Furnishing a new house

Personally I wouldn't buy new. I like 'vintage' or 'pre-loved furniture'. With umpteen GC and 2 cats I've given up hope of buying lovely furniture and am focused on visiting emporiums [emporia?], charity shops and the like. I think really I'd be worried about every little scratch or mark if I bought new. I recently painted a wall and initially called out 'mind the wall' every time someone moved

As for costs - it depends on what you wish to purchase and where you buy it from. I think if I wanted to buy new my first port of call would be John Lewis. We also get a variety of furniture catalogues through the door which look interesting and modern

What an exciting opportunity! Enjoy!

I would be so excited at that prospect.
I would get rid of my Mahogany dining room furniture and replace it with something very light and very modern.
In my case I would go down the Oak furniture or similar route as I don't expect I will need it for long.
I envy you your prospect.
I love John Lewis but it would be too expensive at this stage in our lives.

I would start at Ikea

Yup, I got rid of everything when I downsized. Put it all out n the grass verge with “Free. Help yourself” notices.

I needed a completely fresh start.

Ikea for me. Cheap enough to make mistakes in a smaller space. ( And I did!)

Never thought of Ikea as I have only been once.
I did read that the Cambridge children had some Ikea in their bedrooms.?

We got rid of all our heavy furniture but kept our large mahogany wardrobe which fits perfectly in the new bedroom and holds far more stuff than a new one would.

We sent our old furniture to EMMAUS having already paid them a visit to earmark some lighter pieces that I 'Annie Sloaned'. They delivered it all for free when they picked up our donations so, win, win.

I bought Roman blinds for the kitchen and bedroom and lightweight curtains because with good double glazing we no longer needed draught proofing.

I painted our existing dining room table and chairs a very pale cream. I wanted to hang on to the chairs because they slide underneath the table which saves a lot of space, whereas some of the modern, really solid ones don't. DH recovered the seats.

The kitchen is split into two areas. The modern bit came from B&Q and DH fitted it The other half is more 'vintage' with a dresser and a mini boot-room. It's where the dogs sleep

I really enjoyed all the planning and the whole thing was done on a limited budget. I would definitely recommend IKEA They would have been my first port of call had I not been able to source everything locally.

Good Luck. Have fun!

We only took our bed, a wardrobe, chest of drawers and four easy chairs (two disposed of once we had new sofas) and small tables when we moved. Our furniture just didn’t suit our new home, too dark, too big.

The old furniture was disposed of through a mix of family, e-bay and a charity shop. Our old furniture was dark and traditional, the new wooden furniture is light oak, sofas were bought to fit the space, we had wardrobes made to fit our bedroom.

It was fun although it did take a couple of months before the new furniture felt like ours.

From other people’s experiences we learned that it just isn’t wise to downsize with overly large furniture and be permanently squashed.

Have fun, sometimes a new home deserves new furniture.

Ikea was my first thought, as others above have said. Have fun and enjoy your potential new home. I am quite jealous.

We are in the middle of a radical down sizing from a 4 bed/3 bath 3 recp bungalow with double garage/loft and an acre of grounds............and yes every single stick of furniture and very many items of bed linen,kitchenware and most knick nacks that do not hold a sentimental value are either going or gone!
We start afresh in a 2 bed/2 bath Apartment and yes new furniture ,all matching with on ly a few items of old that mean something special will be accomodated.
This is a new phase and we have already had years of good value from the old and we hope to rebuild totally and create fresh memories.
In fact no more dark or medium coloured wood,everything will be cream...........making the place light and airy........probably no carpets or curtains actually as we like real wood floors with large rugs and window shutters.......
The mere thought of trying to squeeze furnture that fits a place of this size into an Apartment just would not work.

Sometimes the pleasure is in creating a new chapter and that is how we plan our eventual move to be.

Of course each to their own and it is very much a personal choice,but indeed one to devote much time and thought too................then go with what you fancy.........be brave.......we only live once!!!

I think it would be great to start afresh with furniture in a new home. We seem to have fallen foul of the "keep it as it is good quality" and it would be lovely to have a change. Good luck if the move goes ahead..

we've always bought everything new for a new house as my parents did before us.The only things we take are books and music and personal stuff ,like pictures and photographs.I'll take any excuse to refurnish and redecorate and frequently do.
Try your local retail park for suites and bedroom furniture at most price ranges .Have a ball and enjoy every minute.I do love a newly built newly furnished home

Some wonderful advice everyone, I am a tad excited but have never had the opportunity before, so I am browsing Ikea to get ideas, thankyou - keep the ideas coming

I have recently discovered an ikea sites on line that has great ideas for adapting ikea furniture.

Good luck with your new adventure.

Further to my earlier posts I have had a penchant for the cream French shabby chic style, so know exactly what I want,whilst places such as Laura Ashley and other cheaper on line manufacturers have just what I have in mind........yes of course costs are very important but I think if you chose cannily and grab all the many discounts on offer these days you can set up a small Apartment or bungalow at a much lower cost than when we first bought for our earlier homes.
We still have Ercol`s Golden Dawn" in elm,and over the years have collected some 14 pieces and most are as new.............so hopefully with preloved Ercol having a good
following we should almost be able to sell well and have enough to buy quite a lot of all our new furniture...........some ultra canny buying is needed it seems.
But it is exciting and it gives a nice new freshness to life even though many might consider some of us almost beyond our sell buy date!!
Sadly we have no Ikea..........so we have had to base our needs on what is available to us.
Good Luck Nannyme..........hope your "Adventure" turns into a pleasurable one!

I guess if I were to downsize I'd need to replace some items due to size but most of my furniture isn't very old. for example I refurnished everything in my Lounge just before Christmas and it wasn't cheap. I tend to buy expensive things according to my Ex . I buy what I like within my budget, some things may be expensive but not everything. You should do what you need to make the move as enjoyable as possible.

Hi, how exciting for you but still quite daunting. We completely refurnished our from living room two years ago, Danish Rosewood wall Unit along with other bits of furniture which I loved but knew was old fashioned went. Replaced with Oak sideboard and other bits from M & S at sale time. Very good quality furniture and I love it. New suite, new carpets, curtains, the lot. I would say if you like quality around £4000. I haven't regretted the change at all. Love it! Go on treat yourself if you can afford to. Good Luck!

We're in a similar position about to renovate a 30 year old bungalow so have a blank canvas. We are trying to stick to a budget so hoping to get the furniture for between £4-5k - surprisingly it's the bedroom furniture which is the most expensive. It's a very exciting time so enjoy the planning.

I would expect to pay about 5/6K to furnish throughout remembering that the rooms are going to be smaller than you have with it being a new build so plenty of light wood and big mirrors to give a feeling of space and not too bulky furniture you could get away with 2 x reclining sofa's.Keep the flooring either medium wood or plain carpet so you can have a feature wall to bring in colour.
Just remember modern bedroom furniture is not as spacious so glass sliding doors are great for saving space and don't cost too much.
I love doing a new place it is one of my most favourite pass times,enjoy your new place.
PS. always ask for discounts where ever you shop it can save £s.

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M and S has some furniture in their 50% sale at the moment.

When I divorced I left the house with virtually nothing. Only some glass and China and a few personal belongings plus my clothes. It cost me 10000 to completely furnish a 2 bedroom house. Living room, dining room and bedroom furniture plus white goods and electrical items but I also had to buy China glasses etc and bedding and towels so basically equip a whole house again. As you have the household basics already you should be able to do it cheaper.