[Glenda]

Hi,

A couple of years ago we bought the kids (there's four of them) bedroom furniture from Argos - cheap flat packs which I put together. We bought a wardrobe, chest of drawers, bedside cabinet, bookcase and student's desk for each of them. Around £600 worth of furniture.

Is it really worth taking these items to NZ? They can't really be dismantled easily and will take up valuable space in the container. Can you buy cheap furniture like this in NZ? I've tried looking on the internet but cannot find much info.

Any ideas, please? :?

Glenda

[veronica]

I haven't found anything here to compare with Argus. my own advise would be to see if you can dismantle them, if not how about putting them in the container full, so they act as boxes. When you first get here there are so many small expenses that soon add up that buying furniture for the family will be another expensive. In my opinion (for what its worth) and I have said it before on other posts and will quite happily say it again, if you own it and its usable bring it.

[eric_amanda]

I have to agree with Veronica on this one. We gave away quite a few things that I hated in the UK and was glad to get rid of. In hindsight I wish we had bought the rubbish chest of drawers and bedside cabinet that I hated so much and the coffe table that I arranged to be ruined before we left!!

We have a much larger house here in NZ and I could easily find a corner for all of these things and more. So much so that when our house sells in the UK we will be arranging another shipment of some of the things we left behind.

In our experience there is no 'cheap' furrniture places here in NZ, if you find one let us know, oh how I miss the practicle ideas and furniture from Ikea!!

[Diny]

Just to let you know ..... I'm going to Ikea on Wednesday to stock up on some 'stuff' to bring over.

After reading these posts, I'll buy double and sell it when I get there. :nice1

Diny

[eric_amanda]

I thought I had stocked up at Ikea bofore we left, however Eric talked me out of loads of stuff that I wished now I had bought....I am learning now to go with my hunches and not listen to him!!!

They have Ikea in Australia (I have been researching this!) so we may pop over next year for a couple of days and have a few things shipped accross!!

If you know of anyone with lots of money, they could always open an Ikea franchise here in NZ, I'll be your first customer!!!

[veronica]

Careful there Diny as if the customs man notices new stuff you may be liable to pay duty on it.

[Gran]

This company, Simply design, import Ikea furniture to NZ but it would probably be cheaper to bring it with you, you can also buy it second hand on Trademe. If you need cheap knock down furniture The Warehouse stocks it.
http://www.simplydesign.co.nz/

[Diny]

Don't worry Veronica, I've no room in the container for extra furniture. I was thinking more along the lines of the accessories and gadgets that Ikea seem to do so well.

Amanda - I adopted the routine of not listening to my husband the day we got married !!! :eek

Diny

[Glenda]

Hi again,

Thanks for your replies. Will have to check the piggy bank to see if we can set up a New Zealand branch of Argos or Ikea. :P

I had Allied Pickfords out this morning and mentioned my concerns to him. He said we had too much stuff for a 20' container even without the kids furniture. Then he said that with everything we would fill 3/4 of a 40' at an approximate cost of around £5,500. Hmmmmmm.

Have PSS coming later this afternoon and Crown on Wednesday. Fun this, isn't it? :?

Glenda.

[veronica]

Glenda have you considered just hiring an empty container and packing it your selves. Its what we did and provided you get everything packed in boxes before hand the actual packing of the container is easy.

[Glenda]

Glenda have you considered just hiring an empty container and packing it your selves. Its what we did and provided you get everything packed in boxes before hand the actual packing of the container is easy.

I will look into that, thanks. I have always done the packing myself in the past and moved most of the furniture (hubby has a knack of disappearing on 'business'). :roll: It just would have been nice for once to have someone else doing it, especially since I will have other things to deal with a few days after - our emigration!

Meanwhile, PSS said all our furniture would fit into a 20ft container if we just ditched the kids wardrobes. No probs - a lot of NZ houses have fitted wardrobes anyway. But what a difference to Allied Pickford's insistence on a 40ft container! We were so shocked we forgot to ask "how much?". Think I had better wait for the official quotes to come back before making any more comments about shipping companies in case they have added up wrong. :roll:

Glenda.

[Diny]

Glenda

I doubt they've added it up wrong. We had several quotes, all of them a million miles away from the last. Some told us we'd be OK with a 20ft and have room to spare, other said we need a 20ft but it will be tight and we may want to consider leaving a couple of items behind, others said a 40ft and no chance of anything smaller.

In the end we just went through each quote & glossy brochure and made a decision which company to go with. Then I phoned all the companies and played one off against the other, ended up getting a good reduction.

I don't think there's any right or wrong way of doing it, tere comes a point when we have to put ourselves in the hands of the shippers .... which is quite a scary thought.

Diny

[Michelle and Richard]

We brought 3 wardrobes and so far haven't seen a house without them built in. My advice would be bring them if you have room but if not ditch them. Anything else bring it, there is a good second hand market and as Amanda said houses tend to be larger so more space to fill .

Michelle

[Hannah-NL]

Wow I just compared prices of simplydesign with our (dutch) Ikea :eek
I think buying a 40 container and fill up with Ikea goodies after you get your own goods in,
could finance the container costs!!!