Furniture for first flat

Slimchandi

I'm moving into my own place in a week or so. I've opted to go unfurnished, but I still need to buy a few essentials to get started, notably:

• bed frame and mattress
• wardrobe
• sofa
• coffee table
• optional table and chairs for living room

Does anyone have any suggestions where to get the best value for money on these items? Any view on whether the big box stores (Ikea, Homebase, B&Q) will be any good? Any chains to particularly avoid as well? I don't mind paying a little money to make sure I get something which will last for at least a couple of years, but I'm not looking for solid oak credenzas yet! I'd figured for a budget of around £800 to £1000 total.

italiastar

Ikea are Ok - look at their "damaged" stock near the checkout - you might pick up a bargain. John lewis have better starter furniture - have a look online, but might be a bit more expensive. Otherwise why don't you try freecycle - you should find a bed - if wooden, just get your own mattress - and other items.

Good luck

yumyums

The basic stuff in Ikea is really cheap but tends to be bland looking. I had this in my first flat and it all lasted fine but I got rid of it all as I don't think it's furniture you want to keep for life!
You can get nicer stuff in Ikea if you spend a bit more. If you buy a bed from Ikea be aware that their frames are not standard British sizes so it might be hard to find a non-Ikea mattress to fit.

In my current home I've got some really nice stuff from Ebay very cheaply. Cheaper and nicer than you could get from Ikea I'm sure. We got an entire dining suite - table, chairs, sideboard & coffee table for £300! Some of it needed a bit of work (eg I had to reupholster the dining chairs but I did this myself and it was fairly easy and didn't cost too much). Also look in department stores for ex-display furniture. We saved £400 on our sofa this way.

mr_rush

buy the best mattress you can afford. a good night sleep is priceless.

mkaibear

Slimchandi wrote: »

I'm moving into my own place in a week or so. I've opted to go unfurnished, but I still need to buy a few essentials to get started, notably:

• bed frame and mattress
• wardrobe
• sofa
• coffee table
• optional table and chairs for living room

Does anyone have any suggestions where to get the best value for money on these items? Any view on whether the big box stores (Ikea, Homebase, B&Q) will be any good? Any chains to particularly avoid as well? I don't mind paying a little money to make sure I get something which will last for at least a couple of years, but I'm not looking for solid oak credenzas yet! I'd figured for a budget of around £800 to £1000 total.

Freecycle / Freegle. See what you can pick up over a few weeks. There's usually some stuff on there. Then spend the £800 to £1000 on a small number of decent bits of furniture that will last.

ormus

for that sort of budget youre stuck with ikea and argos etc...
of all the large shed, cheap places, ikea is hard to beat.

soupdragon10

How about the dreaded e-bay if you have a largish car? I've picked up some really good quality bargain furniture from sellers local to me. As others have said if you get a reasonable bed base you can spend some of your budget on a really good matress which is one area you don't want to cut corners.

Russe11

local auction houses, second hand funiture shops

scubaangel

The boy and I moved in to our first flat last month so far we've spent just over £1k
Bed frame - £135 (bensons for beds)
Mattress - £120 (amazon)
Suite (sofa, chair and pouffe) - £750 (dfs)
Coffee table -freegle
One tall and one short bookcase - £93 (homebase)
We've got wardrobes and bedside tables priced up at Homebase for £200 which will be next months purchases.

If you can be disciplined about it order sofas and use interest free credit but only if you know you can have it paid off by the end of the deal, we didn't but I used a 0% credit card for the same effect.

TBH we've found its the small stuff which has crept up on us cost wise, things like pots and pans, bedding (we bought a king size bed when we both had doubles at our old places), rugs, kitchen electricals like the kettle and toaster etc.

sharkie

my list:

Only things that fold, disassemble and can easily be stored, go up stairs and around corners. My mum had an £800 two seater setee that now a neighbours cat sleeps on - the setee did eventually go up my stairs, but would not go through my front door - no you could not dissemble it.

A decent matress - even if it goes on the floor, fridge, kettle, microwave.

The rest from ebay, gumtree or freecycle. picked up an £80 ikea kitchen table of ebay for 60p. picked up a solid pine kitchen table with 3 chairs for £1.20.

futon, so friends can sleep over

The odds are that you will be moving quite a bit, so perhaps you want items that incure no expensive removal vans or can be chucked to avoid storage costs.

italiastar

eBay is a fantastic idea - avoid the 0% pay in 5 years sofa merchants as you'll still be paying for it when it's long past it's best. Stick to what you can afford - for example Ducal furniture is dirt cheap in eBay - watch the chairs though - the joints tend to weaken with time, but as long as they are not broken you can re-glue them.