How to save money on home furniture and decor?

sevenohfive on 28/02/2013 - 06:12

Hubby and I have just bought a new house and we are in the process of finding furniture and decor to fill the house.

We'll have 4 bedrooms, 2 living spaces, dining and kitchen to kit out. We don't really want to resort to buying ikea furniture if we can avoid it. We would like good quality furniture, but this seems quite expensive.

Just wondering if anyone has any good tips on how to save money? Eg is it cheaper to get furniture made? If so does anyone have any recommendations on good quality furniture makers in sydney?

Thanks any advice would be appreciated.

General Discussion

Comments

  • mskeggs on 28/02/2013 - 08:26
    -1

    We live in an older house, and predominantly furnished it with 2nd hand period furniture from the early-mid 20th century. The extremely high quality, well made wardrobes, beds, dressing tables, tables and chairs would be all over ebay and gumtree for less than Kmart chipboard laminate.
    If you go this route, buy a 2nd hand car trailer for about $400 to make it easy to collect (you can sell it again for $400 when you are done).
    Every time I see the hand cut dovetail joints and feel the satiny finish on some of this old furniture I am very pleased.
    The exception was some soft furnishings. We had a sofa custom made. It was expensive for an ozbargainer, but it allowed us to get exactly what we wanted, including an L shape with a built in sofabed, in the fabric we liked etc.
    I shopped a bunch of retailers but found they all charged around the same for what we wanted, well, some did charge much more.
    We ended up dealing with a factory directly out Horesly Park way.
    Previously we did the same for some timber furniture (chairs, tables and bookcases).
    In both cases, the prices were at least 25% below the best retail, but you have to trek out there and deal with a factory showroom, plus probably arrange your own delivery (they can usually do it, but you can get it cheaper or DIY).
    We found one place via classified ads in newspapers, another via the yellow pages, and the sofa place via an ebay listing.

  • Sick of This on 28/02/2013 - 08:31
    +2

    Congrats on the new house. Feels good, doesn't it? I can't really answer your question, sorry, but I do have a little advice - don't be in too much of a hurry to clutter your new home up with a full complement of furniture. Once you've got all this furniture, it takes up space and it needs to be cleaned/dusted. Go easy, and recognise that some empty space has value as well.

    • sevenohfive on 28/02/2013 - 08:55

      Thanks. I agree with you whole heartedly. We will be taking it slow and taking our time to find the best furniture.

    • robbyjones on 28/02/2013 - 09:00
      -1

      +1 from me for the correct use/spelling of complement?

  • maximum on 28/02/2013 - 09:14

    I agree with gumtree, you would be surprised how many people buy lounges without making sure they fit in the room. Also look at grays online sometimes they have some good sales with pick up only for sydney . Don't discount kmart for basics especially coloured items that add that "pop" to a room they are cheap enough so you can change them every couple of months when a new colour takes your fancy.

  • lisss on 28/02/2013 - 11:43

    I just furnished a whole house with second hand furniture from Gumtree. It's all excellent quality and condition and cost me less than Ikea furniture would have. You will definitely need a way to transport it, we have a 4WD and borrowed a friend's trailer, but the idea of buying a cheap 2nd hand trailer is a great one.

    Another great way to save if you have the time or inclination is to pick up furniture from verge collections, especially if you're into refurbishing it!

  • Davo1111 on 28/02/2013 - 15:03

    Just wondering if anyone has any good tips on how to save money?

    Everything can be made from milk crates

  • AmericanDad on 28/02/2013 - 16:48

    My advice: think carefully of the theme before you get the furniture; with second hand furniture its hard to ensure a consistent theme for the house - otherwise it ll end up looking like a collection of second hand furniture and not much more. That's the mistake I made, although its not hard to get rid of them as I got a lot of our furniture free from Gumtree and some buy sell swap sites on facebook.
    Gumtree and ebay are both very good. Managed to snap up a complete bedroom suite for $350 recently, although it took me over 3 months to scope for on.

  • oscall on 28/02/2013 - 19:16

    We built a new house 3 years ago and my advise is to take your time to find the right furniture that will complement your house color scheme.Buy quality products and it will last a long time. Online stores that have shop warehouse are good as you are able to see, feel and measure the furniture that it is not too large or small. Some of the bigger store also have good sales(be on the look out for their specials). We purchase 2 X 3 seater inner spring full leather lounge for $1500. It was a good sale from Everyday Living but that company has now closed down.There are many furniture shop also use ebay to sell their products. I saved $200 from using their site to bid on the auction. Gumtree sellers are also good if you want good second hand as you are able to see the products and at the same time negotiate.

    Make sure you take your time and purchase wisely and you won't regret your decision.

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