Thetownend.com

Where do folk with their own place buy their modern furniture?

I need to brush up on my DIY as well :)

May have my own gaff next year 8)

Is IKEA naff or cool?

it's cheap - good value cheapo not nasty cheap . get yurself some catalogs Next is OK as well. Just brought some furniture from Habitat - all very nice stuff.

habitat's pretty expensive if it's going to be your first place, but it's very good stuff

Haven't been in Habitat since i was about 6, used to love that shop for some reason.

I want a modern house with classy decor, but i have a budget.

Ikea - for you then sunshine!

When I first got a house, it was completely unfurnished and I did it all for about 100 pound.

  This involved going to the auction room in The Planks, and buying second hand stuff...wooden tackle you can then sand down with the old Bosch....varnish or paint, you can then gradually upgrade.

 Sadly like so many good things the Planks closed a few years ago.

Are there loads of blonde swedish beauties working in Ikea? Do they do shower demo's ?  :D

some of the stuff in ikea is really cool, but there's a lot of nasty crap as well. and if you do buy anything there make sure you check the state of the boxes [that it comes in] cos quite often their stuff gets damaged by webbed-fingered brizzle folk!

Wonder where my closest one is  :?

Birmingham - about 15 mins in your Type R!!! About 2 hours in my Mazda

I built an entire desk in the time it took my housemate claire to make half a beside cabinet (and she messed it up). Luckily for her it wasn't tuesday so I helped  :o

Cheap main furniture with expensive accessories is probably the way to go.

IKEA is a bit naff but you can get some cheap basic stuff that doesn't look bad at all.

Habitat has some lovely things but for big pieces of furniture its quite expensive but definitely check out the accessories -  lampshades, curtains etc are very reasonable and good quality.  They have 20% off all furniture at the moment.

Some Next furniture is cheap and stylish.  Quite good quality too.
They do good copies of designer soft furnishings too.

The best quality and value furniture will be secondhand / reclaimed wooden stuff.  You can get it ready sanded and choose what oil/stain varnish you want.

You might find that kind friends and family give you loads of their old stuff to get started so you'd be best to wait before deciding colour schemes etc.

 :)

Ralphy, Ikea is not too bad, loads of cheapish and good stuff, if not try somewhere like MFI its pretty good, way better than was a few years ago, or you could try the outlet village in Swindon or i think there is one Bicester aswell!!
Next does some nice stufff, but its abit more expensive!

I'm in the same position and just sniffing at a Chesterfield suite from a
posh house where the owners are selling up and moving on.

£150 in tip-top condition seems a cracking deal to me, but I always envisaged having a black leather sexy sofa as my first.

Going to have to make a decision tomorrow, if it’s not gone yet it will be by this week.

No doubting the classy aspect but how do you then decorate on  budget around a grand old Chesterfield suite, especially with the bachelor pad come Moroccan brothel look in mind?

 Way to go Daz...you can pick up so much good stuff second hand quite cheaply...to my eye this stuff has a bit of character unlike the bland cack you get from the  giant chains.

 Obviously a Chesterfield suite should lead to a theme of Saltergate...you could hang meaningful pictures of Ernie Moss around the place.

Hmm... dump the Moroccan brothel theme and go for gentleman's drawing room with wall to wall bookcases and a middle eastern rug and a really big plant.  Get yourself a smoking jacket and pipe  :P with the change...

gotta be IKEA ralphy, it's not quite as pikey as student living where we raid bins for tv's and sofas, yet still has the class of habitat but without the prices. take a big van.

I want a black leather 3 piece suite too cos they look sexy.

Some quality wooden flooring in the dining area, tiles in the bathroom and a wooden sun terrace for summer evenings 8)

I have a nice leather 3-piece-suite.  Its a bit on the old side though.

The only problem with leather is it gets freezing in the winter :?

For a sofa has to be dark brown leather....Imo.

bloody hell sade, you're such a girl...

8) Well duh.I hate the cold.Everythings got to be cosy and preferably pink.

heating?

Round my mates house,she has all black leather sofa's and even though she has the heating on when you sit on the sofa its still cold :D

Leather sofas are awful in hot conditions, you end up sticking to them.

where you moving too etc dude??

on your own or with mates?

Leather Sofas - they're either cold or hot and sticky - never good

I'll defend Ikea - its useful once you've got the bigger bits of furniture bought, for all the shit like drawer organisers and house plant pots.

Top tip for bed - buy a hard (not sprung) second hand base, and spend the majority of the money on a good deep mattress.
Buying an all in one from Argos for example 60% of the money goes on the base and 40% on the shit for a mattress.
My £299 Sumberland lasted 3 months before I took it to the skip in frustration - I put a £400 Sleepmaster mattress (nearly twice the thickness) on the base and it was about 100 times better

Same Index has shut cos their furniture was 2 the build strength of Argos for the same or similar price.

Been looking at some houses magic on my own.