Jump to content

furniture prices in France


Recommended Posts

You will have to take into account the cost of bringing the stuff over but i would say that, you can get a better deal (and a better choice) on most of the things that you mention, in the UK.

Very Modern multi standard Tv's should work on French Tv and will work on Sky Satellite Tv

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In line with what Les says, I think you really do need to do some thinking about the costs of bringing stuff over. If you have to hire a lorry for a week, pay for it on a ferry and then drive a long way (at 10 miles to the gallon) you can quickly eat up all you've saved. But if you are doing that anyway because of a family haeirloom that you really do want in France, then it's worth it. So, it really does depend on how much take and where you are taking it.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

I was in Normandy in July and purchased an enormous solid table and 8 chairs for 900 euros (from a brocante), 2 leather settes (on which I negotiated a big discount) for 1700 euros and 6 beds (complete) for 1465 euros (all new).  I had also considered going down the route of hiring a van etc but taking into account extra cost for my time and van hire etc it just did not seem worth it.  I managed to do lots a buying in 3 days and it is all being held until November when I will need it.  Obviously I am yet to find out how  the deliveries will go but so far I feel that I have saved myself lots of hassle.

Mich

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We too bought from the brocante, bargains for table and chairs, and other wood furniture. 'But' was great but not very cheap. We wanted to furnish in a French style rather than English! TV from LeClerc, cheaper than equivalent in the UK. Beds v expensive in France. So single beds bought in Argos and took seats out of the car to transport. Van, fuel and ferry too expensive!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it depends what you've got and what you want. We are furnishing a new build and the lovely heavy french furniture would not work there. We have therefore bought light oak tables, chairs, side tables, side unit and 2 lovely made to measure bed settees from Emporio (UK) for under 4k. We have also shopped around and got great clearance deals on beds from M&S and ex demonstater AEG hob and oven. Bearing in mind what has been said on this forum re cost of electrical appliances we have got dish washer, washing machine, fridge freezer and cooker hood on-line for about 1K. Kitchen (flat pack) £2,300. In France it is all a lot more expensive and as our funds are a bit limited at present I don't feel too guilty. We are having french registered people do any works we need and we will be paying in to the local economy over the coming years (I hope). We will also buy all our other bits and pieces such as light fittings, curtains over there. To transport all this down to the South for just over a thousand pounds with a remover found through ET Brokers (again recommended on this forum) I think is pretty good, particularly when you factor in the exchange rate. We are crossing our fingers all goes to plan.

 

Jane and Alan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a huge range of furniture in every price range available over here. The problem seems to be that holiday home owners don't have the time to seek out the best places to shop. You may have to head towards larger cities to find the best choice however.

Electrical goods again are not a problem and are best purchased in France as warranties aren't usually transferable to other countries. In most cases English TVs will be PAL only (with some exceptions on newer models) which will work fine with UK satelite systems and dvd players but won't work with French terestrial TV. TVs seem to be so cheap in the hypermarchées anyway that you'll probably find them to be cheaper than in the UK anyway.

It is important to remember that it is always preferable to suppport your local economy wherever possible.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is alright buying all this electrical stuff in the Uk but if something goes wrong what do you do?  Long way back to the shop.

I would buy my electrical stuff here, but wouldn't worry so much if I bought UK furniture.

Don't forget too that washing machines here are only cold fill.

Then we have IKEA..... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

good point about if things go wrong. Can you get lcd tv's at decent prices in france? is there a kind of french equivalent of dixons or currys ?

 

re furniture, the house is a new build but looks like an old cottage so not sure classic old heavy french furniture will be appropriate.

I was thinking of some decent leather sofas and decent beds mixed with the odd few bits from ikea in bordeaux?

a lot to think about, i'm sure you have all been through it.

 

exciting though. thanks again.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am sure someone will tell you there is an equivalent to Dixons in  france, but the bigger Hypermarkets (Auchan, Cora, Carrefour and L'Eclerc etc..) carry large stocks of these sorts of items.  Not sure what a good price is for an ldc TV but Auchan had a very wide range when we bought our steam powered () tv a few month's ago
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just don't expect to buy curtains or carpets here.

I have hunted in vain for any places that sell curtaining fabric by the metre or ready-made curtains, as is normal in the UK. The French tend to buy net curtains and make do with shutters for privacy and to keep the cold out. Also they do not line curtains either. Heading tapes are not in evidence and the only rails seem to be uncorded wooden poles. We brought all our curtains with us as well as corded rails. However, all the 54 inch curtains are far too short for our windows and the long 90's will have to be chopped to fit the smaller windows here. We should have measured the windows before we bought! (Only joking.) The walls are solid stone so we have the joys of hammer drilling to get the rails up.

I love making curtains, cushions etc. but am suffering withdrawal symptoms as I cannot get the raw materials to do this. I even took a professional course before leaving the UK to be able to make to a better standard. A waste of time it seems.

Our search for carpeting met with a blank too. We are now choosing ceramic and terra cotta tiles for rooms with concrete floors and searching for carpet tiles for those with uneven and mixed floorboards previously covered in nasty stuck-to-the-floor foam backed carpet.

We have a mixture of British and French electrical goods. As an old friend gives up, so we replace with a French one. You can't really cover all eventuallities before coming furniture-wise. We have learned to go with the flow. It's all part of the fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A word of warning re electrical goods.  We recently bought a built-in cooker from a local supplier (not one of the big chains).  When we got it home and removed the packaging we found it was badly damaged - something had obviously been dropped on it.  We took it back immediately but were told that we must have damaged it ourselves. Yes, we know we should have insisted on the packaging being removed before we took it home - we're usually careful but I think the standard of service we expect and usually get in UK lulled us - we shall be more on our guard in future needless to say.

In the end, they agreed to send it away to be repaired but since then the inner glass door has cracked - obviously a stress crack.  That will be replaced but I'm left wondering what next will go wrong.   

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure where you are located but there are lots of fabric shops around us - we are in the Ariege near Lavelanet.  You can also order carpets from Mr Bricolage - they stock some but have large carpet sample books from which you order and they usually take about 2/3 days to arrive. I understand Leroy Merlin also do the same thing.  We've just done this and the only problem we came up against was finding someone to fit them! Luckily the carpet person in Mr Bric fits them as well - on his day off - and at only 50 euros a room - bargain. 

We have furnished several houses here using French suppliers and a mixture of modern and old pieces.  Cost very reasonable and my husband has spent hours and hours researching differences in prices between UK and here for electrical items and has come to the conclusion that here is best.  I do have to agree though that 'customer service' is not something a lot of the stores here are very hot on but as we have only ever had a problem once in the last 5 years I don't consider that to be too much of an issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ikea Bordeaux, always good for a day of retail therapy with lunch thrown in. Quite a choice of modern traditional look furniture as well as the very modern. Some other well known stores are near there and worth a look. BUT is good for beds and some of the other furniture. We also bought from our local Brocante shop, looks like a real junk shop but certainly worth checking out.

Gill

edit: good shops for curtaining and other fabrics in our area too. However we decided to go with the French look and have the thin curtains at the windows and use the shutters to keep out the heat and the cold. Carrefour and some of the other big shops do good, ready made, French style curtains.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We just bought a load of old heavy wood furniture, which has woodworm in varying degrees - but then so does the house we just bought and that's where its going!  We were planning on bringing some treatment stuff over with us next time and just painting every bit of wood (house and furniture) with it before we leave, but my Mum tells me its much cheaper and you can buy it in huge barrels in France!  I wouldn't let furniture with woodworm in the house normally, in the UK,  without treating it first - but as the house already has woodworm and they don't seem too worried about it there I'm guessing it hasn't been treated so we just accept we'll have to treat it if we don't want to come back to a huge pile of sawdust some time!  How fast does woodworm eat away at stuff anyway???
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Furniture in france is more expensive than Uk.

We sell direct to france from the uk and deliver to france every 2-3 weeks

offering OAK,Mahogany,Beech,Teak,Pine, at very very competative prices. we are also now selling leather and fabric sofas and chairs at less than £1200 for 3,2,1,and foot stool. in top grain hide not the Ikea rubbish.

 

beds at £85 also white goods washers £145 new.  cookers £199 new

 

any one interested email me   [email protected]

 

:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where we are (Ariege) there is not a great deal of quality new furniture (But, Comforama, Fly all do furniture but it's not cheap, not great quality and of a certain style (!) ). Ikea's stuff is generally well made and good value but you might not want to kit out your french rustic home with modern swedish gear.

The brocantes and depot vente are hideously overpriced for most of the better pieces although you can often find the occasional bargain. Emmaeus depots are very cheap but mostly junk, again it is possible to find some gems.

Yet to visit a french auction. In the UK I found that to be the best way to find quality pieces at resonable price.

WRT transporting furniture from the UK to France. There are a lot of haulage companies that will deliver part loads to france on a scheduled trip basis. You generally pay by the cubic metre and it's not that expensive. If you're buying a couple of wardrobes you can fill them full of other items and not pay any more in some cases.

For bulk material, as somebody mentioned earlier, there are a lot of material shops around here because the Ariege is (or was) a major producer in the french textile industry.

G.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote]Just don't expect to buy curtains or carpets here. I have hunted in vain for any places that sell curtaining fabric by the metre or ready-made curtains, as is normal in the UK. The French tend to bu...[/quote]

 "love making curtains, cushions etc. but am suffering withdrawal symptoms as I cannot get the raw materials to do this. I even took a professional course before leaving the UK to be able to make to a better standard. A waste of time it seems."

 

Hey Chocolate - Not necessarily a waste of time, depends where you live?? We have a place near Vernoil (49). If you were local to us and we brought the material and tapes with us perhaps you could make us our curtains. And if you can't help us due to location I'm sure that there are others around your area who would pay you for made to measure curtains.

Very English; but why not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote]good point about if things go wrong. Can you get lcd tv's at decent prices in france? is there a kind of french equivalent of dixons or currys ? re furniture, the house is a new build but looks li...[/quote]

Last time I had to buy cheap furniture for expatriates, I founded a great choice of classical and modern furniture in the catalogue "La redoute"

I bought some bookshelves for my flat, I have benne deliver in a short delay, the furniture was in good conditions.

i bought modern apple green chairs made in China, they have been taken in photo for the magazine "Arts et Deco!"

They have a nice choice for children, and you can order on line the catalogue AM/PM

Barbara

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When we moved we ordered some furniture from Ikea in France via the internet and it was delivered locally - admit that it came 2 days earlier than stated and had no onw to help move it -MOH was in the UK visiting her mum.

However the costs were the same as in the UK the codes are the same as the UK and you can also order a catalogue on line for 5 euros.

Very helpful and saved on bringing it all out with us - flat packs are much heavier than we calculated and would have put the van way over weight rather than just 500kg over weight.

Log onto ikea.fr  they also have an english helpdesk - sometimes someone even speaks english there as well

James

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have found, all we have needed at good prices at But Conforama and TrocLilles also Emmaus.fr for second hand goods and fittings for work shops and granges etc, all the appliances we bought over at great expense did not enjoy the move and so far we have replaced computor screen, washing machine, hoover and iron,only t.v. to go so carting them, the move took two weeks and three vans was a waste of time and effort, should have sold 'em and bought new as they went into storage in barn which was a bad idea.Wood furniture is available in all style everywhere, if you have a tight budget go to Troc's first.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hi everyone, this is my first time on this forum, so I hope my contribution gets there!

We have just bought a holiday home in Charente Maritime and spent the last fortnight furnishing it.  We bought 2 leather sofas from a company in Folkestone who delivered, on promised day, for £250. We also bought table etc., from local brocante.

We bought a washing machine & fridge freezer locally and were delighted with included delivery and installation.  We had a long day out at Ikea Bordeaux and bought small items - bedside tables, lamps, kitchen items, etc.We also bought beds locally (But) and were happy with service and price. 

As yet no TV but have set up computer (brought from UK) to play DVDs. & CDs. Not sure about phone for internet connection as we are not there enough to make it worthwhile, I think. What are the rules about TVs? Do you need a license as here?

Although this is my first post I have been reading all your posts for some time while we bought our house and found all your knowledge and advice very useful, so thanks to you all.

Welshwings

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...