Australian mumsnetters, I need help!

[roary]

Hi there
It looks like DH and I are going to have to kit out a house online as he will be moving 6 months ahead of us and the vast majority of our stuff (so looking at 8+ months of renting a house before all our gear arrives). But Australian online shopping is so frustrating and I don't know which are the good places! In-laws would not be much help with this sort of thing although they can collect it and put it in house before we get there.

I will be there with the DCs for about half of this period. I figure we don't actually need very much but we do need:

1. bed (we were thinking about getting a king-sized bed anyway so not a disaster)
2. bed for 3 yr old
3. travel cot with real mattress for 1 yr old (we do this now with our nanny share)
4. Table and chairs
5. Sofa
6. TV.

So here's the question: where are some nice places online to get the bits of this furniture we want to be nice (ie, the bed) and some cheap places to get the other bits (other than IKEA) preferably with facilities to order online?

Has anyone rented furniture in Australia? I am slightly reluctant to do this given the DCs and the fact they might wreck it.

Are you being relocated by your DH's company - they might be able to help with rental furniture which should be covered by insurance.

Well we got most of what we needed from Ikea while we had to wait for our stuff to come over. We went one day and had it all delivered later. So not much help. Have not bought anything on line. Bought mattresses from a local shop who delivered quickly so we had something to sleep on. Sorry not much help!!

nerly no online shopping for big stuff here! what there is will be very expensive. Why cant dh go out and get it? amart.. ikea.. furniture fantastic..are you here a short time? or just a tight budget?

I would seriously just go to Ikea when he gets there. We rented furniture in Adelaide and Melbourne, but only for a short period of time as it can be expensive.
When we left Melbourne we borrowed stuff. We also bought from ebay, so $1 for a tv!!! And likewise amounts of money for table and chairs etc.
If you are buying new beds anyway, just buy the mattresses and then choose the frames etc when you get there.
Where are you going in Aus??

We're in Sydney, I can't think of any online shops for furniture, sorry. We needed stuff in a real hurry (as in we were moving into an unfurnished rental next day) and went down Parramatta Road and got what we needed at a reasonable cost and everyone delivered within 24 hours. If you go to the big shops there is no way they will be that fast. You really can't beat IKEA for cheap bits I'm afraid. Domayne is an Australian shop that is very popular and I don't know why as it is hugely overpriced, Fantastic Furniture is seriously cheap but a lot of it is also nasty so you have to be very careful (eg. might be fine to get a sofa for playroom where you want it to last a couple of years, not for your formal living room). I know quite a few people who arrived on expat packages and hired furniture which was always really nice and very convenient but I think expensive.

If you want electrical stuff so go The Good Guys and haggle - seriously, everyone expects you to haggle for white goods, especially if you are buying more than one item. Ive just had a quick look for you and you seem to be able to buy online - they say the prices are cheaper but that probably just allows for the fact that you can't haggle online! Good luck.

Where will you be?

Australian cities are full of very mobile people, and if you keep an eye on gumtree.com.au for your destination city, it will be full of people moving overseas and selling everything they own.

When we moved back to Aus, I found a couple returning to Ireland with a child the same age as ours and bought pretty much their entire flat in one go (including a high chair and travel cot, and they even chucked in the toys). When our stuff arrived on the ship, I sold on the stuff we'd used to tide us over. I can't remember how much it cost, but it was very cheap - I have an idea it was only a couple of hundred dollars. Certainly less than renting furniture.

Some K-marts are 24 hours, so I'd head there on your first day for the travel cot and mattress. It's also quite good for cheap basics like towels and crockery. You couldn't bribe me to go to Ikea - don't even think about going there on a weekend or if it's raining - it's a fucking zoo.

Sunnyd is right about Domayne! Absolute garbage. I got a catalogue in the weekend paper a couple of months ago and it had things like framed prints of the Eiffel Tower for $350. WHY would anyone pay that much money for what's basically a postcard in a crappy frame?

Thank you very much!
We'll be going to Perth. Unfortunately DH's relocation package is basic, but mine is great, but we can't use some parts of it due to timing. Bit of a hassle.

I was hoping to avoid Ikea due to the hellish factor but also I want to make it as easy on my inlaws as possible, so I thought the more we could order/pay for/have delivered the easier it would be. Otherwise we will have to set up when we get there, which would be OK except I would like to get in our own place ASAP.

But unfortunately you have reinforced my views that Aus online shopping is in the dark ages! Hopefully it will continue to catch up. And good to know about Domayne.I just don't know anything about the Aus furniture chains and my inlaws aren't interested in stuff like that so they won't know either.

Also on the cheap front: we don't want to duplicate too much because although we will be arriving in July with DH, we'll go back to the UK again and our entire houseful of goods will be shipped in early December so presumably arrive sometime early Feb. So we need stuff, but don't want to pay a lot for duplications! Argh. Logistics.

Hi Roary

PM me and I will give you some details about furniture rental and stuff in Perth. We did exactly what you are doing 3 years ago (with two small DS's). So happy to help you out!

Cheers

John Lewis Overseas Dept ship abroad and because of the 0% VAT I'm told the prices are much the same even when shipped to Oz.

what part in perth are you heading to? we are in port kennedy about 45km south of perth. ikea is good but there are also some great shops around.
sandgroper where abouts are you? will have to do a Perth meet up one day

Hi ben5

Love to, but I live in the UK (originally from Perth, been here 14 years, went back for a year 3 years ago)

Sadly don't get back to Perth too often though! Makes me realise just how much I miss it, still!

Oh, have just noticed more posts. Ben probably relatively central Perth, I'd say (inner w. suburbs initially).