New house furnishing and appliances shopping advice

Smodlet

Doozergirl said:

Smodlet said:

warby68 said:

You might be better on more specialist boards dedicated to decor. This site has money saving as its over arching ethos so having a designer dress your home might not be something many posters can meaningfully comment on.
My advice would mainly be don't rush - get in there and take your time to decide what kind of look and what kind of things you want in the various spaces, using cheap basics or what you have meantime. 
One other thing is that there is a lot of ground between the 2 stated options in your OP. Lots of mid range high street stores have a design service at modest cost which will put room plans together for you without much obligation for example.
What I used to do was use Rightmove (or predecessors) to view for decor, furniture and ideas in similar or usually slightly aspirational properties as, for the most part, these are presented as real lived in homes, not artificially dressed ones like the old showhome with mini furniture and the no TV or fireplace trick.

Yeah... The name of this site is not moneynoobject.com...

I would have thought you'd been here long enough to comprehensively understand that Martin's ethos is that people can buy, have and enjoy what they like.  The purpose of the site is to help save money on whatever purchases one makes, or where a discount might not be available, to help save money in other areas to allow luxury purchases to be more affordable.  

If the OP is considering a designer then they can learn to save money in different areas.  Someone's already pointed out that certain retailers offer a discounted design service. 

I design home interiors, not the soft stuff, and I certainly don't design for myself.  You have to be sensitive to what people like and help them to interpret that.   I've put in plenty of stuff that I wouldn't choose for myself.  An orange bath was a good example.  I found it, ex-display for a client knowing that she'd love it and she's enormously proud of her mid-century style bathroom.   She loves design but I know that she'd never have been able to put together what I did for her, with a small space and some pretty awkward corners to contend with, so I'm proud that she gets to enjoy it every day.  We also went to the Porcelanosa garage sale and picked up her tiles for £5 a metre.  

I was in a clearance shop the other day looking specifically for a higher end client to try and save them some money.   

My wallpaper and soft furnishings lady sells wallpaper and fabric at internet prices whilst offering the design service with it.  Trade discounts with a margin can work out less than going to shops, even with an MSE hat on.   

There's not a shadow of a doubt that a designer can achieve much more beauty than the average house.  If that's what motivates you, then have one.  If not, then Instagram is absolutely full of people just doing it for themselves and showing videos of how and why and where.    There's no need to take from one place, in fact, taking from one place can be pretty boring.  Buying second hand or up-cycling or just rethinking where an existing item is used can be really rewarding.  

OP, I can recommend John Pye auctions. You'll find them online. I got that tip from an Influencer!  There are some outrageous bargains to be had from retailers like John Lewis, M&S, Made.com, Loaf, Feather & Black, Bathstore etc...   I recommend going along to view though, because things are sold as seen and even an item in a box may not be complete.  That said, the prices can be worth the risk.  I picked up some Bathstore pieces that I was specifically looking for, for over 90% off their RRP.  

Oh, and OP, yes, black appliances are coming in everywhere now.  I was at the KBB show last week, and it's where things are headed, no doubt.  Like the colour of TVs, there always seems to be a fashion that lasts a decade or so. 

In the past, I found rooms that I liked magazines and taken from that as an influence for a room in my own house.  With Instagram, it's pretty easy to find something you like. 

DG, while I often respect your opinions, I'd have thought you'd have been here long enough to realise ("comprehensively understand" is a grammatical redundancy; it says the same thing twice) that Martin's ethos (as far as I know) is not to rub other people's noses in your money.  If people want to waste theirs, that is their absolute right.  It is the way those of us who can be bothered save money on our energy; others are subsidising us by being too lazy to switch - a recurring theme in the weekly emails.

If the OP wants designer everything, fine.  Maybe they will learn something and save some money, especially if they engage you to be their designer, DG.  Your posts are beginning to sound like advertisements to me; I am sure this is not your intention. 

Oh yes, and I find the implication that people are incapable of designing their own homes offensive; it implies they do not know their own minds or their own taste.  This is not the case:  My taste, as OH's and friends', has evolved over the years.  I readily admit I went through a pink phase (I am so not girly) when I was 20 and a purple phase (sorry, Jimi) a few years later... Then I grew up (a bit)

Doozergirl

@Smodlet.  

There's plenty of evidence of Martin saying that this site isn't all about saving every single penny everywhere, it's about making the most of your money.   This site is for everyone.  I don't believe there's any evidence of the ethos  being not to 'rub other people's noses in your money' at all, not that anyone is doing that.   

The idea that I'm advertising some 28,000 posts and 15 years in is laughable.  Not only that, I don't even do soft furnishings, which is what the OP wants.  I even talked about the designer that sells them to me! 

I didn't imply that people were incapable of designing their own homes at all, so there's no need to be offended.  

I rarely imply anything, I don't mince my words.     In short, none of what you've accused me of is true, it's what you've drawn from completely different words.  🤷‍♀️

phoebe1989seb

Most of the stuff in our home was purchased second hand - although I like to call it antique/vintage, lol! - and at least fifteen years back I was getting called 'the eBay queen' by friends and family 

Our homes always have a very 'collected over many years' look - which is exactly what they have been, lol!

I don't think we've ever bought more than three or four new pieces of furniture (a DFS sofa and some beds) in thirty years, which all started when I furnished my first student flat with second hand/charity shop finds.

Just because it was bought second hand doesn't mean it's cheap rubbish - we used to have a (Liberty) sideboard that we paid £4k for on an eBay auction!!! We also have car boot finds such as vintage prints picked up for £1 that I've seen very similar go for around £50 elsewhere.

We aren't picky insofar as buying used stuff (eg, a £2000 John Lewis sofa found on gumtree for £300) - but we only buy what we love. Our snug has an original art nouveau curved sofa (£200), 1980s CR Mackintosh style sofa (£52), a Scottish arts and crafts sideboard (£200) and an antique Persian rug we paid over £1000 for. One of our - many - lamps in the room is an Abigail Ahern pelican that DH found at a car boot for £4. I recently saw one sell for over £200 on eBay 

For our new kitchen we picked up an original Victorian larder cupboard (£375) - a fraction of the cost of one from Handmade Kitchens, where we bought our cabinets. Our brand new Bertazzoni range cooker (bright red!) was another ebay purchase, saving about £1500 off the retail price! OTOH, having previously had an expensive dishwasher that we found disappointing, this time we bought a Beko for peanuts. Our fridge freezer is a vintage style Smeg that we found in a graded appliance shop twenty-three years ago - it's still going strong after several house moves!

DH is currently doing gardening work at a very high end property where the new owners have installed a Wolf fridge freezer that cost £30k(!!!). They've not moved into the property yet and the thing has already got issues, which just goes to show you....... 

-taff

I get furniture from wherever and have been known to remove it from outside charity shops, skips, outside peoples houses etc.

I like something I can play with, or spruce up, and have zero desire to spend hundreds on anything [except the mattress - best buy ever!] or a sofa if it calls for it.

And that's the beauty and the hideousness of people. We all like different stuff, we can all afford diffferent stuff and me wanting to save money on designer gear of whatever nature is still wanting to save money.....Which is defniitely within the ethos of this site.

P.S. If doozergirl were advertising, I'd take her up on it toute suite....Imagine having someone around who knew what they were talking about and were not shy about sharing it....

phoebe1989seb

Indeed - skips! DH thinks I'm a total !!!!!! as I've repatriated stuff from other people's skips before now 

We still have some beautiful art nouveau copper fingerplates found in a Hampshire skip in the 1990s. I got really cross once when he refused to help me dig out some lovely, established shrubs poking out the top of a skip near my parents' house.......

Smodlet

_taff, I take your point.  DG and I just clash.  If I could find the ignore button on this new site, I would use it.  I am sure I will eventually.

FtbDreaming

My house is second hand.... i have very very few things that were new. That being said when the mortgage has gone through I will be re-doing the house from too to bottom and eventually replacing everything with new stuff bit it will be a project over several years. Ive had my own rented homes for 15 years and always had 2nd hand. Generally you can get anything You want to match and it all lasts years. 

I will only be buying new when I know it is something that I need, want and will be useful. Until then try out 2nd hand. 

Doozergirl

Smodlet said:

 DG and I just clash.  

You may not like me, but I was totally unaware of it being a reciprocal agreement.  You're projecting something onto me that doesn't exist again.

Peace.

Doozergirl

phoebe1989seb said:

DH is currently doing gardening work at a very high end property where the new owners have installed a Wolf fridge freezer that cost £30k(!!!). They've not moved into the property yet and the thing has already got issues, which just goes to show you....... 

I've found similar.  The most expensive things seem to be 'precious' to the point of being totally impractical.  Carpets that stain when just water gets on them, and marble tiles that stain when water gets on them being two things that baffled me.  Oh, and a malachite turn for a bath tap that broke, unable to be replaced because they've been discontinued.  You don't just stumble upon a similar replacement!

Smodlet

OK, I just googled malachite and one of the first answers was, "What is the spiritual meaning of malachite?"  I imagine this is on a par with solid gold taps on yachts owned by Arabs... https://www.shubhgems.com/malachite

It's sort of pretty in a green kind of way...

DG, thank you.  Peace to you, too.