Furniture for a whole house - any tips?

emily95

My old mum is having some work done in her house, and one of the projects is furnishing the whole house (after its been painted and decorated) - which includes a new kitchen, wardrobes and beds etc. for 3 bedrooms, living room (sofas etc.) and so on... It's obviously going to be an expensive round, so if we can make any savings, it would be great.

We're looking at furniture in the style of Ikea - i.e. fairly modern, value-for-money, and are hoping to take advantage of the sales to save some money. So far, we've looked at the kitchens from Ikea, and will make use of their 5% signing up discount. Any other savings from Ikea that I am not aware of? Any experience with negotiating extra discounts for large purchases?

Other value-for-money furniture stores that anyone can recommend? Any sales that I mustn't miss?

I'm a newbie moneysaver, and so far been chuffed with the advice received regarding a new boiler...

Happy New Year to everyone!

Sumostar

Try putting together a full, room by room list of all the items that you want. Hopefully this will bring the prices down ( for the bulk purchasing ) and prevent you from being sold items that you don't want, such as foot stools, standard lamps, nests of coffee tables..... It will also allow you to tick things off as you find absolute bargains that cannot be missed, leaving you to haggle over the rest.

scheming_gypsy

start be going minimalistic throughout the whole house. Just pick up the essentials, sofa, tables etc etc.
From then you can decide if you actually 'need' all the things you were going to buy. You mum might prefer it with less in and get rid of some clutter or put it into storage instead of having everything out in the rooms (i wish mine would)

skintchick

Does your mum not already have furniture?

emily95

skintchick wrote:

Does your mum not already have furniture?

Yes, but it needs replacing! The beds are old and worn out and the other furniture is outdated.....

geo555

Try contacting local auction houses to see if any sell ex showhouse furniture. If they do there will be plenty of bargains to be had.

skintchick

emily95 wrote:

Yes, but it needs replacing! The beds are old and worn out and the other furniture is outdated.....

Just cos it's outdated doesn't mean it's not useable - not very moneysaving...

If you do replace it all, at least offer your old stuff on https://www.freecycle.org so someone else can make use ofit.

scheming_gypsy

to be honest skint chick, if they're doing a lot of work in the house and then filling it with the old 'crap' defeats the object of doing the work

emily95

skintchick wrote:

Just cos it's outdated doesn't mean it's not useable - not very moneysaving...

If you do replace it all, at least offer your old stuff on https://www.freecycle.org so someone else can make use ofit.

I know what you mean, but sometimes you have to makes changes in your environment, even if it means that it is not "moneysaving". She's had the same furniture since we kids lived at home (and I am now 37!), so it's time for a change and to brighten up her house

I am sure that someone else will be able to make use of some of the furniture, and we are getting the a local organisation (Paradise furniture project)to pick it up. This project helps families who need help.