Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To spend £1,500 on a piece of furniture?

79 replies

raqp · 14/04/2025 22:10

Have seen a beautiful antique wardrobe for £1,500 at a local place. Has paperwork that shows it sold for over £10,000 in the late 1990s.

Would we be unreasonable to spend this much on one piece of furniture? It would be about 20% of our monthly pay!

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 14/04/2025 23:33

Good wooden furniture will last your lifetime and beyond.

It’d be better if more people bought this sort of thing rather than cheap stuff that will need replacing or even worse be junked due to mere fashion every few years.

Ted27 · 14/04/2025 23:33

I've spent around that on

  • a larder cupboard which transformed my kitchen
  • a cloakroom cupboard which holds coats, shoes, bags and cleared my narrow hallway, hooks on backs of doors, dumping stuff on backs of chairs.
  • a reclaimed wood dining table

All 3 pieces solid wood, 2 hand built to order, not a veneer or piece of chipboard in sight
I'm 60 and waited a long time to be able to buy decent furniture will last the rest of my life

MovingAlongNicely · 14/04/2025 23:35

100% would and have.

Expensive pieces last years. Pays for itself.

AngelicKaty · 14/04/2025 23:37

@raqp If you love it and can afford it, of course it's not unreasonable to spend that on an antique wardrobe.

FortyNineAndABit · 14/04/2025 23:38

You could easily spend that on a Pax wardrobe from IKEA - which in my experience starts to look a bit tatty after 5 years.

queenofthesuburbs · 14/04/2025 23:38

I’d ask what their best price is though. Don’t forget that a lot of people won’t have room for it so you might get it for much less.

I agree with a PP that brown furniture was hugely more expensive in the 1990s. For example a Georgian card table bought for £1000 now sells for £250.

zzplea · 14/04/2025 23:43

Is it actually useful for storage? Some old wardrobes weren't designed for clothes hangers running sideways, like in modern wardrobes.

fatgirlswims · 14/04/2025 23:49

It’s not that much money. A new wardrobe from the Cotswolds cost way more than that.

why are you worried about spending the money?

tothelefttotheleft · 14/04/2025 23:49

Have you asked if that's the best price they can do?

Saphire123 · 14/04/2025 23:49

Buy it.
If you can afford it furniture is the one thing to splash out on.
You see and use it every day. Look after it and good pieces will last a lifetime.

FantasiaTurquoise · 14/04/2025 23:51

How would you feel if you went back tomorrow and found someone else had bought it? If the answer is 'massive regret', then go for it!

CherryBlossomPie · 14/04/2025 23:53

Can you make an offer?

Gettingbysomehow · 15/04/2025 10:51

I would as long as it didn't leave the household short of money.

mondaytosunday · 15/04/2025 10:55

sound Reasonable if you love it.

WaryHiker · 15/04/2025 10:59

If it really sold for 10,000 some years ago, then if you wanted to, you could probably resell it a profit if you changed your mind in a couple of years.

So, I'd see that as a win-win situation.

FlowerFairy12 · 15/04/2025 10:59

Do it! Our sofa and armchair were £4k collectively and I love them. We’ll have them for many years to come.

irregularegular · 15/04/2025 11:04

20% of your monthly pay on a piece of furniture that you love and will last your life time seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I'd only slightly caution against it if you might move house again within a few years. Wardrobes might not fit easily in another house eg if they have built in wardrobes. I don't think furniture like that is losing value particularly anymore (it already fell!) but as an individual you are unlikely to be able to sell it on for the same price that an antique dealer can.

Gretnaglebe · 15/04/2025 11:09

Absolutely buy it. We bought a big cheap wardrobe when we moved here and it’s awful. A bit more of an investment at the time would have been so much more sensible.

CannotWaitForSummervibes · 15/04/2025 16:06

The paperwork is only important if you intend to sell it.
would you use it? Does it work with your interior? can you afford it? If the answer to all is yes, what’s holding you back?

DenholmElliot11 · 15/04/2025 16:24

Thats actually quite reasonable for a wardrobe. it wouldn't even enter my head to question the price to be honest.

Just out of interest how much money do you think you should be spending on a wardrobe?

MaggieBsBoat · 15/04/2025 16:40

OP needs to come back with a photo!!! Darn it!

Miaowzabella · 15/04/2025 16:49

If you love it and can afford it, why wouldn't you buy it? Just make really certain it does not have woodworm.

ConsuelaHammock · 15/04/2025 16:57

Buy it if you love it not because you think it’s worth 10k. I lived without any light fittings in my hall and landing for years before I found the chandeliers I knew I would love forever. They cost several thousand but I still love them and I know I will never replace them. I looked for a grandfather clock for years too. Still adore it everytime I look at it. Houses should be filled with things we love which we know we will never replace. Too many items are replaced every few years now. Buy the wardrobe! And encourage your children to love it too so that it will survive for generations.

catlovingdoctor · 15/04/2025 16:58

Yanbu! For one, it makes you happy; secondly it's a well-made, quality piece and well worth it. If you can do it.

GargoylesofBeelzebub · 15/04/2025 17:00

It's not an excessive amount of money to spend on a piece of furniture.