Canveydave

Random question and I know how important it is to give as much information as possible so here goes.

How much do people think (I am not expecting exact answers here!) it would cost to furnish a 2400 square ft 4 bedroom home in and around Houston.

One master bedroom,
Two kids bedrooms
One spare
2.5 bathrooms
Lounge
Dining room
Games room
Kitchen (excluding appliances)

We have our savings and an amount of money for the move and I want to see if we are on point. (I bloody hope so!)

AlphaTangoMike

How long is a piece of string?

It depends, are you looking at IKEA (or equivalent) or Pottery Barn, William-Sonoma or West Elm?

There are too many variables which would be based on your individual tastes. (Are you minimalists or do you prefer lots of 'stuff'?). A 50" LED TV in each room would push your budget up. Games consoles for each kid? $500 sofa or $5,000?

I would suggest that you start with a spreadsheet of required items per room, then browse the web and estimate prices for each item. You'll soon get an idea of the total cost.

Canveydave

Thanks ATM,

We have made do with IKEA stuff here for the past 10 years, so we can carry on making do with it in the US!

60" in the living room, 40's else where! ;-)

I was thinking really of the essentials. Bed's, tables, chests of drawers, sofa's etc.

AlphaTangoMike

Not a problem. IKEA sofa's start at $499. Their US website has prices, so it should help you to work on your budget.

lizzyq

Why not go to the IKEA US website and make yourself a shopping list - see what it comes to!

Mr Weeze

Try the Dump too - it's on I45 just south of Beltway 8. They may have example prices on their website. Ikea will be about the cheapest way to do it otherwise. We got a 3 seater, 2 seater and armchair sofa set for about $600 from the Dump when we first moved here.

Duncan Roberts

I would budget $10,000 for the bare essential, lower end stuff. It may be a little more, it may be a little less. That would include one budget ($300-400), 42-46" TV, cheap bedding and cheap towels but not stuff like kitchen utensils, plates, glasses, pots and pans, decorative stuff and similar. You could easily hit double or more of you buy nice things and start outfitting the kitchen.

Canveydave

Just had a look at The Dump. Great find!

Thanks a lot!

Canveydave

Wow, punchy but good to know before we leave! No more Takeaways for Mrs Canveydave!

We have enough to cover that, but our emergency fund may be a bit smaller than I had hoped!

Thanks

lizzyq

It was doing that sort of calculation that led us to buy, load and ship our own 20' container with our "whole house in it". That way we were able to take our whole library of books (technical and personal) too. Also took our bone china & cut glass (wedding gifts), quality kitchenware, orthopaedic mattress and other stuff that would have been expensive to replace like for like.

Canveydave

Could you get everything in the 20' container?

At £2k ish it seems worth considering now, although I will have to pay the same to bring it all back if/when we come back

Sally Redux

£2k for a 20' container sounds low.

Canveydave

Probably is, was working on the £4k for the 40' I got quoted

fozzyb

Don't know if its helpful as a reference point, but I (or at least my employer :-) )was charged £3300 for a 20' container in 2003. That was a full pack/unpack door to door service at both ends, moving from Manchester to San Francisco.

The entire contents (excl appliances) of a rather packed 2 bed semi-detached house only filled the container to about 2/3 full.

If you buy new out in the US what will you do with your "stuff" in the UK? Do you need to factor in cost of storage here?

Canveydave

Thanks!

We are selling everything at the moment. Including the brand new £2,500. 7 seat corner, leather, power reclining sofa that I bought 4 months ago. (It is breaking my heart! The most comfortable thing I have ever sat on)