Buying / getting furniture to France

[hastobe]

We wondered if anyone could advise us.  We are in the process of

buying a house and, although we are buying some furniture from the

vendors, its not very much.  We looked into buying furniture in

the UK and shipping it over but, tbh, we would rather have French

furniture.  Does anyone have any tips on good places to buy

furniture (new or old) and retailers they have found reliable for

delivering on an agreed date (we are only able to spend holidays in

France for the next few years so need to be sure they will deliver when

they say they will). 

We are in dept 24 about 25-30kms east of Perigueux.

Hastobe and hubby

[Tony F Dordogne]

Where about in 24?  There are all sorts of places that you may be able to get furniture from but if you could narrow things down a bit ........

[hastobe]

In a little village called St Pantaly d'Ans - along the D5, sort of between Perigueux and Hautefort...

Hastobe

[Brilec]

One of the best places to get second-hand furniture is Emmaus, a charity which sells all sorts of second-hand goods, but mainly furniture.

To find your nearest place, look here

http://www.emmaus-france.org/contacts/index.php

[Quillan]

BUT and Fly are the French versions of people like MFI but much better (in my opinion). You can look them up on the web for your nearest shop. We also have Ikea over hear if you like that sot of thing.

On time delivery inFrance, when did that happen, the French make UK deliveries look punctual. Some of the big commercial zones have places like Brico Depot etc that hire vans for delivery. So you could buy something from them and rent the van to collect your furniture with. They often work out cheaper. Another thing is to hire a van in the UK and drive down with the stuff you want from the UK then use the van to collect stuff in France. It can't be that expensive as I have seen many do this right down here in the south.

[KenB]

When I moved here in 2003, I bought some living room furniture from Fly in Blois. The store didn't deliver, but they let us use one of their trucks to move the furniture to our house. I think they gave us two hours of truck rental free, and that was sufficient for our needs. Other places we have bought from -- Darty and local furniture stores -- have had free delivery.

[hastobe]

Thanks for all the replies - much appreciated.

Hastobe

[chessfou]

[quote]On time delivery inFrance, when did that happen, the French make UK deliveries look punctual.[/quote]

Really?! While our experience in UK has not been totally disastrous, it has not been great.

So far, our experience in France has been tremendous (just as well,

really, since we've been flying back and forth to receive deliveries).

The worst, so far, was when we received a telephone call (just as the

snow began to fall heavily) on the morning of a previously arranged

delivery, asking where exactly we were and how to find us (we had sent

a fax with all the details - we live in a village without street names

- several weeks beforehand). Net result, the guys arrived about 10

minutes later than the 1 hour slot (NB to Tesco - must try harder) that

had previously been arranged (and they had to drive through a

snowstorm, then trudge through several inches of snow from the truck to

the house to deliver fridge, freezer, oven & dishwasher - all

perfectly installed & competently explained).

Maybe we've been lucky, maybe l'Aveyron is simply exceptional.

[Kitty]

We bought a house last year and have been stocking it with furniture for the last few months. 

Second hand Unlike Brittany, there don't seem to be many second hand furniture stores in SW France but Emmaus is the best bet (e-mail link posted by someone else earlier this week).  They are not the best organised stores - they use a confusing ticket system and don't help you load up etc - but the goods are relatively cheap.  You just have to take pot luck what donations they have had in that day.  I have picked up some real bargains (an outside table and 4 outside chairs for 5 euros) but only when I have been prepared to restore the stuff at home myself.

New Obviously there is Ikea in Bordeaux if you are brave enough to visit.  But most new furniture, even in Le Clerc, seems to be more expensive than in the UK.  I haven't bought much new as a result.  It's worth looking out in Lidl - they have deals on flat pack stuff most months (I bought 2 very good pine beds for 29 euros each, for example).

Bringing large stuff from the UK Last year, I enthusiastically bought some furniture bargains off Ebay in the UK, only to find that the cost of hiring a van to France knocks out the discounts you gain.  On this website, people do put postings about sharing vans but I don't know how effective that is.

It's probably best to go minimalist!

[Lizzie15]

Our "local " Emmaus is largely stocked with tat.We do have some decent Trocs though,and several brocante stores- I've been able to buy quite a lot from these.I also bought a carpet on e-bay and shared in a part load with a Uk van, this was OK too. Ikea is useful for little bits and bobs ( I often get rugs from there and throw them away when they get dirty).

[james419]

Ikea also operate a delivery system for furniture etc log onto ikea.fr there is an english page - we bought wardrobes etc from them all delivered saved a fortune in trying to bring from the UK - there is a chare which depends on the distance needed

Happy hunting

[Blanche Neige]

Ikea is useful for little bits and bobs ( I often get rugs from there and throw them away when they get dirty).

Lizzie 15, how sensible! We had three Ikea medium sized rugs cleaned last autumn and when we realised how much it cost us we decided that these rugs will be used this time round and binned next time they need cleaning. I have to say though that throwing out rugs etc. goes against the grain! The very small ones we have do wash well.

Re. Where to buy?

Conforama, But, Ikea, and Fly plus the occasional buy at a Brocante (shop or market) have served us well. We too have borrowed a van from But and had deliveries from Ikea without any problems.

[napoleon]

"Hastobe and Hubby"

Advice for Hubby: Don't take wifey anywhere near a French furniture store unless you have full control of the funds. There are plenty of large furniture stores in the retail parks but prices match the exceptional quality of the goods.

For second hand furniture you should search locally for shops under the umbrella of "Depot Vente". We have several near us that stock good quality furniture at moderate prices. Avoid any shop that appears to offer "antique" furniture that is probably set up to catch unsuspecting tourists. It is often junk that looks smart.

We were very selective about which items were to be bought new and which could be acceptable in a second hand form. The bedroom suite was new, expensive and looks superb. The mattress is too hard!

Don't rush! Enjoy searching the brocants in summer for real bargains.

                                        Good luck, Alistair

[Bassman]

[quote user="chessfou"][quote]On time delivery inFrance, when did that happen, the French make UK deliveries look punctual.[/quote]

Really?! While our experience in UK has not been totally disastrous, it has not been great.

So far, our experience in France has been tremendous (just as well, really, since we've been flying back and forth to receive deliveries). The worst, so far, was when we received a telephone call (just as the snow began to fall heavily) on the morning of a previously arranged delivery, asking where exactly we were and how to find us (we had sent a fax with all the details - we live in a village without street names - several weeks beforehand). Net result, the guys arrived about 10 minutes later than the 1 hour slot (NB to Tesco - must try harder) that had previously been arranged (and they had to drive through a snowstorm, then trudge through several inches of snow from the truck to the house to deliver fridge, freezer, oven & dishwasher - all perfectly installed & competently explained).

Maybe we've been lucky, maybe l'Aveyron is simply exceptional.
[/quote]

 

Same here [;)] So far we are very impressed we have bought stuff from Gitem and as it wasn't in stock they said they could have it delivered to us at 3.50pm on the Weds, this was on Mon. OK we said thinking hahahaha  well sure enough I look out the front door at 3.40 pm on Wed and there is the Gitem van pulling up [:O] the delivery man was very pleasant and unpacked the cooker outside ,putting the packaging back in his van, brought it in and connected it up and showed us how it worked. a much nicer experience than any I have had in the UK over the last 30 years.

 

I was also very impressed with France Telecom , my wife phoned them from UK to arrange connection and within a few minutes had an appt time for our next trip over 2 weeks later and our new number, Sure enough just before the appointed time an engineer turned up did his tests and connected the phone up, shook our hands and went on his way. beats BT into a cocked hat IMO real service with a genuine smile [:)]

 

When we moved the bulk of our stuff over that we had collected in the UK I bought a LWB Hi-Cube Transit with a tail lift for £1400 we did 3 trips over with it and used it for collecting the fridge and freezer from Gitem and the bathroom suite from Bricomarche plus lots of other things like wood and curtain poles etc. etc.I figured if I got nothing for it after all this I would have had my monies worth out of it but I have just sold it back to the trader I bought it from with the MoT expired for £700[H]

[Jsey]

Hi Paul.

You can't hide mate, I would agree with your statement all the way, when I ordered all my gear from a local shop the man asked when I would like delivery this being 11am, so, knowing how the UK works I said as soon as they were able, he nearly gave me palpitations when he asked if 2pm would be ok, at 1.50pm there they were.

[Bassman]

[quote user="Jsey"]

Hi Paul.

You can't hide mate, I would agree with your statement all the way, when I ordered all my gear from a local shop the man asked when I would like delivery this being 11am, so, knowing how the UK works I said as soon as they were able, he nearly gave me palpitations when he asked if 2pm would be ok, at 1.50pm there they were.

[/quote]

 

Hi John

 

Jeeez you just can't get away from some people can you [;)] LOLOLOLOL

 

How are you doing mate??? I have to say I was amazed at being given so precise a time and that it was adhered to, especially as our house is not the easiest to find[:D]

[Jsey]

[quote user="Bassman"][quote user="Jsey"]

Hi Paul.

You can't hide mate, I would agree with your statement all the way, when I ordered all my gear from a local shop the man asked when I would like delivery this being 11am, so, knowing how the UK works I said as soon as they were able, he nearly gave me palpitations when he asked if 2pm would be ok, at 1.50pm there they were.

[/quote]

 

Hi John

 

Jeeez you just can't get away from some people can you [;)] LOLOLOLOL

 

How are you doing mate??? I have to say I was amazed at being given so precise a time and that it was adhered to, especially as our house is not the easiest to find[:D]

[/quote]

 

Among my items were a washing machine / 6ft fridge / 28in tv , freezer and the cooker all up 3 flights at that time so I was more than a little suprised that one of the 2 man delivery team was a woman, after the delivery they went out on the roof and fitted my tv dishes.