Portsmouth-Portsmouth

Hello- we have a very modest relocation package, and though we have enough savings etc to put down on a house, we have a question of furniture and possessions.

We have some high end cookware, photos and wall art that we would like to bring with us. that we can manage to bring no matter the circumstances.

The real question, is how useful was the UK furniture in the US? We will be in the northeast, does it ever look like it belongs there, or does it always look like a small square peg in a round hole?

Are we better off buying there, and dumping everything here? We will move into furnished accommodation for a while, so anything we bring would be in storage for several months. Relocation expenses from my employer will cover flights etc, but not much else anyway, though I know I can deduct qualified moving expenses from income, so anything we do pay will sort of work out anyhow.

thanks

ChocolateBabz

We moved to Texas, into a house at least 3 times bigger than our UK house. We took everything with us (other than electrical items, houseplants etc) as the company was paying for shipping so why not.

Over the last 5 years we have replaced most items although our sectional sofa is still here and going strong. Our kitchen table and chairs looked fine but they were done. I think the thing that looked most out of place was our bed, even though it was a king size it was so low, it looked really odd in such a large room.

Our study furniture from the UK is in our 'data area' but we bought new furniture for our study over here.

Our son has all new bedroom furniture but his old chest of drawers is in his closet. Oh and we still have our old coffee table.

Might as well bring it (if the company is paying for it) and replace at your leisure!

Lbjen

Storage can get quite expensive, take a look at what's available where you're going to get an idea of whether it will work out better to take it or leave it. Don't forget to factor in the cost of having it moved too if you won't be doing it yourself.

You didn't mention who's paying for the furnished accommodation but it's usually quite a bit more expensive than unfurnished, we had our furniture shipped for us and planned to store it but ended up getting it delivered instead so we could move into an unfurnished apartment on a short term lease instead.

Bink

This is my opinion too. If the company is paying for the shipping, bring as much as you can.

If you're getting a lump sum to cover everything, I'd probably be tempted to sell up your UK stuff and buy new stuff over here.

Bob

Save the deposit money as it's a bad idea buying in the first year anyway.

As for how the furniture fits, depends on what you have and where you move to.

Not worth shipping most stuff though unless it's top quality stuff, better to buy new on the other side. Especially if you're lumbered with storage costs as they probably won't be something you could claim as an expense.

Yorkieabroad

We have some friends who brought their sofas from the UK. I wish we had done the same as most of what you see in the shops here is either crap quality, horrible design, or very expensive!

Mr Weeze

We brought everything. We still use most of the furniture we brought with us 3 years in.

Yorkieabroad

Should have added..we brought all our other furniture, and haven't regretted it, but most of it was Asian/ antique that would have been difficult to replace. To be honest, I know there are a lot of furniture stores around, but I've found little that interests me, or that I would give houseroom to! I think the only item we have bought here that I am totally happy with is our bed -and I probably wouldn't recommend bringing a UK bed because as someone else said, they look tiny in the bedrooms here. I generally don't like the huge sizes of the houses, but a big bedroom that fits a massive bed is nice!

Yorkieabroad

Did you just change your avatar to the Tyne Bridge? Good man!

Mr Weeze

About a year ago....

Yorkieabroad

MsElui

we have been here 6 years and we are still using furniture we bought. our Ikea dining room table is now our kitchen table (and we have bought a new 'posh' table for the actual dining room). our leather sofa set is in the 'playroom for the kids to jump all over and we brought a new sofa for our lounge.

My littlest still sleeps on one of the toddler beds we brought over, but her brothers migrated to bigger beds we bought here as they grew.

Chest of drawers/bedside tables etc - we brought them and they were ikea quality but 6 years on have not gotten round to replacing them (although they do look like ikea stuff if you know what i mean - we intend to get a better set but its never been a priority).

we didnt bring any wardrobes as we figured they have built in closets in most places here. We still have coffee tables and stuff but they tend to be in places like the office and we have bought new ones for the lounge.

we had totally paid for shipping though so space/cost was not an issue.