I want a white dresser/ french armoire at reasonable cost?

[figcake]

Have checked the usual places incl ebay and Ikea but they are waaay out of my range. I am willing to compromise a bit on quality in order to achieve the look - any recommendations? thanks

what's your budget?

I would look at buying a knackered old pine thing at a car boot sale and doing it up yourself with a lick of Farrow and Ball. Prob cheaper than buying a pre-painted one.

I have seen some very nice ones on ebay- a company that reconditions/refurbs cupboards has a daft names something like p c pirates though ... will link when I'm on laptop later... what do you mean by reasonable price?
I would expect 2k new... the ebay ones are around 600£

have you tried here?

They were the cheapest I found for our bedroom furniture. Other retailers' prices were up to £2k more, for the exact same furniture.

auction houses. I got mine which is massive, so big and I spent a few weeks in the summer taking it apart, sanding it and painting it F&B's old white.

It's lovely and cost me £130 including the paint.

I know Captainnancy's budget is realistic and I love some of the stuff on fanjos link. However, I am looking to pay similar to Megglevache really. Could I just ask which auction houses you would recommend?

We also considered making them as DH is v good at carpentry though it may never happen as he is not v motivated or he could make them but not v well .

I am doing it because I really want to move house and we really need to de-clutter. However, I would not want to do a changing rooms-style makeover as it would be £300 too much given that I would not want to take the MDF horrors with us. If I could get hold of something half decent and we restored it well, then we would def put it to good use in the new house

This is them... another of their items... always look nice, and I often 'watch' some of their pieces, though I've no room for furniture that big

Watch a few auctions like this one and get a feel of how much stuff is going for, how much interest there is... something like this could easily be painted!

A local garden centre to me is selling vast dressers for £450 - ex display but spotless. That's Devon if it helps.

I know it's more than you were thinking but they are massive, you'd never need another

And look LOOK LOOK at this one... Squeeee!

Sue - Thanks for the tip but we are in London and DH would be transporting it so prob a bit too far (esp in current weather conditions.

Captain - I have come across some of these on ebay. They are gorgeous and obviously fairly priced though still too pricey post-Christmas. Good point about painting a trad pine dresser and Oxon is a possibility so I shall put it in watch (though unlikely to end at a price much lower than the others, I reckon). Oh I wish I could share your enthusiasm!

I love vicarious furniture shopping!

It might be worth persisting with ebay - more things might come on now that Christmas is out of the way. You could always try and get delivery through Shipley or the like and then you can widen the search area and potentially get something cheaper. I got a table and 8 chairs delivered for £50.

Have a look in Emmaus.

There's a shop in Cheltenham which sells beautifully painted shabby chic-style furniture (charges ££), but the woman cheerfully told me she just buys basic, cheap pine stuff and paints it up.

She's obviously got a flair for it and has had lots of practise, but if you want something reasonably quickly it may be your best option.

Waiting for the right auction and the right piece of furniture to come up can take forever.

< bitter experience >

Good point Boo - have never used these types of couriers though I have always wondered about them...

Tether - thanks for link; there is something similar near where we live - I had completely forgotten about it and this link helped to jog my tired, old memory - I'll def check it out