John Lewis fitted bedrooms

[Whereisyourblankie]

We need to get our bedroom fitted to maximise space. Had guy from John Lewis around in the week, is great and exactly what we need. Quote was £7,400 for an average sized double room. I'm not sure what I expected but this seemed a lot.

I haven't had any other quotes as yet, but was wondering if anyone had had experience with John Lewis fitted furniture and also, do you think there is any room to haggle with them? Or actually, any recommendations on fitted bedrooms would be great. We are looking at a wood veneer finish rather than vinyl. House/bedroom is also old and wonky...

Thanks so much in advance!

[caroldecker]

Waht the hell do you get for £7.4k?

[Whereisyourblankie]

You'd think a lot. But... One wall filled with wardrobes and shelving. A chest of drawers, mirror and 2 bedside cabinets. I get that that the wardrobes and shelves have to be bespoke, but, jeez!

[caroldecker]

sounds expensive even for them. JL price guide attached.
If you need bespoke, get a local carpenter to build it.
How much space do you save getting this rather than a couple of wardrobes?

[Whereisyourblankie]

Caroldecker, thanks for locating that price guide! To me we fall well into the medium sized room and we aren't even going for the headboard. I'm going to highlight and send to JL to query, for starters.

The room is really old with angled ceilings and exposed beams (sounds glamorous, it really ain't) so freestanding furniture has to be small to fit and not up to the job. Expecting dc2 early next year so freeing up all my crap from spare room to create nursery.

Thanks so much about advice re local carpenter too. I'm buggered if I'm going to pay more than what my car is worth for a bedroom...

[zoemaguire]

Crikey! A local carpenter/joiner is 100% the way to go. For (less than) half the price you'd get triple the quality!!

[measles64]

I have been looking at Homebase, might be worth a comparison. www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk/furniture/fitted-bedrooms

[Whereisyourblankie]

Thanks so much for all suggestions and advice - will look at getting quotes from each. Really appreciate it.

[Burgundy21]

The price is certainly not negotiable. Having signed up after some research, and although the price seemed high, John Lewis' reputation for quality and service were the factors which made us opt for their fitted bedroom service. When the fitter arrived, he discovered that two of the panels were cracked and the surveyor had neglected to take account of the slope of the ceiling. It was impossible to complete the wardrobes without the panels, and we are left with bedrooms in disarray and so far with no satisfactory response from John Lewis. Definitely would not opt for John Lewis fitted anything again, but we are stuck...

[jorjski]

For people in the future looking for JL to do their fitted wardrobes:

Do not let John Lewis do your fitted wardrobes. They are not "made-to-measure" as they have implied. They have a set of carcasses that they pop in and they add 'fillers' on the sides to cover the gaps. They've wasted about 50cm of storage space.

In addition to this, they were not clear about how they were going to make sockets available. Previously, my shelf had the socket attached to the wood, but John Lewis just cuts a hole to make the socket available (also, their removers managed to make a mess out of the removal). This is problematic as I have to stick my hand into the hole through the giant gap before I can plug it in.

Did I also mention that they did not deliver the drawers in one bedroom and they delivered smaller drawers in the other? Of course the sides were covered by 'fillers' again...