Furniture Shopping In Ireland

May 9, 2006 12:27 PM

My husband and I have just moved into an unfurnished house in Dublin, Ireland and we want to kit the place out as quickly as possible. But antique shops are incredibly expensive, and most furniture suppliers seem to take ages to deliver. Does anyone have any ideas as to how we can move this along?
posted by Mrs.Doyle to home & garden (13 comments total)

What's the question?

Is it,

How do I find cheap antiques?

How do I get fast delivery from furniture suppliers?

Where can I buy furniture quickly?

Anyway, my answer is Ikea, which will ship to Ireland, or so google tells me.
posted by tiamat at 12:37 PM on May 9, 2006

Yeah, Ikea will facilitate shipping to Ireland relatively cheaply. Atlantic Homecare might also be worth a look, they seem to have a lot in stock.

I assume you've walked up Capel Street?

My brother is also furnishing a new home (in South Dublin) and had a terrible time too - he has to wait twelve weeks for his living room sofas, but being picky is fairly happy to wait & use cast off patio furniture in the meantime. His theory is that people are spending now in anticipation of the SSIA payouts coming up.
posted by jamesonandwater at 12:48 PM on May 9, 2006

Was also going to suggest Ikea but apparently Ikea Dublin won't be open til 2008, so how about these people? (Assuming having some furniture soon is more important than having antiques).
posted by penguin pie at 12:51 PM on May 9, 2006

Yes, sorry about the vague question, but it's because we really don't know where to start (for instance, we haven't walked up Capel Street).

Not really interested in antiques--just nice furniture that doesn't cost a bomb and is available quickly.

Interested in online solutions especially.
posted by Mrs.Doyle at 12:57 PM on May 9, 2006

Give Capel Street a try. There are several furniture and DIY shops (of varying quality) all bunched closely together.

As for online solutions, Atlantic Homecare's site lists some pieces. Furniture.ie has some info and a "furniture finder" but I've never used it. My parents have had Ikea deliver, but I don't think they did it online - I think they flew Ryanair to Scotland to place their order.
posted by jamesonandwater at 1:04 PM on May 9, 2006

without sounding libellous... *not* land of leather...

the place out in Bray "homeland" has some cheap stuff, i think there is another place called furniturama, but I'm only mentioning that because the name is hilarious.

That and the buy and sell, plenty of people selling the three surplus couches they got for their wedding.
posted by snailer at 2:07 PM on May 9, 2006

Work on your word-of-mouthing about furniture needs. If you're humble and not too particular, you can outfit most of your house via cast-offs from friends, family and the folks they know.

Put out the word that you are interested in furniture, and it will come to you. It's worked quite well for me.

Another idea would be to hold a quasi-housewarming where the price of admission is cast-off furniture. Also, don't forget CraigsList.
posted by cior at 2:43 PM on May 9, 2006

Herman Wilkinson (Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin) have a weekly furniture auction: 'particularly attractive to young people furnishing a first home' according to their website.

Several dealers have said to me that secondhand furniture (what the trade calls 'brown stuff') is very undervalued at the moment, because of the competition from Ikea. (Or as one dealer put it to me: 'young people these days, they go to Ikea, they don't know any better, they buy this fucking crap' .. at least that was his explanation for why he couldn't pay more than £20 for the dining-room table I'd offered him.) So do check out local auctions: there are bargains to be had.
posted by verstegan at 3:43 PM on May 9, 2006

But for pure comfort, get your sofa from these guys. Ours was made to measure, delivered in 2 weeks still going strong many years and moves later!
For cheap and cheerful, I agree you can pick up some quite sturdy pieces at Herman Wilkinson.
I found the classifieds very hit and miss, condition of the furniture was frequently not as described and we wasted lots of time.
Capel street for bed-frames, matresses,dining tables and chairs (not bad for sofas but a bit twee). The only DIY store I remember there is more of an ironmongers. Oh and there's the adult shop....interesting French maid's outfits!
posted by Wilder at 4:56 AM on May 10, 2006

Wilder, that link sounds great but it just took me to Microsoft's site. Could you post again?
posted by Mrs.Doyle at 6:26 AM on May 10, 2006

Mrs. Doyle-- I just found there's an extra http in there-- here's the correct link from Wilder.
http://www.thesofafactory.com/perfect.html
posted by orangemiles at 7:29 AM on May 10, 2006

thanks for all those, guys! Really useful.

x

MD
posted by Mrs.Doyle at 10:52 AM on May 11, 2006

Thanks Orangemiles for saving my bacon! ;-)
posted by Wilder at 4:22 AM on May 16, 2006