pob Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 We had to throw all our furniture away, we saw how badly the Ikea furniture was made and we will be needing new stuff. But where do we buy quality furniture over in Sydney? We would have been lazy and just gone to Habitat or John Lewis over in the UK, where should we go for Beds, sofa, chairs and all that kind of thing. What are the shops that have a similar build, quality and choice for home furnishings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 This is exactly why I urge people not to think, " I'll leave all my furniture behind and just buy new stuff". It is not that easy to find equivalent furniture in Australia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 There are dozens of furniture stores in Sydney from cheap and cheerful to high end. Middle of the road is Harvey Norman. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pob Posted May 9, 2022 Author Share Posted May 9, 2022 52 minutes ago, Marisawright said: This is exactly why I urge people not to think, " I'll leave all my furniture behind and just buy new stuff". It is not that easy to find equivalent furniture in Australia. But this is exactly what we have done, Ditched "the affordable Swedish furniture" and we will be buying new in Australia. We know we can get Ikea stuff in Sydney, but we want a higher quality, we wanted advice on where to buy that, not a "I told you so". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 My entire Sydney flat is decked out in IKEA furniture, basically hired a van for a day bought whatever was in stock, and happy with it all. IKEA is fine and you can change it frequently because it's so cheap. I haven't found a decent furniture store in Sydney yet that fills the JL or M&S hole (in fact I haven't found a clothes shop or supermarket that matches them either) But the beaches are better - when they aren't flooded or washed away in the worst storms in decades... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 (edited) 35 minutes ago, pob said: But this is exactly what we have done, Ditched "the affordable Swedish furniture" Sorry, I thought you meant you had left behind your good stuff and you weren't happy to settle for IKEA in Australia. I agree with @Ausvisitor, even though I lived in Sydney for over 30 years, there isn't an equivalent to JL or M&S. Once upon a time, David Jones was the equal of JL. It was always regarded as dreadfully expensive by Australians but actually, if you price matched with JL prices, it was on a par. It does seem to have gone downhill in recent years, though. Try the Supa Centre in Moore Park, the Auburn Home Centre, Home HQ in Artarmon -- all have a selection of stores. Peters of Kensington is the place for quality kitchen stuff, homewares etc. Edited May 9, 2022 by Marisawright 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pob Posted May 9, 2022 Author Share Posted May 9, 2022 5 minutes ago, Marisawright said: Sorry, I thought you meant you had left behind your good stuff and you weren't happy to settle for IKEA in Australia. Ah sorry, I we both got our wires crossed, here. My bad. Yes we had Ikea stuff in the UK and wanted to use the move as an excuse to upgrade from our uncomfortable Ikea sofa and wanted to buy something more comfortable and longer lasting. It seems a shame to replace a sofa every two years from Ikea when we could buy a quality item that will last longer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AltyMatt Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 (edited) If you are looking for something in same range as Habitat, maybe try Freedom Furniture or Nick Scali, maybe not as good quality, although Habitat is not the same as years past either. Could also check King Living - they make great sofas. In Sydney there are a few furniture malls where you can get everything under one roof, such as: Alexandria Homemaker Centre Artarmon Home HQ Homemaker Centre Belrose Super Centre Alexandria also has quite a few factory/outlet furniture stores if you don't mind driving around to find a good deal. Online, https://www.templeandwebster.com.au is popular A lot of people buy mattresses online from Koala, Emma, Sleeping Duck etc Edited May 9, 2022 by AltyMatt missed a shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 9, 2022 Share Posted May 9, 2022 I forgot about King sofas. The Rolls Royce of sofas especially if you get leather. *sigh* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon the Hat Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 15 hours ago, Marisawright said: Peters of Kensington is the place for quality kitchen stuff, homewares etc. They must be looking at putting in a conveyor belt from their warehouse to my front door by now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 20 hours ago, AltyMatt said: If you are looking for something in same range as Habitat, maybe try Freedom Furniture or Nick Scali, maybe not as good quality, although Habitat is not the same as years past either. Could also check King Living - they make great sofas. In Sydney there are a few furniture malls where you can get everything under one roof, such as: Alexandria Homemaker Centre Artarmon Home HQ Homemaker Centre Belrose Super Centre Alexandria also has quite a few factory/outlet furniture stores if you don't mind driving around to find a good deal. Online, https://www.templeandwebster.com.au is popular A lot of people buy mattresses online from Koala, Emma, Sleeping Duck etc I looked round the artamon stores, registered the prices and decided I could just buy IKEA, replace it every 3 years for the next fifteen years and still come up our with a slight profit. I do however miss a really comfortable sofa, ours in the UK was custom made for us (as in completely bespoke design not just handmade to a pre-cut template) cost a small fortune but lasted 15 years (until we moved, I guess it will do another 10 at least) and still looked brand new when we sold it (for not much less than we paid to have it made) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said: I do however miss a really comfortable sofa, ours in the UK was custom made for us (as in completely bespoke design not just handmade to a pre-cut template) cost a small fortune but lasted 15 years (until we moved, I guess it will do another 10 at least) and still looked brand new when we sold it (for not much less than we paid to have it made) In that case I'd recommend looking at King Furniture, it's the only place I know where you'd get an equivalent sofa in Australia but they're not cheap. https://www.kingliving.com.au/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramot Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 (edited) Natuzzi make very good sofas, they aren’t cheap, but you get what you pay for, and ours had a 10 year warranty, we bought our leather suite in 2008, and it’s still in excellent condition, the material suite has been re covered. One thing that that we would now look for is that the seat cushions are not fixed to the base of the sofa, miss being able to turn them over to share the wear, we had that changed when we had the material suite re covered. Having said that our leather suite doesn’t seem to have suffered. We haven’t regretted buying them, Edited May 10, 2022 by ramot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 Harvey Norman have a good range. I have bought quite a lot of stuff from them over the years. Ask for a discount too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rammygirl Posted May 10, 2022 Share Posted May 10, 2022 (edited) Early Settler has a good range of stuff too. And always haggle, especially if you are buying multiple items it is normal here to do so. Don’t ask…..don’t get! With larger items you will be limited to what they actually have in stock though, unless you are prepared to wait months for something. In these times I would take delivery times with a pinch of salt, go with in stock or floor stock to be sure. A neighbour was told 4 months for a new Rav 4, paid the deposit………..now told at least 18 months and may well be a newer more expensive model! Edited May 10, 2022 by rammygirl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulya Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 6 hours ago, rammygirl said: Early Settler has a good range of stuff too. And always haggle, especially if you are buying multiple items it is normal here to do so. Don’t ask…..don’t get! With larger items you will be limited to what they actually have in stock though, unless you are prepared to wait months for something. In these times I would take delivery times with a pinch of salt, go with in stock or floor stock to be sure. A neighbour was told 4 months for a new Rav 4, paid the deposit………..now told at least 18 months and may well be a newer more expensive model! Yes always haggle even in department stores. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pob Posted May 11, 2022 Author Share Posted May 11, 2022 9 hours ago, Bulya said: Yes always haggle even in department stores. I'm awful at haggling, I truely hate it. The Mrs is great, so we make a bit of a show, I look grumpy, we pretend to have a bit of an arguement I wave my arms around in a negative fashion and I storm off. The sales man comes over and asks the wife if everything is alright, she then haggles, bats her eye lids and uses her grumpy husband as an excuse to get the price down. I then get a text message outside the store, come on in and pay, you will never guess how much I got the price down to... She is great at this. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ausvisitor Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 I'm so good a lot haggling that if I tried it I'd probably end up paying more than the pricetag 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted May 11, 2022 Share Posted May 11, 2022 1 hour ago, Ausvisitor said: I'm so good a lot haggling that if I tried it I'd probably end up paying more than the pricetag Just a simple '' can you do this for any less?'' is often enough to get you discount. Cal x 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toots Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 2 hours ago, Ausvisitor said: I'm so good a lot haggling that if I tried it I'd probably end up paying more than the pricetag I'm the same. I leave the "can you do this for any less" to my husband. When we moved from Sydney to Tassie we bought quite a lot of stuff from Harvey Norman ............................ fridge freezer, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, other bits and bobs and they gave us a decent discount thanks to my husband who asked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quoll Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 I tend to do the "How much are you really going to sell it to me for?" Routine, doesn't feel quite so much like haggling to me. But it's a while since I've bought anything and you can't haggle in Ikea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToowoombaBlue Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 9 hours ago, Quoll said: I tend to do the "How much are you really going to sell it to me for?" Routine, doesn't feel quite so much like haggling to me. But it's a while since I've bought anything and you can't haggle in Ikea! Haha,, I tried in IKEA, the sales assistant said ‘sorry mate, I’m not on commission’ No point asking in Freedom, Fantastic Furniture or Early Settler, but the commission margins are reasonable enough in Harvey Norman and Natuzzi. Amart are not the greatest quality, but they can give good discounts. For good quality, I enjoy going to James Lane, and they will do you a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marisawright Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 33 minutes ago, ToowoombaBlue said: No point asking in Freedom, Fantastic Furniture or Early Settler, but the commission margins are reasonable enough in Harvey Norman and Natuzzi. Harvey Norman isn't really one store. He leases out sections of each store to different businesses, so the computer section isn't run by the same company as the furniture section and the outdoor section is different again. That's why they're more amenable to offering discounts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulya Posted May 12, 2022 Share Posted May 12, 2022 4 minutes ago, Marisawright said: Harvey Norman isn't really one store. He leases out sections of each store to different businesses, so the computer section isn't run by the same company as the furniture section and the outdoor section is different again. That's why they're more amenable to offering discounts. Correct. Not many understand that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARYROSE02 Posted May 16, 2022 Share Posted May 16, 2022 So, like chocolate, pubs, beer, jokes, TV, supermarkets and "Indian" restaurants, IKEA in Australia just does not "taste" the same as in Britain!? I vaguely recall reading that IKEA in Rhodes has a "Husband's Club" where nerdy guys can pretend they're it pub an play computer games whilst their wives take their credit cards on tours of the stores. Is Bunnings a pale imitation of B & Q where even the sausage sizzles are pale imitations of "real" Pommie bangers? I had an excellent sausages, mash and peas in Flinn McCools pub in Surfers yesterday, pork sausages unlike the vile beef ones the Aussies like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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