Buying furniture home or Algarve

[laserblazer]

When we shipped out the beds at the beginning of the year, via Directtransport, it worked out at €160 for the double bed and €80 each for the singles this included the mattresses but not the dreaded IVA.

[sam]

Beds - we bought ours in Portugal, but these are different sizes to british beds, so our Uk fitted sheets do not fit.
Furniture sizes - make sure anything you buy fits in. We loved an L shaped sofa seen in Portugal. We took measurements back to CVO home and found it was not suitable for the area of the lounge where we wanted to put it, so did not buy. If we had bought in UK and shipped it out we would have been pretty p*ssed off.
So check any sizes before buying anything.

[LICY]

thanks for the comments, in particular bed and linen sizes being different.

[Bruce Wallis]

I know things have improved out here recently, but we were disappointed when we furnished our place.
We found beds, and some furniture out here, but in the main bought our stuff in the UK and had it shipped by Algarve Removals.

We found good modern furniture was expensive in the Algarve....there is plenty of cheap stuff....or traditional Portuguese furniture. That can be an aquired taste!

One thing to factor in is that most decent reasonable furniture has a 12 week lead time, be it Portugal or UK.
If you order out here, you will need to organise delivery when you get here....and several firms will not store without charge.
We bought up and down Purley Way, Croydon and Kingston, had it all delivered, once collected, we shipped it all together.
Another perk we had was that people like DFS offer 12 months interest free credit.

Like everything else....swings and roundabouts........

Currently, white goods are cheaper in the UK, as are plasma TVs.

[LICY]

Bruce we will be up and down the Purley Way which is where I'm based at work anyway. I know I'm being told the TV's are not that much difference and if it really was €30-50 I would have no problems. at more than £150's difference I question whether the reliability of TV's overtakes the loss of a gaurantee. k take it changing the plug is not a problem. Anyway you have my full details if you need to message me. We will need to get our lighting in Portugal (Celeste) so hope that is comparable.

[pickwick]

Hi LICY

Bumped into a pal this AM who wanted details of furniture and curtain suppliers so here is a copy of the e-mail I sent him:- PS I was trying to buy a device for paying the road tolls but all the local post offices are out of stock!!!!!!
We have been here a while and did a complete refurb and hence had to buy everything new so feel to ask if you want any more recommendations.
Pickwick

Hi

The curtain guy is Dean e-mail:- linenzdirect@gmail.com his workshop is above the Cepsa filling station in Carvoeiro and he makes curtains to size in any material, is very professional and great value for money.

Find below furniture shop details and the link takes you to the map page..

Moveis Malheiro
Description:
Dealer in household and garden furniture of all varieties. Open Monday to Friday 09:00-13:00 and 15:00-19:00 and Saturday 09:30-13:00. Urbanizacao do Malheiro, Rua das Acacias, Lote 4, 8500-331, Portimao.
MAP:
http://www.moveismalheiro.com/portugues ... heiro.html

[themoneyman]

I have found these guys to very reasonable

http://furniturefrontera.co.uk/

[LICY]

Will check out the websites suggested. handy to know about curtains, hopefully Sam will see that as she wants curtains. so much to do and see.

[sam]

I do know about the curtain shop by the petrol station. Unfortunately, I called there some time last year and there was a note saying back in 5 minutes, but no-one appeared and so I gave up. The next time I went the door was open so I went in but no-one around - trying calling out and waited around for a while, but again no-one around and I gave up. so, I got my curtains reheaded at the shop under the PO instead. I am considering both suppliers as a back up plan, but will probably do as I have done in the past and buy ready made in the Uk and take/send them out.

[Aldo]

We completely furnished our house last year and after a lot of research shipped all furniture from UK. Electrical we bought in Portugal to ensure theplugs etc and warranties in place as we rent out. The furniture was hardest to source in Algarve as either MFI or heavy traditional, both were inflated on price.
Uk size beds so we ship out the bed linen and also curtains as much cheaper and can buy in sales!
We used Algarve removals and NW transport in Warrington, both excellent. charge was £50 per cubic metre.

[LICY]

Was the £50 per cubic meter the Warrington removals? AR are definately more than that - quote 6.5 cu m £500 plus VAT.

Does anyone know if you can change the plugs without any problems. Someone said the only difference is there is no earth. Clearly we have live, earth and neutral. For instance at the moment our kitchen people are saying over 300 euro for a microwave. They must be quoting for an integrated one, so I need to check that, but if not that is a crazy price and I would look around in both Portugal and UK. I would certainly consider shipping out from UK. I am also going to check out the TV situation. If I am going to save £100 then I really think it would be worth it. I'll have to test what ever I buy here before shipping to make sure it at least works OK at that point.

[laserblazer]

We currently have the electricians in updating our place. A lot of the sockets are not earthed and this has to be rectified to get a touristic licence. Have a look at the Radio Popular site for microwaves, I'm sure you'll find a half decent one for less that €100.

Amazon have the Samsung TV I mentioend before on offer but I still think I'll get mine from Radio Popular.

[Aldo]

Yes, the £50 per cubic metre was the Warrington based removals, let me know if you want the details.
We used Radio Popular for TV, music systems. DVD and other electrical items and found them good value. Only word of warning to collect items. Originally ordered TV for delivery from Worten and had a nighmare, it 'was on the van' for days and they refused the refund initially. We offered to take one off the shop floor and they refused.

[LICY]

we will Ned to rent. Out so does that mean all our sockets need to be earthed? if we buy plug presumably we need to buy the 3 wire plugs to convert. is that right?
yes can I have the details for Warrington removals. please feel free to PM me. ere they as good as each other? hey have 2 companies miles away? AR are much closer to us in Surrey. co you think the Warrington one would collect? I can check anyway. I guess they would need to come this way assuming they will need to go to Dover area. se are close to M25.

[Polli62]

RE The Warrington based removals, is it Northwest couriers/ Northwest direct freight based at Haydock, if so they now have an allowance on weight of 25kg per £50 cubic metre, you now have to call them for a costing on heavier items. I found this out from their advert in the Portugal News. We have previously used this company to ship furniture but this allowance will now bang costs up for heavier items. They also ship in containers from Liverpool docks to Lisbon and then the container is sent by road to their depot in Loule. There website is http://www.deliveryportugal.co.uk & http://www.north-westcouriers.co.uk