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

Most people don't go on to sell their furniture after 6 months though so why would they care if it depreciates?

Most of the things in my bedroom for example, drawers, wardrobe, bedside tables and so on, I've had for years.

A lot of modern furniture is designed for smaller rooms in modern homes. Buying second hand can be rewarding, upcycling can be fun. But it has to fill the space.

When we downsized a lot of stuff had to go. We did buy some furniture off our sellers because it worked in the room.

I get all sorts but most of the most lovely antique pieces were free from free cycle!

It dose depend on the style you’re going for. My house is modern farmhouse and so its easy to buy second hand, particularly since you can paint things or strip them to tie them in together. Loads of my furniture is second hand (not sofas or mattresses). If my look was ultra modern it would be more difficult to find suitable stuff.

I agree that the 60s teak us now ultra trendy. In the place I live there’s a whole shop dedicated to it at bonkers prices.

eBay delivery services are good and you can get most things shipped to you very cheaply.

ExH wrecked the last new sofa I bought. Instead of buying new again I ditched him :D Now I have an old family sofa and it's lasting well

Certainly was a waste of money for me. Bought new sideboard. Three weeks later, the dog peed on it.

@sst1234 I certainty do not invest in furniture to replace it quickly, I'd rather sacrifice my time than my money.

@MirandaMarple

Because time is valuable. Also the idea that things were well made only in olden days is a false analogy. Finally, furniture is as much about aesthetics as it is about functionality and durability. No one would choose to buy ugly furniture just because it was old and supposedly of good quality. For a lot of items of furniture it makes sense to to buy new, but not particularly expensive or durable because you may want to replace it to update the look of a room.

Honestly I couldn't care less about the re-sellable value of my furniture. Not everything needs to hold a return on investement potential.

Second hand furniture (like mid century) can be extremely expensive.

I've got a mix of new, second hand and home made.
My shelves are brand new, it's a designer's piece, that I can take with me when I leave. This model has been a design staple for 60 years, it's not the kind of stuff that can get outdated anytime soon.
I also bought a brand new armchair, because I fell in love with the design. Didn't want anything else.
I'm considering another side table, I'm looking at new designers on the scene. I also look at second hand, but I like the idea of contributing to emerging designers.
And the chase is so exciting. I may find perfect second hand, but I keep my options open.

This said, as a design fan, I'm also perfectly aware that furniture doesn't make everything in a place.

A friend of mine has a fantastic flat, its all ikea and it looks fab, she used the furniture as a generic canvas and put a lot of attention into lighting sources, wall decor, accessories, and the flat itself has a lot of character with exposed brick, metal beams etc...

Unless the second hand furniture was sin pieces absolutely no way I could get it round the right turns upstairs.

I'm happy to buy ikea brand new ofs pretty cheap and so far in still new condition after 8yrs. I actually took down a pax wardrobe to move it to another room, carefully taking it apart. Unfortunately I made a lazy mistake when putting it together and if broke. Lucky replacing the wardrobe frame was only £60. If I had paid hundreds its hurt my pocket more.

Also with ikea so easy to change things like doors, internal storage/shelving etc. It's an affordable way of updating and they have marching sets not something you often find with second hand furniture

I have a mixture...
My old ektorp ikea sofa is 20 years old....we got a new loose cover for £95 and it’s as good as new....latest bedroom furniture for spare room is ikea but in lounge and family room I have g plan, ercol and Nathan....all picked up from eBay.... I love 60s/70s elm.... the grain is beautiful...
that was in the days before Dutch elm disease... we will never see it again unfortunately in new furniture

There is nothing about your argument. If you make the same point about cars, it makes sense. For furniture no. If you want a white Audi A3, sure it makes to wait 4 weeks and buy a used car with hardly any mileage that will have dropped upto 30% in value. Because there are limited number of car makes and models. For someone wanting to buy a piece of furniture to fit their style of decor, in their style of house, in the right colour, who has time to and find something so specific that is used.

Disagree about new sofas being better than new ones.

I think in the past twenty years I've bought 2 mattresses, one sofa and a kid's bunk bed, new.

Every single thing in my house is second hand (lots of mid century furniture, sofas, fireside chairs, lamps, fabrics etc)

Anything that's worth buying new is far too expensive , for me.

YABU. I want all my furniture brand new and I want it all to match.

You couldn’t pay me to take second hand furniture.

Some brand new furniture will hold its value well; some second hand furniture is sold for far more than it's worth.

I don't think it has anything to do with how modern your house is, does it?

IMO a chest of drawers is something you need to look at carefully. A lovely old piece might be fine, but if the wood has warped it's horrible. I wouldn't buy something like that without seeing. But I could buy an IKEA equivalent sight unseen, because if it doesn't open smoothly, I can return it. That's been a big consideration during the pandemic.

*live

But surely my furniture choices have zero impact on your life?

Find something worthy to worry about. I’ll carry on loving my gorgeous Cotswold solid wood furniture.

How do I get second hand furniture picked up and delivered?

It probably wouldn’t fit through my doors either my hall is very narrow and weirdly shaped.

I googled teak furniture 😂
My granfma had it. Nope. I stick with Ikea.
I think lots of people still have ikea in their heads as £5 and big wardrobes, but they really wxpanded into different budgets.
I have kitchen from them and love it too

I like quality furniture. We bought new bedroom furniture for all the bedrooms, coffee table, dining table / chairs apart from dd’s room and other bits and bobs. All are now around 2 decades old so we’ve got our use out of them. They are still in great shape and I have no intention of changing them.

We also have a few antique pieces, certain bits from IKEA and the office furniture is from the 1970’s. Dd’s bedroom furniture is the only new purchase and a couple of years old.

Why the hell would I buy damaged cast offs?

I don't change my furniture every 6 months though so I'm not bothered about resale. We've got a mix - found the odd vintage piece (1960s) but it's few and far between unless you're willing to travel and have a big enough car/van, everything else was bought new. We've got some IKEA stuff that's 15 years old now and still looks in good condition.

I think sixties teak is an acquired taste

On the whole it’s millennials and younger who like it. It’s huge in
London and will undoubtedly ripple out. You can see its influence on new furniture already with all the tapered and hairpin legs.