Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Hello All

New to the forum so hoping for some help. We now have our move date set and Visa in place for our move to the Evergreen, Colorado on August 11th.

We have decided to leave our furniture in the UK and have rented our property unfurnished so need to start again.

So i need some advice on best places in the foothills of Colorado, the main focus will be on furniture and Electricals (TV's DVD players etc).

Can anyone advise a good place to start shopping where we can get some good deals?

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

We got a lot of our furniture and electricals at Fred Meyer, and I believe they may be as far east as Colorado. Before you buy the big stuff get a Fred Meyer Rewards card, and you'll get a percentage rebate quarterly as well as discounts on fuel.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

www.craigslist.org and find your local area we've had some great stuff on there and sold things too.

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We bought things at IKEA when we first arrived.... Furniture, glasses, dishes, cutlery, pillows, duvets, etc...

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

We bought mostly Ikea stuff when we arrived - in fact we furnished most of our house with their crap that, 6 years on, creaks, squeaks, wobbles, flakes and just generally all needs fixing and/or replacing. We also found their after-sales customer service worse than abysmal when we had issues (it's another reason why their prices are so cheap).

Because of the latter, I now avoid them like the plague. Lesson learned - you really do get what you pay for.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

For electrical stuff look for the weekend pamphlets that come with Sunday newspapers. Also online look at site's like www.bensbargains.net

But first draw up a list of the essentials you need.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Apart from any local stores, amazon.com for electrics.

Bed Bath and Beyond kind of deal for most households, Ikea...places like Crate and Barrel, Williams and Sonoma are good, but a tad pricey.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

It's exellent to start of with though right?

When I moved to Sydney I furnished my place with IKEA. even by butt had an IKEA stamp..over 3 years we replaced everything with better quality furniture.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Very true...

When we arrived it just seemed like a good deal and we had left a whole bunch of Ikea stuff in the UK.... :)

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Not sure if I'd say 'excellent', but it served a purpose for a limited time but mone of it lasted nearly as long as we'd have imagined. The problem was the shite service - buy enough of the stuff and you'll have wrong bits, deformed bits and missing bits. We even had staff instructing us to buy wrong hinges, only to realize when we were home they didn't fit. Ikea's response? Come back to the store or sod off.

Fine if you live close to a store and don't mind wasting the time and petrol, but the fact that they refused to even move an inch to correct their mistake by sending me the parts really pissed me off, big time. They wouldn't even give out the phone number of the store so I could speak to someone there to see if what I needed was in stock before setting out!!!! (Store numbers seem to be 'secret' - calls route to a call centre that can do, basically, nothing...)

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

http://www.9news.com/news/article/21...-for-business-

Good timing, where about in Evergreen? Probably just down I70 and turn right on 470 then left.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

I agree with your sentiment. you get what you pay....

Excellent might not be the right word. All I meant was for young couples with tight budget it's a great way to get started as a couple......and then slowly change/replace it.

It's my mindset may be. I was in Australia and there is no such thing was interest free credit cards for first 12 months....well there werent any until last year. The Interest Free furniture concept is a joke there too. E.g. Cash furniture will cost you say $2k but if the same furniture you wanted to buy for interest free terms you have to apply for a credit card with an annual fee or around $60 and by the by, you won't get that furniture for $2K it will be say $2.3k...

ALl that made me say its a great way to start...sure not the best quality but if one wanted to live within their means and get started then it's decent...see what I mean?

If I had spare $$ to spend I won't worry about Ikea, I would go to big stores.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

We've still got all IKEA stuff.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

So have I. It's just shit.

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It's better than Argos though :D

And for the money, it's okay...because there's a big jump in price to quality furniture and not much middle ground.

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That;s my point...if you pay for Taco Bell don't expect fine dining food.

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There are roughly three ranges of furniture at Ikea.

1) cheap/student - made from spit and sawdust, not expected to last, keyword is "foil".

2) mid price - will last a while particularly if you don't try to move it. Keyword is "veneer". Example, a well constructed Billy bookcase, we actually managed to move ours twice and after a bit of tlc is still looking ok. We had some ace movers but I think we were lucky on that one.

3) upper end - usually solid wood.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

The problem is the after-sales service will still be shocking even if you stump up for the good stuff. I felt like a right tit for giving them the best part of 6 grand when afterwards they wouldn't even post me a couple of dollars worth of hinges when it was their fault I didn't have them in the first place.

They simply haven't invested in the basic infrastructure to provide good service (or any kid of service, really), which is the bit I found particularly offensive as a paying customer who discovered this after the fact. It really is a case of give us your money, now sod off.

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Look around for counpons and discounts too... for example Bed, Bath and Beyond often have coupons for 20% off a single item, sign up for Kohls email they have discounts of upto 20% off everything you buy. If you plan on buying big items cooker, fridge etc sign up for a Lowes movers discount, you will only get 1 10% off coupon but you can buy more at ebay. $2 for a 10% coupon is worth it if you are getting 10% off a $1000 fridge.

If you see something onsale but the store has sold out or it is a distance to a shop Walmart & Target price match with competitors.

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Problem with those I've found, nearly anything that you'd want to buy with it is excluded :lol:

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They delivered the wrong mattress and only half a dining table to us and we had to drive over and get another one, annoying, however their prices are so good that it's still worth it.

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Our store is a 130-mile round trip, so we really didn't want to waste the time and petrol just for hinges but ended up having to. :thumbdown:

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

IKEA and Craigslist is not going to work for my wife. Are there any fine furnature stores in the Denver area that anyone could recomend? She will be here in a weeks time

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

www.afwonline.com....

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

You must be kidding. We will be living in Genesse, not Fairplay

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

I live in Colorado and am a fan of Scandinavian Designs (they've got stores in Denver, off Hampden, and in Broomfield near Flatirons). Also like Crate & Barrel, and Room & Board. There's also Forma Furniture in Fort Collins if you're willing to travel that far, or Furniture Connections in Colorado Springs. They all sell more contemporary designs. There's also Danish Furniture of Colorado in Longmont, though I've never been there.

If you like more traditional, go for Woodleys, Lazboy (both have several stores throughout the state), or American Furniture Galleries in Colorado Springs. American Furniture Warehouse is everywhere and predominantly sells bulky, old-fashioned stuff cheap, but it does have the odd gem. There's also the Great Indoors, in Broomfield and at Park Meadows, Denver - it's part of Sears and has lots of appliances, some furniture, and does curtain poles, decorative accessories, bathroom fitments and the like.

Things like curtains I have struggled to buy - if your windows are big it's tricky, but Overstock.com, Bed Bath and Beyond and JC Penney are not bad. It's also worth looking in places like Target, Kohls and TJ Maxx Homegoods.

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Interesting - we have Billy bookcases which have survived 10 years and 2 house moves, including the transatlantic shipment and still look great. They've fared much better than the expensive bed which is the same age but is going to need replaced as a matter of urgency as it now kills every bone in my body :(

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Genesse is a suburb of Denver.

Not sure I understand the Fairplay connection? I think Sears are looking to open a mini store but a furniture store?

I have also bought stuff from Woodleys.

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Not that frequent them myself being poor and they're rather twee for my tastes if I wasn't, you could try Pottery Barn or Ethan Allen, they're national chains. Or like Bob suggested Williams and Sonoma or Crate and Barrel.

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We have Billy bookcases too. To be honest they are probably above average compare to the rest, but this does not mean Ikea furniture is not shit in my book.

Our one saving grace of our utterly horrible creaking Ikea bed is that we splashed out and got a Tempur Pedic mattress as I have a bad back. That was the best investment we ever made. Often if you have a shit bed it's a good mattress that can save you. (Similarly a great bed with a shit mattress isn't going to be any good).

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Yes, Crate and Barrel have some really nice things.

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Genesse is very nice, Fairplay and the 285 corridor is not.

And I see Genesse as a suburb of Evergreen

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Ethan Allen

Thank you

Re: Moving to the U.S.A.
 

Hmmm

6 miles straight shot to the edge of Denver on I 70. I guess that is why so many commute.

12 miles to Evergreen on back roads.

To be fair there is a Wal Mart and Home Depot nearby. The Home Depot does not have a rental section but I have always found the people helpful.

285 does not have any of those attractions.

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We leased a home very near to that Walmart..Behind it, it's beautiful

Where do you live?

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Ohhhh, I see.

This place is in St. Louis, MO. But I'm sure they'd be happy to ship.

http://www.englishliving.com/

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A lot higher.

I have played squash in Evergreen.

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Any higher and it's perpetual winter?

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I did see some white stuff coming down Wednesday evening.

I think it is 70 something at the moment.

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Thats not for us.