To think buying furniture brand new is a waste of money?

I paid £1700 for solid oak dining table, sideboard and a nest of coffee tables 12 years ago. Investment i think, and not something im looking to replace any time soon. I was left money by my gran when she passed, and she had 7 kids. I remember my mum telling me that nan always stood up when it was tea time as the kids took up what tiny table she had in the kitchen.

I vowed no one was ever gonna stand up to eat in my house, hence why I bought a table to sit 8.

my house is 250 years old and no item of flimsy Ikea flatpack will suffice.

We had a couple of very expensive mistakes with new furniture - the world's most uncomfortable sofa and a bed that was just too big for the space. So now much prefer second-hand because if I make an error I can get rid and start again without too much anguish. And, yes, the cost of hiring a van may well cost more than the price of the furniture but even if you take this into account it is still a lot cheaper than new. Auction houses / charity shops will often deliver too. Or man with a van services are not too unreasonable as well.

I just cannot stand the smell of 2nd hand furniture. It always smells musty and kind of sweet or of smoke.

No matter how much you clean/air it. It makes me feel queasy.

Tbh I buy new but could not afford 4 k for a sofa ! I try to keep my furniture for as long as possible

Completely agree - our local auction rooms have plenty of lovely antique furniture which you can often pick up for a snip. Usually beautifully made and so much more character than something generic from IKEA or habitat.

I have a 30 year old set of Ikea shelves i bought from new with my own money when I was a teenager.

Why would i buy second hand when i can buy ikea stuff that still matches those original shelves 30 years on and doesn't cost me a fortune and i can guarantee isnt scratched or damaged? And is practical and fits my house.

My parents have a mish mash of furniture, that didn't fit and looked awful, was uncomfortable and was damaged and it always drove me nuts.

I wouldn't buy cheap new furniture from bargain stores new for the same reason though.

We don’t really do new furniture, we do spend time looking for solid pieces of furniture that we can have stripped and revarnished. We enjoy going to antique markets and looking for the perfect pieces though, I know some people wouldn’t have the time.

I do absolutely hate to see ‘upcycled’ furniture where people paint over the beautiful wood and stencil some crap french phrase on. It’s so sad to see lovely furniture ruined.

I bought a beautiful oak 5ft wardrobe on eBay about 10 years ago for £100. I arranged my own courier - easily done. Fantastic workmanship and will last forever.

I paid 4 times that amount 30 years ago for a modern wardrobe that was flimsy and was consigned to the scrapheap decades ago.

Where is the second hand market for average rather than designer furniture built since the 1970s?

LOL @ 'solid oak for £500'. You mean blockboard.

I will say though that 2nd hand furniture does seem to be popular where we live. We are now disposing of furniture the previous owners left. We put them on Facebook marketplace for a token amount of money each ((£5/10)... wardrobes, chests of drawers, bookcases, a bed, armchair and a odd little trunk. Every item sold same day! The odd little trunk was a surprise as it was quite ugly.! But the buyer sent us a photo 2 days later: she had up cycled it into a gorgeous trunk!

I’m not arguing for the sake of it but I said”that can’t possibly be true unless..”

In the real world, people want to impress when they don't have a mortgage..not when they have a debt to repay.

Well she might well live there since people do actually live in those places you know.

Err yes that would be why I said it...

Yeah people have big mortgage to impress, not at all because property prices are all over the place.

There's no wonder that our planet is dying when people think a ten year old piece of furniture is out dated. It's also alway credit credit credit isn't it?

Any of my friends or family who are professionals/well to do, don't have brand new furniture and perfectly modern 'hun' houses. It's always those who want to impress with enormous mortgages.

I have a priory sideboard/buffet never liked ercol. I grew up with it, my kids did when mother went for habitat so handed it over. It's like a TARDIS storage wise

We bought our two sofas and an armchair off our sellers. They bought, gutted, tarted up and staged every house they moved to making a lot of money each time.

A friend bought the entire contents of one bungalow that was done up by developers interior designers. Who doubled the value of the property in 14 months

I would never buy soft furnishings second hand simply to avoid any issues with bed bugs.

Our sofas, dining table and bedroom furniture was bought new but the spare bed came from next door and I have some antique occasional tables which were inherited. I also have a pair of 1930s easy chairs which we paid a fortune for in Brighton which look amazing and are supremely comfortable.

I don't want soft furnishings that have potentially been shagged on, pissed on by children, in a smokers house.

I'm sure people don't sell sofas are 6 months at a 50% loss so the 2nd hand ones are very old.

I buy the things I like because I keep them for as long as possible.

Sofas and mattresses are always new because they are soft/absorbent, and difficult to clean.

I have a fabulous ash sideboard that would have cost ,000s new, found in a second hand shop and an armchair I reupholstered myself in a class. My kitchen table and chairs were new. Ds's 'desk' in his room is a thick slab of beech from a fallen tree and cut to fit an alcove by the local carpenter.

The sideboard I'm referring to is the one where half the height is taken up by legs.