To ask for help in furnishing a home.

[Makingahome]

We've unexpectedly been awarded a social housing home.

We've been on the housing register for years and very surprised to have a been successful in a bid for a three bedroom new build. Technically our housing needs are met as we are in a three bedroom now but the bedrooms are tiny. As long as the bedrooms are bigger we will be taking it but don't get to view just before Xmas.

Unfortunately being a new build it means we need to carpet it, need to buy a cooker ( electric ), curtain poles, curtains, towel rails lampshades etc etc.

Lounge carpet, kitchen vinyl and then cooker are the priority areas. Saving as much as we can but with Xmas, needing to paint existing house for deposit etc money is tight!

Advice on what flooring to get would be much appreciated. I've been to two carpet showrooms and both have said £300 ish for lounge based on 13 5m squared. Not even nice carpet - just hard-wearing but stain resistant!
No idea what colour to go for. We have dark brown sofas. White walls! Needs to be comfy for a toddling nearly one year.

The cooker - I'll need to pay to get installed so want to get kitchen flooring down first. No idea what to expect to pay for Vinyl.

The rest of the house we'll do bit by bit. Prob need to do mixer taps and shower hose too.

So grateful for this opportunity. The security of tenancy will make a huge difference to us. Just a bad time financially as despite working we have no spare cash!

Ps I'll look on Facebook, gumtree etc for furnishings. It's more the flooring that is worrying me!

I think it is sometimes possible to get carpets/ wood flooring second hand. Might be worth investigating.

Maybe research whether there are any carpet dealers closing with stock to get rid of.

Maybe just do the kitchen and get some dust sheets for the other floors very temporarily?

How even is the flooring in your house? If it's not, you'll have to pay extra for underlay or whatever the thing you put under vinyl is.

You can also make do for a while until you get the money together with a bit of common sense.

Get on some local family Facebook groups. Furniture is always being given away or sold for peanuts

We bought a fairly cheap carpet with the underlay attached which was very effective. Lots of carpet shops throw the underlay in for free when deals are on

yes get on your local 'free to collect' FB group - people give a lot of stuff away and once a week (on our site) you can ask for up to 3 things

also try local charities - many do furniture for cheap

You could also put out a request for what you need on Freecycle.

Unfortunately freecycle and free to good home are in short supply around here! Honestly I've even tried to give stuff away myself and just no takers.

I'm assuming concrete floors. I really want to get lounge done as that is where children play and we sit as family. In bedrooms they can always sit on bed to read/ play/ build Lego.

One carpet shop quoted us for a carpet with felt backing so underlay not needed but another shop quoted with underlay and said avoid not getting underlay as it would be much harder without it. His price was cheaper too even with underlay! Hard to know which is true!

All the best but part of me is shouting 'nicer problems to have'...sorry.

Some good news is a neighbour is having her carpets replaced around same time we move so we might be able to use some of them in bedrooms. We'd need underlay and probably a fitter. My OH isn't good at DIY but if he takes kids out I'd give it a go!

Neverender and don't I just know it. Please don't be unkind. You know nothing about my life. It's not been easy. I've supported myself since just before my sixteen birthday. The chance of a secure home will make a huge difference to our family. Doesn't mean I can't ask for wisdom on how to go about furnishing it!

Anyone got a rough idea of how much to budget for kitchen vinyl? New build . Expect it has small dining area.

About a year ago bought carpets & vinyl off eBay & they were good quality! Carpet for a single room was about £60 & vinyl for large bathroom £40. Fitting both was £50 - guessing it'll change based on area though

You can buy vinyl tiles very cheaply and easy to fit yourself. Very cheap and easy, self adhesive and cut with a stanley knife, depending on the size of your kitchen Some bargain shops sell them.

Amazon also sell floor tiles this will cover 28 square feet for £23 with free delivery.

www.amazon.co.uk/28-Vinyl-Floor-Tiles-Adhesive/dp/B01I1HONZG/ref=sr_1_10?s=kitchen&keywords=floor+tiles+self+adhesive&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1512769372&sr=1-10

I'd be cutting right back on Christmas OP, getting your home sorted is more important than lots of new stuff.

I have no idea why, but these kinds of things are often reduced in January, so if you're not getting the house until after Christmas, you might be better waiting.

Go to a few more carpet shops OP, independents are generally cheaper. Avoid the ones with the posh showrooms too. Kitchen vinyl is cheap. We paid about £50 inc fitting in my old house 3m by 3m kitchen.

Get furniture from Facebook selling groups and Gumtree. You can pick things up cheaply and replace for better stuff when you have more cash. Good luck!

I'd paint the concrete floor for now and get a large rug from eBay etc.

Check out a Facebook group called DIY on a budget official for ideas and advice on cheap flooring.

My husband found a huge roll of carpet on an auction site (not eBay, there are companies who auction off end of line stock, seconds, etc) when we were doing up our old house to sell. There was nothing wrong with it (nice, neutral wool mix carpet - I’d have chosen it in a shop) and it cost us about £100. We paid for underlay and fitting on top, but it did the whole (3-bed) house. Don’t know how much of a fluke that was, but if you can put up with bare floors for a bit, might be worth giving those kind of sites a good trawl.

The carpet tiles sound like they are worth investigating. Even if it's to provide bit of covering in bathroom and bedrooms til we can get them sorted.

Tinkly don't worry Christmas is already sorted and wasn't lavish either. Kids will be getting slippers now though as well in preparation for no flooring :-)

Good news if vinyl is that cheap including fitting.

I'm itching to find out room measurements but builders/housing association won't share plans as some tenants have used them to order carpets.

I'm going to ask for recommendations for local carpet fitters as if using offcuts / neighbours carpets we'll need someone who can lay them.

I'm going to try and source underlay online too.

Both shops have been independents. One is coming out to estimate and measure. They will then hold on file for any future purchases. Do they normally share measurements?

Ooohh treater that would be amazing. I'll google auction sites!

Thanks Size. That group sounds like the perfect hangout.

In new build social housing, the kitchen and bathroom are usually already got flooring (previous experience here) so you just need to carpet it the rest.

I’d sort out the living room and children’s bedrooms first and you can often get cheap offcuts to carpet your floors with!

If you are on some kind of benefit, you may be able to apply for a social fund grant to help with the costs.

Best of luck in your new house.

Not sure how you feel about credit but we recently got interest free credit with Carpetright. We did vinyl in the living rooms and carpeted the stairs and landings. It just meant we didn't have the big one off cost, and the monthly payments are affordable for us.

Get you underlay online, you can get quality stuff for miles cheaper than in the shop.