To not want to buy furniture?

[Mastmw7g]

We're moving from a very small flat to a large home. My husband keeps talking about furniture, and I just want to get the basic things we need. I know eventually we may want more, but it seems like such an unnecessary expense to fill all these rooms with furniture in the beginning.

Ha, we are 40-somethings with a house full of crap furniture we hate. We are in the process of buying our first house (currently renting). We plan to donate a lot to charity, move in with absolute basics (eg mattress) and buy furniture gradually as we work out how we use the house and what we need.

It’s not all or nothing - you can buy furniture over time, doesn’t have to be all on day one.

Insist on waiting.

If you have what you need for the moment, live in the space.

That formal dining room might be a Den for your children, an office.

House configurations change as a family grows and ages.

Wait and see.

You will likely have buyers regret if you don't.

I also think wait. I only buy furniture now that I absolutely love and know I will not want to replace. That’s one of the reasons I don’t follow trends. My house has the full range from ikea to more expensive stuff to some antique furniture. Sometimes I do update stuff. I had a 25 year old pine dresser that I’ve painted navy and put gold handles on. Looks completely different now. But still a very solid piece of furniture. If you buy stuff you don’t love, you will get tired of it.

Just buy what you absolutely need. I went without a sofa for 6 months but got a second hand kitchen table and a couple of chairs. Although that might be tricked if you have small kids

I agree with you, make do with what you already have until you've lived in the house a while and have a feel for how you may like to decorate and what furniture will work in which room. Don't buy even cheap furniture just for the sake of filling a room. It can be a PITA to get rid off if you try to sell it on Gumtree or end up having to take it to a charity shop/the tip.

Another vote here for thinking about second hand. As well as the usual places like marketplace, I would have a look at your nearest auction house. As well as antique auctions, many have general sales where they sell anything and everything. I've seen some beautiful things go at my local one and my SIL got a lovely kitchen island for £25!

One of the bedrooms will be a home office, so he won't have to work out of our bedroom anymore. This is the first time the children won't have to share bedrooms, so I don't know if we'll need a playroom. I have no idea how we'll use the extra space in the common areas. Maybe that's why I just want to live in empty rooms for awhile.

If it were me I’d want to design schemes for each room and would not be buying random furniture. You’ll also want to measure so you know what dimensions would suit best. It’s also easy to accumulate stuff so that a large house doesn’t even feel that way. I’d enjoy the minimalism of moving a flat’s worth of furniture into a house.