Where to buy decent affordable furniture?

plumfin

You can also use local paint strippers to strip any large wooden items for a reasonable amount. My local ones collect and drop off. However, make sure you use the right phrase on Google- I started with "Wrexham strippers" and you can guess what I got...

rosehip

I'd second M and S. I've bought several items of furniture from them recently and am really happy with all of them. I also like Homebase. I know it's cheap and cheerful but I bought a glass display cabinet from them a couple of years ago and it looks really classy and expensive - no one ever believes me when I tell them it's from Homebase.

System

pickles13 wrote: »

Cargo have nice furniture, some of it more affordable than other bits but it is lovely. I'm not sure if there is one in Ealing but you can order online. I also think you can get some really nice things in Ikea, especially for the slightly more expensive bits; we have a lovely dining table from Ikea.

There is one on Ealing Broadway and it has some decent stuff on display!

cte1111

We've just bought a new wardrobe and bedside table from Wren Living:
http://www.wrenliving.com/milano-cream-double-wardrobe/88078

http://www.wrenliving.com/milano-cream-2-drawer-bedside-table/88075

We were quite impressed with the quality, nice glossy finish and solid feeling, considering it's a flat pack wardrobe. They were quite inflexible on delivery dates but the delivery man was nice when he did come and said he had the same wardrobe himself.

I've bought quite a bit from Ikea in the past, I'm not keen on their sofas but had a great dining table and chairs, Billy bookcases and other bits and pieces. Also had a great Argos sofa but an awful Argos wardrobe that fell apart too easily.

davidmcn

TranceNRG wrote: »

I don't want cheap and nasty so have ruled out Ikea (unless you guys think they have decent stuff)

They have decent stuff (typing this from a c. 16 year old Ikea coffee table which is still in good shape).

TranceNRG

Wow I go away for a few hours and when I'm back and there are so many replies. You guys are amazing! I love this site.

I've saved all the places you mentioned on a word file and once I have the keys and start renovating, I'll start looking around.

Many thanks for the suggestions.

mustang1

You don't need to buy nice furniture all at once. When I bought my flat, I got lot of stuff from freecycle and friends (and friends of friends) who were looking to offload stuff. The IKEA Malm chest of drawers are brilliant and I don't think they look too cheap either.

Take your time to furnish your flat with furniture you like. It took me 5 years to slowly build up some of my favourite pieces in my victorian conversion flat. Tenants won't care as long as there is something to sleep in / put stuff in / sit on ( I rented my spare room out for 3 years)

My best buy is my bed from Warren Evans - I absolutely love it!

Missus_Hyde

We bought two loose cover "shabby chic" style sofas from DFS and they're still going strong after 16 years (they were expensive then, but came with a spare set of covers so still look like new.) We have also just bought a double bed and oak wardrobe from them and a beautiful leather chair; lovely quality and well made.

The only problem we had was that I neglected to take into account the small size of our lounge and the fact that furniture looks smaller in a large showroom; the result was that we had to take the bannisters down to get the sofas in the room!

Note to self......always measure room sizes and doorways before rushing into buying furniture!;)

ibizafan_2

Another vote for M&S, and it's worth keeping an eye out for when they have a sale on which is fairly frequently. I've also had furniture from Next, which is good quality. Not keen on IKEA stuff myself.

Anatidaephobia

If you're on a budget then definitely charity shops, ebay, Gumtree, Freecycle, etc and obviously Ikea. If you pick and choose, Ikea has some really great furniture. We've bought a few nice items from there which people don't believe are from Ikea. Gumtree is really good, we got some furniture in perfect condition for about a tenth of the price from Gumtree. Not a fan of DFS myself.

We also bought some bookshelves from Tesco last year which were ridiculously cheap (cheaper than Ikea and Argos) but turned out to be very sturdy and look good.