First time buyer question

Dublinguy2018

I've bought a new build house recently and am trying to get a vague idea of how much money I'll have to spend on furnishing it.

Obviously it'll need appliances,blinds , furniture, alarm etc but I'm sure there's lots of things I haven't thought of.

Anyone gone through this recently and have any advice?

Thank you.

Mantis Toboggan

Dublinguy2018 wrote: »

I've bought a new build house recently and am trying to get a vague idea of how much money I'll have to spend on furnishing it.

Obviously it'll need appliances,blinds , furniture, alarm etc but I'm sure there's lots of things I haven't thought of.

Anyone gone through this recently and have any advice?

Thank you.

Depends what's already done to the house. Did the kitchen and bathrooms come pre installed?

Other than that firstly you'll need floors, beds, sofas, tv, tv stand, alarm, blinds, kitchen table.

You can skimp on these and save money if you like.

Went through the same process recently, didn't skimp on anything and it's working out roughly around 18k. That's only kitting out 1 bedroom as that's all we need for now.

We'll probably spend another 5k over the next year with under stairs and attic storage, garden shed and artificial grass for outside. We managed to get 6.5 k back from the bank in a lump sum so we're using that.

tricky D

From this thread https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=107283466

(not the exact same context but should give you a better idea)

If you end up without a functioning kitchen for a period, eating out gets expensive unless you can actually manage to endure campstove meals for that time.

Something might well need replacing like a cooker, fridge, (€500ish each) or a boiler (€2-3k), and maybe floors and carpets need work (€20/sqm).

Beds incl, mattresses, linen and pillows are a few hundred per person. Don't skimp or 2nd hand these; you spend too much time in these for poor quality.

Then there is furniture: suites, bookshelves, TV, TV stand, tables, chairs, cushions, etc. = lowest end probably around €2/3k, mid end around €5/7k.


Kitchen wares and other little things: crockery, cutlery, toasters, tuperware, microwaves, pots/pans, basic food stuffs, and a load of other goods/accessories can all add up quickly.

Curtains, blinds, mirrors, mats, rugs, first aid kit, extinguishers, bulbs and lights, tools, clothes horses, clocks, bins, plant stuff, electronics, heaters, moth strips, fire and carbon monoxide detectors, toilet accessories: toilet brushes, soap dishes, toothbrush holders. And petrol and time for all the showroom and shop visiting you'll be doing.

Even using the discount stores (Dealz/Star Buys) which have some good value, these smaller items and the ones I have missed, add up to 1000s in no time.

If you have a garden, then there is plenty of equipment for that needed.

Jeffy17

Best thing is to go room by room and write down what you need verus what you want.

I'm in same boat and done the same early on and it's made it much easier as the more you think about it you can easily add them to the list

Creamy Goodness

First and foremost get flooring down as soon as possible, it'll stop dust from being trampled on or being blown by wind in unfinished rooms and brought into other rooms. for the likes of the alarm, ensure it can be easy to add on sensors or monitoring from the start. whilst I'd advise against skimping on sensors you could get by on a non-monitored alarm for the first few months until you're settled then get it monitored later on.

I'm in a similar position to yourself, so far I've budgeted 12k for flooring, blinds, large kitchen appliances, washing machine, bed and linen for one room, couch. everything else I have stuff for (shelves and bookcases, tv etc.) which I'll replace over time.

Don't skimp on flooring, if going laminate flooring you must go 8mm thickness of above, anything else it'll feel like laminate, anything above will feel solid. Same for carpet, get a nice hard wearing carpet in the areas you spend the most foot traffic (stairs landing living room etc.) get softer more luxury stuff for the bedrooms.

Pick out your appliances and find the cheapest price over on pricespy.ie, print out make/models and go to DID/Powercity/Harvey Norman's etc and ask them for a price if you went all in with them usually they can knock a good 15-20% off most things.

Try and pick up the small bits and bobs now, cutlery, pots/pans, linen etc. and keep it boxed, this will help spread out the cost.

LirW

When we moved in our house, beside not being a new-build it was a shell. We got floors down first, went with laminate and tiles everywhere and went with the not high-end version because we simply couldn't afford it. We got the basic furniture necessary and went mostly with Ikea's finest. We can replace it with other things down the line. Be prepared that you will make mistakes, in other words you'll settle for things that might look nice but aren't handy or a pain to keep. That's normal and don't have hard feelings about it.

We did it all for around 10k with decent mattresses, the rest is budget to medium specc. We live quite well with it. If course Amtico floor would be nice but we don't have the money for it. You'll also put a lot of money into the gaff over the next few years anyway.

It all depends on how much you can spend upfront.