Hi folks
What's a reasonable budget to furnish a new 2x2 apartment? I'm looking to spend about $10k furnishing everything in the apartment - white goods, furniture and everything in between. I'm quite into replica furniture so figured that I would not have to spend that much (definitely not getting anything from Living Edge or Design Farm!). So far the living room has been the most expensive room in my budget.
Any tips and tricks for a new homeowner?
Thanks airzone - I think you're right. I'm going to only furnish the necessities now (i.e. sofa, TV, whitegoods) and leave the others (i.e. fancy armchair etc) for when the year-end clearances begin.
The new DC59 Motorhead though - is that an essential good? I guess I'm going to have to buy a vacuum cleaner sooner or later! I swear this site makes you spend more than usual!
Lol, I would definitely take the dyson…
I'm not sure what model our dyson is, but don't be in a hurry to fork out for a turbo head. We'd previously owned a dyson, so when we were buying this one, figured it was essential, but in all honesty it works better without it. You can always go back and get it later if you think you need it.
Thanks mate - I ended up getting the DC59 Animal. Wasn't convinced that the Motorhead was substantially better than the Animal. Ended up paying 481AUD shipped.
Get the essentials first then shop wisely for the rest. $10k would fit out an apartment with ease.
Resist impulse buying for non essentials.
I think so too xywolap. But then again, I'm living in Perth, which has an Australia tax on top of the Australia tax. It's quite depressing when (apparently) IKEA stuff in WA costs more than in other states. I guess it's because of the relative isolation, but still!
Ikea
I'd recommend getting good quality, energy efficient whitegoods and a comfy lounge and beds (or at least mattresses.) The rest is able to be bought second-hand or quite cheaply at places such as Ikea.
Buy only want you need at start buy cheep deal you see on here. I got most design stuff i wait untill end of year sales. jan next year will be best time now. if you ok with 2nd hand stuff get that. i am not ok all my stuff is new.
When I first moved out I furnished nearly my entire house (big 3 bedroom old house which I was sharing with only one other person) for bugger-all money, used Gumtree extensively and got some great quality second hand furniture for cheap (much better than the chicken-board rubbish you get at Ikea anyway).
I remember spotting a whole dining table + chairs setup on the side of the road during hard rubbish near my grandparents place…couldn't fit it all in the back of my RenaultSport Megane so drove to my parents house, got my dad's Subaru wagon, drove back, put the table in the boot, and took it to my new house. That table + chairs did us really well until we moved out of that house in early 2014.
If I spent $10k furnishing an apartment I'd be expecting it to look like something off The Block afterwards.
Thanks xyron.
To be honest I haven't had sourced good ol' Gummers extensively but might do so - I'm looking out for a nice old TV cabinet that can hold a 55" TV. Hell, might even look at Gummers for the TV itself (although they are so cheap these days!).
You can pick up some crazy 2nd hand stuff for cheap on gumtree. My friend recent sold a 3 year old sofa that cost $8k for $100 because she had to sell it and took her months to even get that. Just buy good mattresses new, I wouldnt wanna go 2nd hand with that.
Thanks cypher67 - good point re Gumtree. What else do you think is OK to get from Gumtree?
Personally - anything you cant have whoopy on
Holy nutsack. I just bought a Dyson from the OZB link - now to add $481 to my apartment budget…
I would highly recommend Ebay, while Gumtree you have to be a lot more careful – A lot of scammers & obviously no way to verify the seller, like Ebay. Worth checking out though.
I moved into my unfurnished apartment a few weeks ago & all I had to my name was quite literally a toaster & my trustee juicer! I contacted a number of Ebay sellers to make sure I could collect their goods all on the same day i.e. date when I moved in & they were all fairly close by, hired a removalist (Very dodgy Italian chap/kid? named mario) to go fetch it all & worked a treat :)
3 & 2 seat leather sofas $20.50 (Originally cost $5k!)Ebay
TV Stand $10 Ebay
Solid timber Bedroom Suite $430 Ebay
Coffee table $15 Gumtree
Antique writing desk $75 Gumtree
Fridge (Top spec) $172.50 Ebay
60’ Samsung TV $1,670 JB-Hi-Fi
I was orignally going to buy a cheap $400 TV but with what I had saved decided to treat myself :)
Don't feel that you need to do it all at once… It gets very expensive, very quick.
Also, to stretch your budget, don't forget that you can always use 2nd hand stuff. My first table came from the side of the road… And I got my washing machine & fridge from my brother on the cheap.