unknown?
Regarding the bed, if you're worried about it creaking after a few months, I'd recommend marriage.
Certainly stopped our bed squeaking anyway...
If I was in your position I'd head for Ikea (the 21st century version of Habitat). OK so it's not exactly solid mahogany, but it's affordable and modern.
Or you could head for the second-hand look and head for an auction house or charity shop. If you've got good taste you could end up with quite an interesting house!
In 10-20 years tme you'll be looking to sell whatever you buy now and move on. Note that if you buy 'modern' now, it'll be worth nothing later. If you buy antiques, they will retain and possibly increase their value.
Another source of stuff is workmates. I remember getting a bookcase, TV unit, dressing table and curtains for free - they were pretty ghastly (teak effect plastic and yellow stripes) but they were free
Or you could head for the second-hand look and head for an auction house or charity shop. If you've got good taste you could end up with quite an interesting house!
In 10-20 years tme you'll be looking to sell whatever you buy now and move on. Note that if you buy 'modern' now, it'll be worth nothing later. If you buy antiques, they will retain and possibly increase their value.
Another source of stuff is workmates. I remember getting a bookcase, TV unit, dressing table and curtains for free - they were pretty ghastly (teak effect plastic and yellow stripes) but they were free
Gassing Station | Homes, Gardens and DIY | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff