[pinkninny]

Hi hoping i can get some help, we have just sold the house. The couple who are buying the house have asked to buy our wardrobes, which is not a problem but i need to know if it's worth buying new as we have heard that most NZ houses come with fitted wardrobes. can any one help me out oh and what about the price of curtains as they also wanted them so not sure if i should bring them over
many thanks
Ninny:nice1

[benandclare]

Yes you're right most NZ houses have fitted wardrobes so I wouldn't bother buying again..

From our experience most NZ houses have much larger windows than the UK so didnt bring any curtains with us and are having some made up for our lounge/sitting room and Clare tells me they are very reasonable :nice1

[Derv]

In our experience most NZ houses have fitted wardrobes.

There's a wide range of curtain materials available here, and you can choose to have the material thermally lined if you wish; this means that the curtains will fade less, keep the light out well, and hang better. If you don't want this thermal lining, then you can line them with separate lining material as in the UK. Don't know anything about how much curtains cost to have made in NZ as we always make our own.

[thezorbster]

Most houses do have fitted wardrobes, but we looked at a couple that didn't and also had a look around to try to find wardrobes - they are few and far between. You need to make the decision - chances are you'll end up in a fitted wardrobe house but you may be better bringing them just in case.

[IanW99]

Most houses do have fitted wardrobes, but we looked at a couple that didn't and also had a look around to try to find wardrobes - they are few and far between. You need to make the decision - chances are you'll end up in a fitted wardrobe house but you may be better bringing them just in case.

Agreed that if you already have wardrobes then its no big deal if you bring them or not, but in this case they won't have any and are asking if they should buy some new ones whilst still in the UK?

So, would you recommend that they buy new wardrobes before they move to NZ?

Ian

[mgbridges]

I would say the odds are high that you'll find a house with built in wardrobes here in NZ so personally I'd spend the money on other things.

Apart from our son's wardrobe all ours back in the UK were built in so we didn't have much choice. As it is his wardrobe came with us and is now in the garage as all our bedrooms in our NZ house have built ins.

On the curtain front again I'd say don't bother bringing them especially if your purchasers are happy to have them and maybe pay you a bit to keep them. Unless of course they cost you a great deal of money or you are particularly attached to them! :D I bought almost all our curtains with us and they are hanging up in our spare rooms built in wardrobe as when we bought the house the curtains came included as part of the chattels.

HTH
Anneliese

[steviec]

Regarding the wardrobes,mine are still flat packed in the garage,houses out here have built in ones,actually the guys unloading our container had a good laugh at us bringing them,
"they will never be put up" he said,"you brits and your wardrobes,did'nt you know you don't need them over here"!
Our curtains we're also not needed, so was glad they went with the sale of our house and also light shades are just gathering dust cos the newer houses have sunken spotlights in every room.
Tracy.
Good luck

[Georgebulldog]

Yep luckily sold our wardrobes before we came & house we bought had all fitted wardrobes & curtains everywhere too, We find that curtains over here need the thermal lining too

[steviec]

Yep need that thermal lining.

[Tia Maria]

Old style villas are less likely to have wardrobes - ours didn't have any.

I'm really pleased with the fact we did bring a wardobe as the choice here is awful and cost a lot of your monthly wage. I walked into a large furniture store which had tons of beds, drawers, dressing tables but not one wardrobe. They just don't do many, as like people have mentioned, many houses have fitted or walk in wardobes.

Freedom does wardobes:

www.freedomfurniture.co.nz

And you can get some second hand ones on Trade Me, and some in antique shops. The only problem being that although they look nice they are often not practical as they hooks rather than rails, have borer holes and you have to arrange pick up yourself.

It is easier to get kiddies furniture, so maybe a good compromise would be to come over with one wardobe for your main bedroom and then if you have fitted ones, sell it on Trade Me. As with any furniture you are gambling that it will fit in with your new house.

Another way to go, would be to just buy one of those hanging rails, we've been using one for about 2 years, while we look for a nice wardobe! We did see one wardobe we liked but it was $2,500!

There are plenty of curtain places about but it can be quite expensive to fit out a whole house when you first arrive, especially if you are having to pay for lots of other things. However, most of the curtains were left with the house we bought which was lucky as villas have really high windows and you need really long curtains.

I'd go with the compromise again, bring a couple of sets to put up in bedrooms in case the place doesn't come with curtains, then you can buy any extra you need at your leisure, rather than having to get them the first weekend so the neighbours don't see you naked! In the past I have just used black out material and bulldog clips as makeshift curtains.

The curtains I've bought here have cost about $200, plus I had a quote for having some made for a very large window - $1750 (not fancy material, just a lot of it needed!). I know of people who have budgeted $5000 to do a whole house and others who have got $50 bargains.

www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=9887

Cheers

Tia

[KerryS]

I'm like Tia, and live in an old villa with no wardrobes. At the moment I just use a hanging rail for most of my stuff, as I've not found any wardrobes that I like for a reasonable price.

However, I am going to convert the small spare bedroom into a dressing room, and have a carpenter build me my own shelving and hanging to spec. (With plenty of room for shoes, naturally!)

[Kate D]

I'm probably about to be declared a pariah and burn a few bridges here by publicly stating myself as a fan of Ikea...

Wardrobes and general storage I mean!

Oh bliss - I have 3 metres width of wardrobes that I bought from Ikea in Switzerland (nothing like the reputation Ikea seems to have in the UK, but maybe I'm just a flat pack master by now!). All that space for shoes and handbags too! They've been assembled, disassembled (you get the picture!) from Switzerland to Germany to UK and believe me, they're off again to NZ in the near future. Cosmopolitan and well travelled are my wardrobes! Maybe I've been around the UK estate agent BS too long that talks about "ample wardrobe space" but I've yet to see anything resembling "ample" in built in set ups. If they turn out to be surplus to requirements in NZ, then no problems - I'll simply get acquainted wtih trademe and they can travel some more to some other willing recipient.

Wardrobes are like fleeces - you can NEVER have too many:-)

Kate

[Tia Maria]

kdoherty wrote:

Wardrobes are like fleeces - you can NEVER have too many:-)

:laugh :laugh

Cheers

Tia

[Ojai]

What is a fitted wardrobe? Is that like a closet?

[IanW99]

What is a fitted wardrobe? Is that like a closet?

:yes

Generally in modern NZ homes, the wardrobe is actually built into the walls of the room and generally has rails and shelves to hang clothes hangers on.

For the master bedroom they are normally walk in wardrobes which as you may expect means that they are big enough to physically walk into.

Ian

[pinkninny]

Thanks for all the advice, found curtains on the net and prices not two bad. but can get thick lined 90 by 90 lined curtains here from a factory shops for 30 quid so now thinking of getting some and hacking them up if needed once we get over there are we have some space in the container. as for wardrobes hubby keeps telling me a trip to ikea and get some if i want them, i like ikea and it's cheap. glad the couple want the bedroom stuff as never the same once atken down and put back up again. what i am now thinking is if we have the space get some and if i don't need them i could see them. all to manythings to think about. stressfull moving house let alone adding new counrty in to the mix. they want me lamp shades so leaving them. less to worry about really. never knew we have so much stuff, scary really only got small 3 bed dreading shipping it all over and finding a house to fit it all in. :wah

[renew]

However, I am going to convert the small spare bedroom into a dressing room, and have a carpenter build me my own shelving and hanging to spec. (With plenty of room for shoes, naturally!)

As Mr PinkNinny i can now see a room full of shoes and handbags.........Please dont encourage her :exit

Renew

[pinkninny]

As Mr PinkNinny i can now see a room full of shoes and handbags.........Please dont encourage her :exit

Renew

Mrs pinkninny here and for that commet i'm getting more bags and shoes to fill a big walk in wardrobe hehe:laugh

[marcia]

We brought some old tallboys that the boys used as wardrobes, and one wardrobe that was dismantled and is now in our office which we use as a spare bedroom, the tallboys are actually inside the walk in wardrobes they are so big here!!

As for curtains, most houses here come with curtains as part of the chattels, the colour scheme may not be the same if you bring yours, window sizes different, and the thermal lining questin!!

If you are a sewer ( i wasn't a big one, my mum did most of mine - but I've bought a sewing machine here) there are loads of fabric shops, and I've made curtains for youngest's room and door curtains for the boys bedrooms quite cheaply.

|So my reommendation would be leave the wrdrobes and curtains and stock the container up with more important items - like BOOKS AND CHOCOLATE!!!! :p

[Jo Jo]

My house has built in wardrobes, but I still bought three 1-metre wardrobes in the UK to bring with me as our built-in wardrobes aren't nearly big enough, and they don't have all the fancy fittings that Ikea wardrobes have! I wish I'd bought one more as well....