[smileyfreckles]

Hi everyone, I'm in a bit of a tizz :confused: at the moment with regards to buying new furniture here in the UK or wait until we get to NZ! We weren't planning on bringing many of our items as they have served us well for many years but probably wouldn't take the move too well (MFI need I say more:laugh ). We have scoured the furniture retailers here and have found some decent pieces which weren't too expensive but I can't really get to grips with NZ furniture websites, either not a lot of choice or no prices, which makes me think too expensive, so for those of you who have made the move, which would you recomend?

We have also taken into consideration the shipping costs but as our house wouldn't fill a 20ft container without the furniture we may as well make use of the space we would pay for!

One other thing, I've heard paint is really expensive in NZ and you can't get ready mixed colours, could I ship out paint?

:cheers Becky

[ourquest]

Technically you're supposed to have owned your things for 12 months prior to them arriving in NZ to avoid customs duty, but if you are arriving on a visitor's visa initially and then applying for residence/work permits then you will be charged customs anyway under the new ruling irrespective of when your goods arrive. So it will all come down to the price in the UK (maybe including duty) vs that in NZ, and of course range available, which would be much greater in the UK.
If you are open to it then you could always obtain some secondhand pieces in NZ as this end of the market flourishes. Have a look on www.trademe.co.nz under the furniture section. There are some new offerings there also.
Haven't looked for a while but Mitre10 is a big hardware chain that should have paint listed on their website.
Good luck.

[Jo Jo]

Technically you're supposed to have owned your things for 12 months prior to them arriving in NZ to avoid customs duty

Is that right? I thought you just had to have owned and used the items prior to coming to NZ (and hold a document authorising residence).

Just checked - details of when customs charges don't apply can be found here (http://www.customs.govt.nz/travellers/Household+Effects/When+No+Customs+Charges+Apply.htm)

I bought quite a lot of furniture before I came to NZ - most of the items were things I'd always planned to buy one day, when I had a bigger house, like a new bed, armchairs, etc. I also bought a few flat pack items from Ikea to bring with me, such as wardrobes, bookshelves, etc. I am SO GLAD I bought this stuff in the UK, as I haven't been able to find things of the equivalent quality for the price here in NZ. That's not to say that there isn't decent furniture here in NZ, because there is, but when you are new to a country it can be quite hard to find which shops to go to, etc, and, as you say, searching for furniture on the internet is not very illuminating!

Now I am here, I wish I had bought more furniture to bring with me.

If you do a search on furniture, you will find lots of recommendations of what to bring. A lot of people recommend bringing your white goods with you, or buying new ones in the UK to bring with you. I didn't do this - I had to leave my white goods behind as I am renting out my flat in the UK, and I didn't have space in my flat to store any additional white goods prior to departure, so I have bought all new white goods here in NZ. To be honest, while the range is not as good as in the UK, with a bit of searching you can find good models at decent prices, and in our case the white goods have not cost us any more than they would have done in the UK.

Most of the new stuff I bought I used before I came to NZ, but some of it - the flat packs, and some garden tools which we had received as wedding gifts - I left packed up and declared them as new to customs. I didn't get charged any duty or GST on them.

[peebles16]

We haven't got our stuff yet but having viewed lots of rental properties I know we won't need the big muckle wardrobe that's currently sailing the seas in our container. The vast majority of houses we saw had built in wardrobes so no need or space for freestanding ones - anyone need one??

Karenx

[IanW99]

Yep, as long as an item is used then there isn't actually a time limit on for how long.

For paint, there are no actual reasons why you can't bring any in the container i.e. they are not prohibited items. The issue comes down to the movers don't want to transport paint.

My recommendation would be if there is some furniture you really like then get it, otherwise I would probably wait.

As said by Karen, probably not worth bringing Wardrobes as you probably won't need them.

If you are considering getting beds, then you may want to buy those in NZ, that way you will have something to sleep on until your container arrives :)

Ian

[Mels]

I have seen on a thread somewhere that you cannot import paint. I will try to find it.

Mels

[smileyfreckles]

Hi, thanks to all the replies, the thread on customs was usefull, thank you Jo Jo. I think the answers here have made my mind up to bring the new items from here that we want and then whilst we're renting and waiting for the ship to come in, buy second hand which we can the re-sell! Does this sound like a plan!

[Jo Jo]

If you are considering getting beds, then you may want to buy those in NZ, that way you will have something to sleep on until your container arrives :)

Ian

This is a good point. I actually bought a new bedstead in the UK, and bought a mattress in NZ - we slept on the mattress on the floor until our container arrived.

One thing to note if you decide to do this is that the labels of bed sizes are different in the UK and NZ - a UK king is an NZ queen (there's a couple of centimetres difference between them, but all our UK bedlinen still fitted.

[smileyfreckles]

Thanks Jo Jo, I had thought that a queen bed was somewhere in between our double & king, thats one less error I'll make and save a few quid into the bargin, thanks.
As for sleeping on the mattress on the floor, it'll be like when we first started out, having spent the first 18mths just in this way!
Cheers Becky