Quality furniture

Advantages of going to auctions and buying older stuff:

1. Likely to find individual items not mass-produced.
2. Obviously very good for the environment and virtuous: recycling, low miles and carbon, zero impact on the environment.
3. Even more attractive: good for the environment AND anti-woke. Much of the older mahogany furniture may well have been felled and sawn with slave labour.

With the current prices, it also "undoes" the profit our ancestors are (usually wrongly) accused of making from slavery. It is both recycling and restitution. You may award yourself both carbon credits and slavery credits.
 
Advantages of going to auctions and buying older stuff:

1. Likely to find individual items not mass-produced.
2. Obviously very good for the environment and virtuous: recycling, low miles and carbon, zero impact on the environment.
3. Even more attractive: good for the environment AND anti-woke. Much of the older mahogany furniture may well have been felled and sawn with slave labour.

With the current prices, it also "undoes" the profit our ancestors are (usually wrongly) accused of making from slavery. It is both recycling and restitution. You may award yourself both carbon credits and slavery credits.
Don’t you mean Colonial Guilt Redemption Coupons?

K
 
Multi York, hardwood frames , and the patterns/ templates for cushions and covering etc are kept in the workshop , you get bored , just change the covers in 5 to 10 years ,

We paid bout 4 k for ours 15 years ago ,

The boss refurbished the covers last year , cost about 1 k , the long 4 seater couch n 3 seater couch are like new 👌 designed to to recovered without any staples etc , they do send someone out to recover them though

Kjf
 
I happened upon a set that was in the back of DFS and not selling - a 4 seat and a 3 seat sofa a huge armchair and a footstool - brown buffalo hide and very, very good looking and hardwearing - had it 10 years now and it looks like new. Cost ? £3k for all of it and delivered free ! The German stuff (I know) by Himolla is expensive but very well made and this place sells some - have a quick look. Annetts Fine Furniture | Buy Sofas, Beds and Dining Furniture
You could go to an auction but look around - I wouldnt risk evilbay - you may have to use a guarantee.
 
Auctions are the way to go, like many above say. “Brown goods” are not fetching much In auctions these days and you can get hand made items that are of a much higher quality than today’s furniture. What’s more, price-wise they won’t go down over time. You possibly have to be a bit lateral in your thinking for the modern home though. 18th century television stands come along very rarely.
 
This is frustrating.

We are about to clear out the mother-in-law’s house in Suffolk. Their furniture is all high quality, albeit it is more Waring & Gillow than IKEA. You can’t give “brown” furniture away these days, yet it will last a lifetime. Effectively we will be paying the house clearance company to take it away.

To the OP, find a local general auctioneers and get on their mailing list. Also sign up to the “Buy and Sell” section of your local Facebook home page. There are some amazing bargains to be had.
 
Get yourself onto ebay , and buy brown furniture , then either paint it , or strip it and wax it . Brown furniture costs pennies now, but is generally very good quality , and can look pretty good when refinished .
Full disclosure. My good lady is a top class upholsterer / furniture restorer .
 
I have moved several times over the years with work and buying quality has paid off big time. Pine or IKEA furniture would have been kindling a long time ago. Buy good Oak or other hard wood furniture that matches. Sure you can fit out a house for a grand or less by going to auctions (I did it when I bought my first house) but none of it quite matched. I didn't have £6-£8K like you have (still haven't).
 
I've just renovated/built a house and almost ready to start furnishing it.

Not quite there yet but had some real bargins so far, might not be far of furnishing the whole house with 2nd hand gear.
As well as the usual listed above for finding 2nd hand stuff, notice boards in supermarkets, paper shops or if any local independent house movers, often they will just have to empty houses for clearance

Just watch with auctions, make sure u are 100% clear on any fees/vat etc and pick up times, many auctions its not unusual to have a 15% buyers fee + ur vat so ur paying 35% more than the hammer price, suddenly the cheap thing u bought is 1/3 more expensive.
Not a problem as long as u realise it and factor in the extra 1/3 before u bid.

Ex demo kitchen from wickes 1k for a heap of cabinets, fair enough its a bit of a bodge to get them fitting and not exactly wot i would of picked but not that bad and excellent for the money
A cracking oak table, some chairs ( which are rubbish to be fair) and oak bed and mattress 90 quid for the lot
a 3 seat, 2 seat and 2 seat sofa combo 80 quid all great condition.

It is scary wot folk throw away nowadays and mental more folk refuse to have 2nd hand stuff
 
It is scary wot folk throw away nowadays and mental more folk refuse to have 2nd hand stuff
It really is. Our sofa is a £4k Laura Ashley leather thing. Got it for free off Facebook, 1 year old, owners “fancied a change”. They were not super rich at all, lived in a small bungalow near Penrith. But they were bored of it. Strange mentality to have, but they’re not alone. Sofa cost them £11 a day 😂
 
Go to auctions and buy older stuff. We just got an extendable dining room table, Edwardian, solid oak, £80. You couldn’t even buy the casters it sits on for that. Everyone seems to want pristine new, and swap it every few years.
This is the answer. Good solid timber beautifully made classic furniture sells for less than the cost of the timber. (If you could get timber of that quality today)

David.
 
I’m a cabinet maker of 35 years, the last 25 making bespoke interiors for high end real estate in London etc.
I always raise an eyebrow when people refuse anything to do with veneer or MDF as if it were the spawn of the devil, used in the correct circumstances they can create stunning furniture etc.
The old sales spiel of “no veneer in here” is one of the classics aimed at people to give them the impression they are buying quality when as already said its mass produced low grade timber knocked up over seas.
A lot boils down to the individual tastes of design.
 
What I will say is that when it comes to white goods, if you have the means to transport it, second hand stuff really is king. Second hand £500 RRP washing machines can be bought for £50 on the local FB groups. Will never buy new white goods again.
 
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