Furniture Tips

Our apartment in in Orihuella Costa. We bought our furniture via our agent Atlas, using a local company called Arca. It was bought as a pack and you could choose financially which pack suited you. You could also upgrade within the pack, which was very handy. We got a good discount, it included all post,pans, plates etc., and basic white goods. They delivered on time, carrying many things up 3 flights of stairs as the apartment lift was not working and returned the next day with the heavier items when the lift was working. They connected all the white goods and lighting and within a few days the curtain man came to put up the curtains including rails. Ok, so it was a pack, but after hearing our neghbours living on boxes whilst searching enless stores for their furniture, I reckon this is the best way to start. Over the years, you can change bits, but to be able to move in comfortably within days was excellent. This is our holiday home, so it may be a little different for those of you moving in full time, but overall, I liked our way!

Fibby,

No I don't work with them. I work in banking in the UK. I did let someone else know about them via EOS and I think the company must have tried to advertise themselves. Would still recommend them though.

Has anyone purchased from Ikea in Murcia and if so do they deliver? I've tried to contact them without success.

I need to buy by feb.07 a double bed, wardrobe and sofa's for my new property in Salobrena which is near Motril and Alumencar, has anyone purchased property in that area before and if so can you recommend a store.

IKEA in Murcia do deliver but they charge and it can be quite expensive, do not know how reliable. They do have a deal with a local hire compnay where you can hire a van.  We hired a bigger car at the airport and managed. Bought most of our big things in Torreveija (Carrefour, garcia bros. etc) and they all delivered. Lighting is a bit of a problem as most stores now want 6€ per fitting - so I did them myself. After pricing furntiure packs from a number of stores (including Arca) we saved around 35% just by shopping around locally. Furntiure packs are good if you do not have much time and want everything in quickly but you pay for it!

We had a furniture pack from Imperial furniture in La Canada, they charge set amounts depending on the kind of package you want but youre not restricted to only certain items. We were free to mix and match styles and colours as we wished  and they adjusted the price accordingly, they also did the complete installation for us from hanging pictures, making beds up, putting towels in bathrooms, even putting crockery and cutlery in drawers/cupboards all ready for our first visit, didnt have to do a thing except put the kettle on!

hobby

Gosh Hobby Imperial - I can tell you are a rich man. They offer a good service from what I am told but they are top money. Client of mine has furnished and equipped the property by shopping around and for just about the same stuff and equipment Imperial were installing saved himself about 40 to 50%. Guess it depends on if you have the time or want to go to a one stop shop - think there is still probably better value out there.

Rgds 

Sorry to disagree, but we used Arca, via Atlas.

We had delivery on time, mixed and matched with better furniture, lighting and cutains installed perfectly and the delivery men climbed to the 3rd floor as the lift was not working.

Yes, the quality is not top notch, but it is servicable and looks nice. It's only our holiday home after all. If we lived there full time, no doubt our choices would have been different.

For the new owner, wanting to move in comfortably, quickly and be settled in hours not months, it suited us.

For anyone in the Estepona area, costa del sol, we used Buyrite & carpet world for our entire pack except light fittings.We paid for good quality furniture and fittings which were installed with no problems at all except their handyman tried to put the mirrors in the bathroom up with glue!!.

 The light fittings we brought from various places including Leroy Merlin and got a English handy man to fit them. Dont have a problem with Spanish handy men, just cannot speak good enough Spanish to be understood!!!

There are so many places that do packs now you can get totally overwhelmed. We found that the best thing to do was stick to our budget. We could have spent a fortune on some fabulous furniture but at the end of the day it is a holiday home and whilst you would like to think people would like after your furniture as you would, that it not necessarily going to be the case. You have to use your head not your heart.

For anyone in the Estepona area, costa del sol, we used Buyrite & carpet world for our entire pack except light fittings.We paid for good quality furniture and fittings which were installed with no problems at all except their handyman tried to put the mirrors in the bathroom up with glue!!.

 The light fittings we brought from various places including Leroy Merlin and got a English handy man to fit them. Dont have a problem with Spanish handy men, just cannot speak good enough Spanish to be understood!!!

There are so many places that do packs now you can get totally overwhelmed. We found that the best thing to do was stick to our budget. We could have spent a fortune on some fabulous furniture but at the end of the day it is a holiday home and whilst you would like to think people would like after your furniture as you would, that it not necessarily going to be the case. You have to use your head not your heart.

I wouldnt claim to be rich,yet,(!) Smiley, just choosy about the quality of furniture I pay for. We did look in other places and at other packages, but the quality wasnt up to much and as it is for our own use; we dont intend renting out; we know the furniture would last. We had a villa in Florida up to a couple of years ago and learnt from our mistakes there that it doesnt pay to buy cheap, admittedly it was on the rental market with Virgin hols so you can imagine the amount of use it was getting, but we were still having to replace major items every year, didnt do much for the profit margin at the end of the season!   I agree with fibby in that getting a reputable company in to 'set up home' ready for you if you havent the time to do it yourself is the easy option, Imperials team were excellent, they cleaned the place as well as installed the furniture & fittings so we didnt have any of that to worry about, we could come over and enjoy our time out there, (which for me personally is great, I can think of better things to do with my time than scour furniture shops - golf for example!!), but everyone to their own.

On word of warning though to anyone thinking of buying a package (dont know how it goes with individual pieces)  allow for a longer lead time than quoted, we were told 8-10 weeks but it ended up a lot longer, there were a lot of people on our development using Imperial and I think when they get inundated with orders in one go they cant cope, they only have so many installation teams, so bear that in mind if you want your furniture in for a particular date, allow a bit longer!

Merry Christmas to you all and good luck to all those looking to spend their first Christmas there, Im extremely jealous!!

hobby

Hi,

I used a fantastic company called Sunshine Interiors, the lady that owns it is called Rosemary Smith. She couldn't do enough for me, all the furniture was of a really high quality and the curtains, bedspreads etc are all handmade.She has 2 shops in Benalmadena which i visited and chose all my materials and furniture there, although i could have dealt with her by email because she sends photos and posts materials sample to you in England (apparently quite a few people do it that way), but best of all she was much cheaper than any where else. I really cannot recommend her highly enough. Oh she is also storing a couple of things for me that i bought somewhere else until i am ready.

Hi again,

I forgot to leave you the contact details for Rosemary Smith from Sunshine Interiors. Her phone number is 0034 617067032 and her email is sunshineinteriors@hotmail.com Give her a try, you wont be sorry.

Hi Justin I thought that myself yesterday and wondered whether I should recommend on payment of a commission but then I might get some flak!

Rgds Smiley - from the wifes PC

Hello Guys

Could anyone tell me if the DFS Furniture store in the Costa Blanca , is the same as the DFS in the UK ? and does their prices compare ?

Regards

Terry