Furnishing a new home - where's best?

cazs

I am in the process of buying a flat (moving out from parental home) and therefore will be looking to kit out the flat. Luckily the kitchen is intergrated so won't need to worry about white goods and so on but thinking more for bedroom and lounge.

What would, in others' opinions, be the best retailer for this? I can't afford made to measure or 'designer furniture' or so on but I was wondering what people have found to be the best quality, easiest to put together etc out of places like Ikea, Argos, Homebase etc. For example I was looking at the Ikea Aspeland range of bedroom furniture and just wondered how it may compare with say the Dorcester range from Argos.

I remember my dad got some bedroom furniture from MFI some years back and the quality was awful and clearly looked cheap and breakable.

So I was just wondering what other people had found and if there was any particular offers of events to look out for over the summer?

thank you

orange-sox

I have purchased a number of units from IKEA in the past, all of which are still standing despite numerous house moves and room reorganising sessions.

While I have no personal experience of any Argos furniture, a few of my friends have purchased wardrobes etc which upon initial building have seemed fairly sturdy, but do not take knocks/bumps/moving around very well, and have consequently had to be replaced, or fixed back together with some additional supports etc.

I suppose the good thing about Ikea is you can physically browse their products in store, whereas with Argos you're taking a bit of a gamble as it's all out of catalogues.

My main piece of advice though is while money's tight at the beginning, make sure to check out gumtree and or ebay for any pieces you need, there's always someone emigrating who's doing a house clearance or someone who's moving into furnished etc who's willing to do a good deal for speedy pick up!

Traveller1981

I would definitely recommend Ikea over Argos. As was mentioned above, Argos stuff doesn't like to be assembled more than once, whereas Ikea stuff will quite happily be reassembled numberous times. I have a lot of Ikea furniture (I was in teh same position as you, and had to kit out my first house) and am really pleased with the quality. So much so, that I keep going back to get more stuff and I moved in 2.5 years ago.

jenh111

Dont know if its the kind of thing you need to buy but we recently bought leather sofas from homebase and a dining table both these are great and they are always having 15% off weekends.

jenh111

We also have pine bedroom furniture from ikea and they are very good quality.

Traveller1981

Don't forget DFS do 4 years interest free credit on all sofas and you can often defer the first payment for up to a year.

FurryPaws

I bought oven, washing machine, fridge/freezer from Argos last year and all are fine.

I used local companies for TV stands, beds, tables etc.. more bargaining power and good quality. Not sure about Argos furniture.

Btw, Argos and Homebase are under the same umbrella company. If you go to homebase website you'll see the exact same products as in Argos. The receipts for the items mentioned above had both brand logos on them. Sometimes a product is listed cheaper on their sister site, so always check both before commiting

muskoka

I agree with another poster. I'd buy second hand stuff & enjoy the place presuming money is tight & then take your time researching exactly what you want for for where. Good luck

Cash-Cow_3

As an alternative to buying all new have you thought of getting second hand for now with a view to saving up for some really quality pieces over the years. The quality pieces will perhaps last a lifetime. Nothing against IKEA we have bits and pieces from there but the danger is your house just ends up looking like an IKEA show room and your guests will know where all your furniture has come from and how much it costs!

Philippa36

Sign up to freecycle and see what other people have to offer. Ikea, if you really want to buy new, but as already mentioned, you do get that odd 'showroom' look and at least with secondhand furniture, you can personalise your home.

Check out the shabby chic thread on Old Style and see what other people do with the bargains they've picked up from charity shops/freecycle/ebay.

HoneyBunnyPB

I find a range of furniture or specific item that I like from a store and then do an ebay 'saved search' for that item so I get an email anytime it pops up on ebay. We've bought a dining table and tv stand that way and both look brand new but cost next to nothing!