Any tips/advice for furnishing my new house? Please!

[Poohbearsmom]

We get our keys next wk we have a couple of bits got, our beds, two chests of drawers, microwave, hover, telly unit, kitchen stuff but not the big three (fridge/cooker/washing machine) some new bedding, a book shelf, a small couch & some more little fiddly bits... What are we missing?? We will be carpeting the whole place (tiles n bathroom & kitchen already) what do i need to know? Dh would like a chocolate coloured carpet but will it look dirty very quickly? What kind of fridge/cooker/washing machine should i get/do you recommend or not?? Millions of questions any advice very very welcome

You could to go and buy those house magazines and see what styles you like and go from there?and an Ikea catalogue.

Dark colours can make rooms look smaller and light colours bigger and yes a chocolate coloured carpet will probably be a pain and show the bits.

What fun though, enjoy it.

Go to one of the big carpet places and buy one of their carpets on sale - they always have something really cheap - but DON'T pay for fitting - this is where they make their money. Instead get someone out of your local yellow pages to fit it.

White goods - so much choice out there but when you decide which one you like, then use one of the price comparison sites like kelkoo to get it at cheapest price, delivered.

Are there any auctions near you? We have a fab house clearance auction every 3 weeks near us, and they always have lots of great furniture which you can get really cheaply.

Ikea obviously great, but get the catalogue, make a really clear list, and then go in there and just get stuff from the list, otherwise you will be there for 5 hours trying to make decisions.

Have fun!

Thanks il def hav to get one of them mags i think, my dh is convinced a dark carpet will be easier to keep clean but im with you! Its the only thing he really wants he's happy for me to decide on everything else but wants da carpet... Hmm

Gosh i hadnt realised about the fitting charges being a rip off we were just going to get them to it now we will def have a good look around thank you! Will be getting the Ikea catalogue for sure

AGree - do not get a plain dark carpet. We moved into a house with one, and it looked vile about 30 mins after hoovering. Replaced it with an oatmeal/ porridge blend look and I hardly ever hoover

Oatmeal porridge coloured i would have worried that would look mucky from out door shoes no? gosh i know NOTHING!! Love the idea of rarely havin to hover i HAVE to do it daily at the mo

Yes to porridge coloured carpets - same colour all through.

Look at John Lewis for fridge etc - possibly a bit more expensive but deffo worth it for the service.

Sorry but at you having to hover daily - picturing you in mid air trying to scoop up the fluff!

Darker carpets ok as long as not velvety plain - we had a sort of terracotta colour once in a heather/loop kind of style, very cheap, very forgiving.

Not endorsing Carpetright btw but this kind of thing

Definitely a deeper colour in hall/stairs/landing - in fact don't carpet your hallway if any risk of mucky shoes. put down wood effect vinyl if desperate.

we went for teddy bear golden brown in the last house we owned. Was very forgiving. Carpeted whole place in one colouor, which saved money as off cuts from rooms were used on stairs.

Hovering daily! thank you very much for that link tootootired we had thought we would carpet the whole place in the same colour but thought it might be nice to do the boys room in a light blue & plan to work on dh to go with a light coloured one everywhere else... the dining table & chairs & the little couch we'v ordered are dark brown so i really think the light colour would look better aswell as looking cleaner! anyone any cheap nice ideas for decorating the boys room? they r 3.7 & 2yo we hav toddler beds ordered, we hav blue & red stripy duvet covers got, glow in the dark stars for the ceiling & a my friends tigger & pooh clock for the wall... Any ideas to special it up? Its their 1st bedroom they hav always shared with us so im hoping abit of novility might get them to actually get em to sleep in it!

Thank you Liz that was very kind of you I am a bit overwhelmed to be honest not least bout the mounting cost! But still cant wait to get the keys next week & start at it

Aww, how much fun are YOU gonna have?!!?

I got my DS these fab lights from Ikea
He has the bug on one side and the star on the other side of room- you might find they need more light if they have always slept with you. They screw to the wall and look really cute.

As for white goods etc, are you buying it all new? Its very expensive of course but lovely to have it all nice and new. Have you decided on finish yet? White is classic but I like the granite grey

Are you going to have space for a dining table? If not and just for the little ones I have a coffee table from Ikea that was (I think) £6.00 or something equally stupidly cheap, and my DS occasionally eats sat at that in a £1.50 plastic chair from Wilkos
oh good luck!! It is going to be so so nice!!

Have got to get to Ikea! Thank you DreamTeamGirl my boys would Love them lights they are so cute! we are getting all new stuff altho the cheapest we can but dh is a tot snob and wouldnt get second hand if i paid him i dont mind bout the colour of the white goods but dh is a chef and prefers gray too (worked in too many white ones i think)
Any curtain suggestions anyone? And are net curtains really outdated??? I really like em and think they let in more light then blinds but will i look daft?

You want net curtains for any rooms where people can see in from the outside. It is nice for privacy. Think about blackout lining for the curtains in the kids bedroom. It will help them sleep in the morning and not get woken up by the sunlight first thing. Blackout lining is not actually black, it's just a heavy duty cream coloured fabric that blocks the light out. Anybody who makes curtains would be able to include it in curtains they make for you.

Find out where the marked down bay is in your Ikea, it's normally near the tills. We have bought lots of stuff cheaply from there. It's well worth a look, particularly the ex display stuff as it has been put together properly and there is normally nothing wrong with it.

Some towns have furniture recycling centres so you can pick up some good stuff from there, doing your bit - perhaps google it to see if there's one in your town or nearby. Also try looking on the freecycle wesbite.

For carpets you are best to go for something fairly neutral, kind of a beige colour or even grey as it won't show up bits. Also worth noting beige goes nicely with gold or silver coloured fittings but choose grey if you want silver.

If you keep your paint work and walls plain and neutral too, all you need to do when updating is change your accessories...you could even do what I'm about to do and that is have a light & bright colour scheme for spring & summer and another warmer scheme for autumn winter...keeps things fresh, will stop you getting bored, and compliment the mood of the climate.

Dunelm Mill have a great selection of blackout blinds which are great value too...we got 6ft wide ones for about £20 which is a bargain; price goes down the smaller you need. You're likely to find some other textile type stuff there too, bedding, curtains, cushions, ornaments, art work, etc...they have a website too you can check stuff out on there too. Supermarkets are also good for accessorising and like others have mentioned, IKEA - you'll have such a great time!!!

Thank you both so much i have been given such great information and advice in this thread! Im very grateful as im so clueless!! Was carpet window shopping yesterday & we really liked way too many & didnt hav a clue the difference between them! we had picked a few we liked (all light colours porridge, sand, beige & the likes ) we knew it was going to b so expensive but hadnt realised about the additional cost of underlay & runners! tis gona cost a small fortune!! really looking forward to picking out the curtains & will def invest in blackout blinds do not want my boys waking up at 4am thinking its time to wake mum!

You know you dont have to get the underlay and grippers from them dont you?

Have a look on ebay if you know how much you need- you can get some really good bargains. A friend did it and saved about £200 on carpeting her flat