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

Apart from white goods and tech all the furniture in my home is antique or vintage. I have been buying from auctions for years. I dont care if its "fashionable" or not. I dont follow other people. I know the furniture will outlive me. Some of it belonged to my grandmother and came back with her from her travels.

My own tastes in furniture are for the sort of thing that costs an arm and a leg from The Cotswold Company.

When we bought our first house I was desperate to have new stuff but DH is very much of the opinion that a quartet of plug-ugly utility dining chairs does exactly the same job as that divine set from John Lewis, so that's the sort of thing I lived with - for more than 30 years!

I retired 4 years ago and in that time have bought and upcycled upward of twenty pieces of furniture - all from the same maker and all bought second hand for anything between a fiver (a dreadfully scratched tv cabinet) to £60 an (immaculately kept sideboard.) I now have a houseful of pieces that I made beautiful. NB none of them smelled of cigarettes!

But you do need patience, time and a steady hand with sander and paintbrush.

As someone up-thread said, if no-one bought new there would be nothing for people like me to buy second hand!

Apart from mattresses and electrical goods I buy most things second hand
I love my 60s Ercol and gplan sitting room and dining room furniture
Bedrooms are a mixture of simple IKEA and antique including inherited pieces

We've just bought new sofas after having our others for 10 years. The new ones were ex display and cost half of the retail price. I fully intended to have these for at least 10 years. Most other pieces of furniture in the house are second hand (dining table and chairs, desk, side tables, tv stand, wardrobes and drawers) and these will be replaced by second hand when they eventually fall apart. I must say though, It does feel nice to have something brand new for a change!

But I don’t understand why people spend so much money on brand new furniture, when in 6 months time it’ll be worth about half what paid.

I don't care what it's 'worth' in 6 months. If I buy furniture I buy it to use, any value isn't relevant.

I prefer to buy new because the ingrained smell of smoke never leaves. We have had pieces second hand over the years and some have been unusable.

I don’t buy ikea because I don’t drive and their delivery cost is a joke!

I love Ikea, but it's not designed to be moved. Take furniture down and build it again, it will never be the same.

I am happy not to waste my money on overpriced tat that their owner is desperate to get rid of, or overpriced "vintage" where some astute seller
replaces "old" by historical to add a 0 to the price

"Second hand" (i.e. bought at auctions) furniture all the way for me, OP. I'd far rather have a nice 18th century mahogany chest of drawers than some MDF thing which costs the same in Argos.

Well op, I personally don’t understand why anyone would buy furniture anywhere other than IKEA. But each to their own. IKEA also do a good job of “timeless”. The Billy bookcase was first made in the 70s. They still sell them today, I have them in 3 different rooms.

IKEA give exact measurements for their stuff and most of us are very pushed for space so buying something 2nd hand is most likely going to be less space efficient. Unless it’s 2nd hand IKEA of course!

That sideboard is beautiful @JaninaDuszejko. And what a great investment it’s turned out to be.

[quote PattyPan]@SarahAndQuack you are totally right about armchairs, they are all massive nowadays as are sofas - some of them are almost a metre deep! It’s a nightmare trying to find something to fit in our fairly narrow living room without overwhelming it.[/quote]
We just notice because we're two women - I'm 5'5 and DP is 5'7, so we don't want those massive, overstuffed chairs designed for a hefty 6'4 man! I notice if you pay a massive amount new, furniture gets smaller again - you can buy what look like very beautiful, dainty armchairs for upwards of a grand, but we don't have the budget. I do wonder if it's because soft woods like pine and cheaper cushions just take more space?

YANBU

I love antique furniture. I have inherited bits and collected for years. I've also bought and sold. I especially like oak country furniture, solid mahogany George I and William and Mary walnut furniture. It loses its value or gains according to fashion. Couldn't give a stuff if I'm keeping it. I've made a bit selling stuff on, but its usually been a case of being in right place at the right time. I bought an oak coffer circa 1650 for £10 and all it required is a good polish but I'm keeping it so its resale value is irrelevant. Antique furniture doesn't generally increase in value unless its really exceptional quality, a good example of its kind, in original condition and not been over restored or cleaned up too much. But, who buys furniture as an investment? not many people, not even me. Ultimately it has to be useful and you have to like it.

The argument about small houses doesn't necessarily stack up though. A lot of georgian furniture was designed to be multi purpose, to fold down, and to be pushed back to the walls. There was quite a lot of ingenuity and clever design.

No I don’t agree with you, buying furniture second hand is a pain unless you drive having to arrange vans etc and they are pretty expensive too so would rather buy new

@SarahAndQuack you are totally right about armchairs, they are all massive nowadays as are sofas - some of them are almost a metre deep! It’s a nightmare trying to find something to fit in our fairly narrow living room without overwhelming it.

Twenty years ago when MCM furniture was just beginning to make a comeback I bought this design of an early 50s G plan (E Gomme) sideboard on ebay for £150. I still love it and it is far bigger and more solidly made than most new sideboards, particularly what people were asking for it then, but even now you'd struggle to get the quality for the price.

Most of the reasons people have for not looking at vintage are bullshit, there are loads of websites selling antique and vintage pieces where you can search for exactly your requirements and find loads of alternatives in different styles and in different price brackets. And they do delivery. Just look at the search option on vinterior above. It's so much easier than it was years ago when the options were the local auction house (got a fantastic chest of drawers there) or ebay. And somuch better for the environment.

In the last year I've bought reupholstered chairs for less than they would cost new from IKEA, some desks, a restored rosewood sideboard (rosewood is now protected so you can't get new rosewood furniture) and just bought an incredibly 60s leather sofa by a famous designer. I don't want a house with wall to wall Dunelm, I want a house with history and character and pieces my children can inherit. Quality second hand is no longer the cheap option (although that middle sideboard above is lovely) but we have to stop buying poor quality things that are made by exploited poor people in Asia if we want a world our children can live in.

Yabu in that we bought our furniture to use until it falls apart, it has never occurred to me to consider resale value of furniture.
But yanbu that £1000 is too much to spend on a piece of furniture.

Buying anything except shelter, food and basic clothing could be called a waste of money, I don’t want second hand furniture, I want to be able to choose exactly what stuff I want, in the style I want, in perfect condition, what’s wrong with that?

I bought all my furniture from IKEA yore because I had nowhere else to store my dvds manuscripts.

Not something I’ve thought a lot about. Most of what I’ve wanted I only saw available to buy as new. We “set up home” 17 years ago and aside from changing the mattress and sofa, we haven’t got rid of any furniture we have bought over the years. We have got some things as hand me downs from family and from the people we bought our house from

But I don’t understand why people spend so much money on brand new furniture, when in 6 months time it’ll be worth about half what paid.

who cares, I don't buy furniture to last 6 months. I have neither the time nor the will to change everything twice a year.

I don't want 60s furniture either. I have some old family stuff which has sentimental value and might even be worth a bit, but I am not selling.
I have Ikea stuff which is great but really doesn't handle dismantling and moving so well.

I have furniture that I like the look of in various shops or catalogues, just ordered and got it delivered.

My time is worth more than saving a few quid because I buy something on ebay or second hand place - without guarantee that it will be as described, in good conditions etc.