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Furniture

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La Mancha
Him & Her
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Post by Him & Her Wed Jun 18, 2014 3:40 pm

Hi all,

Advice again please, buying furniture for our cave, do we buy furniture in the uk and bring a trailer over which is costly or try to buy locally or can you get furniture from uk companies to deliver? I know you can get small items from Debenhams, Amazon etc but can you order furniture in the uk and get it delivered to Galera ? Great if you can will save time and towing a trailer, any advice as usual will be greatly appreciated.
Will of course also keep an eye on items for sale on the site but won't need anything until Jan 2015. Thanks in advance.
Him & Her
Him & Her

Posts : 291
Join date : 2014-01-31
Age : 64
Location : Galera

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Post by La Mancha Wed Jun 18, 2014 5:09 pm

I suspect it depends on whether you are moving out full time and if you have furniture in the UK already you would bring with you. Ours is a holiday home so we bought all our furniture in the local area. Electronics seem to be cheaper in the UK so TVs, Hi-Fi etc. Each time we flew out we packed an extra bag or box and took it as luggage. This was a lot cheaper than having it shipped for smaller items.
La Mancha
La Mancha

Posts : 665
Join date : 2010-03-19
Age : 68
Location : Newbury/Benamaurel

http://www.cuevademama.co.uk

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Post by Mandi Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:06 pm

Ikea Mercia they hire vans out if you need a lot. We did a large van hire from uk ant came over by ferry then drove rest.

Mandi

Posts : 372
Join date : 2012-12-10
Location : galera

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Post by pete_l Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:16 pm

Daisymay1 wrote:Hi all,

Advice again please, buying furniture for our cave, do we buy furniture in the uk and bring a trailer over which is costly or try to buy locally or can you get furniture from uk companies to deliver

A few general observations.

First of all "around here" in this part of Spain doesn't seem to have many furniture shops. Certainly nothing like the selection and range you'd find in a decent sized city in the UK. Sure, if you go down to the coast, over to Granada or Murcia there are more shops and a wider selection. But will they deliver this far inland? And could they even get a removals-van sized lorry to your cave?

Secondly. I found that what furniture there is for sale around here was both expensive and small and ... shall we say: rather "rustic". For example, in Benamaurel (the nearest village to me) there is a shop that sells beds. They have both sizes: 180cm and 190cm. These are much shorter than northern european adults would expect, though they might be OK for our children. But since "the locals" tend to be short, that who the shops sell stuff for. The kitchen in my place (now replaced with modern units) was made to be 80 cm high (the universal standard is 90cm - everything: units, washing machines, etc. is made to fit this). So even if you can find furniture, it might not be suitable.

Thirdly. If you do buy furniture: either in Spain or from the UK, make sure you can actually get it into your house! A lot of furniture: sofas, chairs, wardrobes, can be moved through doorways by "angling" it around the door frames. This is fine in a modern house with 1-block thick walls. But in a cave house, where doorways are often more like tunnels, there's no scope for this - so items of furniture can only go "straight through" the door opening ... or not.

Personally, I brought a great deal of my stuff over from the UK. You can hire a transit van 1-way for about £1000 for a week (ferry / diesel costs need to be added), compared with removals quotes I got which started at £5k  Evil or Very Mad . Or if you are planning to furnish the place over a period of time and many trips, buying a s/h van is worth considering. (I did this, too)

The stuff I brought over was a decent sized double bed, a couple of sofas that I got for free off Freegle (aka Freecycle) a large recliner chair (note previous comment about doors ... that's how I know  Very Happy  ) and various electrical items from my washing m/c to TVs. Bring UK computers over, unless you fancy learning a spanish keyboard layout. If you do get freebies in the UK - and there do seem to be a lot of sofas being given away - remember that you'll need to store them until you're ready to haul them over here. Having your own van is handy for that.

I also got a lot of stuff: wardrobes, kitchen units & table + chairs, some chairs and chests of drawers from IKEA in Murcia. They won't deliver to me as I'm too far from the store. But if you don't have transport handy, you can hire a van locally for ~ €100 per day. Or maybe sweet-talk some people here    cheers

pete_l

Posts : 712
Join date : 2010-03-21
Location : Cuevas del Negro

http://www.pete-lynch.com/la_casa.html

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Post by miron Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:23 pm

If you are buying new I'd recommend buying locally - there's plenty of furniture shops around, from the electrico-domestico shop(s) in most villages, who usually either stock furniture or can order it for you from a catalogue, to IKEA near Murcia (?Not sure, cos never been!) I've moved stuff over from the UK with a self-drive Luton van and later had items moved as a part-load by a removal firm. The latter worked out cheaper than the first and less hassle, but I only brought things over because they were much-loved family pieces. I've bought beds and mattresses and white goods from the shop in Castilliejar and been happy with them - especially as they deliver free. I would buy electronic items as local as possible: it might be a bit more expensive than the UK, but if you take time and energy into account, plus the fact that it's a lot easy to sort out any problems, I think it makes more sense. If you're not in a rush to get everything all at once there's some good second-hand bargains around too.
I've got a Spanish computer keyboard and it's not much different - better for typing in Spanish anyway! 
There are sometimes people driving back and for and willing to transport items for a fee.
At the end of the day it probably depends on your own inclination - for myself, I don't own a vehicle, don't want to spend my time driving up and down motorways, and like to support the local economy where I live! I'm not very tall, so no problem with the size of beds here!

miron

Posts : 1099
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Age : 63
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Post by Mariposa Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:32 pm

Totally agree with what pete_l says! I brought everything from the UK with me, which worked well in my old stone house in the North of Spain. Down here since moving into my cave, things are very different!

Another option if you have internet when you are here, is to buy things online. I buy all sorts of things for myself and others, mainly via eBay Espana and German eBay. There are many bargains if you look and a lot are doing very low delivery charges and some do free delivery.

Have a look from home and then you can compare van hire, etc...

You will need to have enough Spanish to take delivery calls, as they always phone before hand to say they are on their way!

Once you get here with the basics, you could maybe take some time to have a look around and then decide what you want/need and how to do it?

Mariposa
Mariposa

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Post by Mandi Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:37 pm

we also went to look at the furniture place on the industrial site in Huescar which was good and prices fine (wanted a purple 3 piece they had) but our place isnt ready yet. There seems to be a shop in all villages its just finding them.

Mandi

Posts : 372
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Post by Mandi Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:39 pm

ps Barachina have a 50% sale on and put it in for you. over by the doctors.

Mandi

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Post by Him & Her Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:41 pm

Fantastic thank you all so much, good point about bed sizes my husband is 6ft and his feet were hanging over in our rental cave ok for a couple of weeks but not for long term. We might drive our 4x4 and get or hire a trailer although I have had a couple of prices from uk to Spain Man with vans all insured and looks like £600 to £750.00 for part load which might make more sense, will start looking for bargains . I think that I have seen somebody on this site offering a collection/delivery service or am I mistaken ?
Him & Her
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