After buying a new home, how much money do you generally need to be comfortable?

PhoenixParker

Pip1989 wrote: »

The house was €290,000 and the government give €14,500 towards the deposit of which is €35,000 in total. How do you know it's an over priced house when you don't even know what type of house it is or what location. Also we have in total about 15% of the price of the house saved so after paying all our deposits and fees etc we still have €17000 saved as of right now! Yes we both work and I have a very good paying job!

You'll be grand with 17k. That's more then enough to get a few rooms livable with good quality and to have money aside for emergencies.

I'm going to contradict the advice here and say buy once and buy right. If that's a second hand piece you love then great but otherwise just get something that'll do you for the long haul right off the bat. You can afford to, and buying second hand furniture with a plan to replace it will cost you more unless it's actually free.

Focus on floors and window dressing to start. Floors in particular are difficult to replace once a room is full of furniture.

Then get a decent couch, kitchen table and beds with mattresses for each person. Everything else you can find/get built in as you work out specifically what you need and want where.

mloc123

worded wrote: »

Johnson paint magnolia is an excellent colour and very cheap

I don’t like anyone else’s version

There are fancy names for different colours but they are just not worth it IMHO

http://www.johnstonespaint.ie

Magnolia is such a horrible colour... but I am now a F&B paint snob I guess

PhoenixParker

PhoenixParker wrote: »

I'm going to contradict the advice here and say buy once and buy right. If that's a second hand piece you love then great but otherwise just get something that'll do you for the long haul right off the bat. You can afford to, and buying second hand furniture with a plan to replace it will cost you more unless it's actually free.

+1 on this.

The idea of moving into your lovely new build modern house and then furnishing with bits of mismatched second hand furniture, cheap paint etc is a bit daft imo. Personally I'd budget for kitting out at least the kitchen, living room and master bedroom to high specs as part of my overall budget.

worded

mloc123 wrote: »

Magnolia is such a horrible colour... but I am now a F&B paint snob I guess

The difference between magnolia and a fancy named flavour called Elephants Breath or snakes arse is so minimal. I’m now a fan of Johnson’s Magnolia. Forget Woodies version,it’s way different.

OP get a sample of it and try it, it’s perfect IMHO

worded

Emerson White Dial wrote: »

+1 on this.

The idea of moving into your lovely new build modern house and then furnishing with bits of mismatched second hand furniture, cheap paint etc is a bit daft imo. Personally I'd budget for kitting out at least the kitchen, living room and master bedroom to high specs as part of my overall budget.

That all fine if you have the “cash” to do it.
Do not get into further debt kitting the gaff out. You have all your life to do it.

I know lots of people who had no carpet or flooring for 1-2 years on moving in 20/30 years ago.
We live in the want it now generation, credit junkeys

Much prefer to pay cash I have than put it on a credit card. You will be happier on a free couch or 150 one cash than on a 1300 one paid over 5 year and costing 1600 with cost of credit added

Or make your own - see Pinterest
Or free - adverts etc

LirW

While 17k is a good budget, there are people not having half of that when moving in and there will be some compromises.
If you can afford good floors, fancy furniture etc, go for it. If you can't then go for what's the most important to you. But don't fall for these finance plans that shops offer, no point in making more debt when you're already knee deep in it.

pwurple

Emerson White Dial wrote: »

+1 on this.

The idea of moving into your lovely new build modern house and then furnishing with bits of mismatched second hand furniture, cheap paint etc is a bit daft imo. Personally I'd budget for kitting out at least the kitchen, living room and master bedroom to high specs as part of my overall budget.

Buying second hand is not necessarily lower quality by any means. My living room has a 1940’s bookcase with brushed brass hardware that is secondhand (because it’s older than I am) and is absolutely stunning. My kitchen has a beautiful dresser with weight and presence to it. Most interior designers will steer you towards at least one piece with character for a room. Otherwise it’s all very bland.

Matchy matchy living room and bedroom sets out of a harvey norman leaflet are not everyone’s style, It’s all personal afterall.

If you know what you are looking for, decent joinery, good quality materials and well cared for, it beats the mass produced “affordable” tatt you get new. Sounds like the OP isn’t going to be rocking up to Caseys on their budget, so the advice of looking for quality secondhand in their budget is sound.

I agree on paint. Never skimp on paint, otherwise it’s “buy cheap, buy twice.”

Averagevegan

justfillmein wrote: »

not a chance would you need that per room starting off a new house.
woodies have a 10L bucket of magnolia for i think €22.
few of them would do the whole house. its clean and fresh too.

This is probably true for a new build.

If it's second hand, There could be a lot more painting involved ie windows, doors, skirting, ceilings

Of course nobody "needs" to paint.

Pip1989

Emerson White Dial wrote: »

+1 on this.

The idea of moving into your lovely new build modern house and then furnishing with bits of mismatched second hand furniture, cheap paint etc is a bit daft imo. Personally I'd budget for kitting out at least the kitchen, living room and master bedroom to high specs as part of my overall budget.

Yeah it's a brand new built house and it will already be fully painted and all bathroom ware etc and kitchens are included too already! To be honest I don't fancy buying second hand furniture, I've waited for my own brand new house for a long time and I plan on putting as best of stuff I can into it and new preferably!!

appledrop

If you have to get all white goods for kitchen , all floors you will need about 10k. I would recommend spending well on floors carpets, tiles etc. We are 5 years in house + all floors carpets etc still in good condition. Buy some furniture second hand etc if you have to but get the basics right.

mloc123

worded wrote: »

The difference between magnolia and a fancy named flavour called Elephants Breath or snakes arse is so minimal. I’m now a fan of Johnson’s Magnolia. Forget Woodies version,it’s way different.

OP get a sample of it and try it, it’s perfect IMHO

It really isn't, paint makes a room...

worded

mloc123 wrote: »

It really isn't, paint makes a room...

My folks got a flavour of paint mixed and it cost an extra 20 - 30 %

I prefer my magnolia and I would challenge anyone to pick which was which.

I’ve spoken to the lads that work in paint shops and they say that people pay for the fancy names when the dkffenece is so slight it’s simply not worth it

OP please get a sample of Magnolia and test it to see if you like it. I could be wrong .... I could be right .... it’s personal taste

Lumen

Magnolia = rental.

DoozerT6

worded wrote: »

My folks got a flavour of paint mixed and it cost an extra 20 - 30 %

I prefer my magnolia and I would challenge anyone to pick which was which.

I’ve spoken to the lads that work in paint shops and they say that people pay for the fancy names when the dkffenece is so slight it’s simply not worth it

OP please get a sample of Magnolia and test it to see if you like it. I could be wrong .... I could be right .... it’s personal taste

Sorry to be pedantic, but...the word is shade, not flavour.

Andrew Beef

We just repainted our house and the guys commented that it was great to see none of the bland magnolia sh1te!

Grawns

worded wrote: »

The difference between magnolia and a fancy named flavour called Elephants Breath or snakes arse is so minimal. I’m now a fan of Johnson’s Magnolia. Forget Woodies version,it’s way different.

OP get a sample of it and try it, it’s perfect IMHO

Johnstone trade paints will colour match any colour from any brand. There's a shop in Palmerstown I swear by.

justfillmein

there needs to be a magnolia thread:D

justfillmein

Lumen wrote: »

Magnolia = rental.

thats because its cheap.

If I had just moved into my new place, paint wouldn't be one of MY top priorities. I'd magnolia everywhere:p until i knew exactly what way I wanted each room designed.

myshirt

When you hear regularly that it cost 30-40 grand to do up a show house, it's scary.

10k should be well sufficient if you box smart.

Go the adverts route, and get there bit by bit and you'll do it for a fraction of that.

John_Rambo

justfillmein wrote: »

there needs to be a magnolia thread:D

Ha! You're right there!

I was on cement floors for a year with a mix of cut off carpets and rugs, second hand furniture and garden furniture and a tiny box TV with rabbits ears. Not a hope of foreign holidays for two years, but I was really young. No car (city centre house), no dishwasher, one sink, one bathroom with one of the two bedrooms rented out and my next door neighbours were prostitutes.

It was different then though. Nobody gave a ****e if you hadn't a car with a certain badge or year. There wasn't as much pressure on people to have a show house as their first house.

I'm beginning to sound like some sort of working class hero, I'm not. Things are much much tougher now for people buying houses. I bought on my own, impossible for me to do that now.

myshirt

justfillmein wrote: »

there needs to be a magnolia thread:D

There needs to be a thread on JohnRambos neighbours!

meeeeh

myshirt wrote: »

When you hear regularly that it cost 30-40 grand to do up a show house, it's scary.

10k should be well sufficient if you box smart.

It depends what you like. There is a huge difference in quality and finish of some Harvey Norman stuff and more expensive furniture. The same goes for curtain fabrics. I have no problem with buying Ikea stuff but I would rather wait and save than buy something I dislike just because it's cheap.

John_Rambo

myshirt wrote: »

There needs to be a thread on JohnRambos neighbours!

It's not that mad, I was fairly naive. It was early celtic tiger, a few people making and spreading money and snorting mountains of coke, no real internet, but lots of mobile phone activity. My other neighbours were Russian girls that worked in a strip club, another one was a professional footballer. All mixed in with inner city Dubs, gangsters (I'm not kidding). I was a bit oblivious to it all, but looking back it was nuts.

justfillmein

meeeeh wrote: »

It depends what you like. There is a huge difference in quality and finish of some Harvey Norman stuff and more expensive furniture. The same goes for curtain fabrics. I have no problem with buying Ikea stuff but I would rather wait and save than buy something I dislike just because it's cheap.

I thought this at first too but when you need so much starting off it all adds up very quickly.
like little things like cutlery, pillows & duvets, hoovers, irons, tools.
it all seems exciting to begin with until you see the never ending list.

I think you have to priorities the main things.
like a cooker, fridge, machine, beds etc
the cosmetics can come later.
I suppose it really depends how much money you have to begin with.

some things you might have to cut corners with for the for the first few years

(UNLESS you do want that showroom type look straight away, but sure where is the fun in that. no memories of seeing your home 'growing'

Staph

You really need to make a list of essential items and non-essential items. Essentials are bedding, white goods, cutlery, plates, saucepans etc. These are priority and you will have to start sourcing these before you are due to move in. There are some great sales and you can get good quality stuff if you start looking and comparing prices.
Places like TK Maxx are great for bedding, plates and kitchen stuff. I got some great priced Tefel pans in Kildare Village.

If you don't have appliances, you should start thinking about your requirements. Tumble dryer -vented/condenser? What programs do you require for you washing machine -quick wash/weight of load/noise level? Start thinking about these and visit shops to check the models your are interested in. You can then compare prices between the different suppliers.

Regarding furniture, you will need to look at your floor plan and assess the locations of the various items you need. Like will your sitting room suit an L-shaped couch or a typical 3-2-1/3-1-1 arrangement? Will rooms fit a king sized bed and wardrobe in the locations you hope to fit them? Assess your requirements and you can then get items that will suit your future plans for more non-essential items like bookshelves/lockers/sideboards etc.

meeeeh

justfillmein wrote: »

I thought this at first too but when you need so much starting off it all adds up very quickly.
like little things like cutlery, pillows & duvets, hoovers, irons, tools.
it all seems exciting to begin with until you see the never ending list.

I think you have to priorities the main things.
like a cooker, fridge, machine, beds etc
the cosmetics can come later.
I suppose it really depends how much money you have to begin with.

some things you might have to cut corners with for the for the first few years

(UNLESS you do want that showroom type look straight away, but sure where is the fun in that. no memories of seeing your home 'growing'

I completely agree with you. We will be in the house 9 years and it's still not completely finished. But we could pick cheaper flooring, some other furniture was not cheap, kitchen appliances are good quality.

My point was it completely depends what your taste is, how big is the house, what garden is like and so on... 10k will get you into the house but I don't believe that many people manage to finish interior on that budget. I think it also helps if you buy some items like pots, kettles, microwave, mops and have them ready for when you move in.

Lumen

Best advice I got about house renovations:

If you do it all at once, you'll need to do it again all at once. Better to do it in stages then you always have something new.

Noddy33

I am in a very similar situation like OP Pip1989 and the week before xmas went paid my booking deposit to go Sale Agreed on a 3 Bed terraced house as a first time buyer. The house had some furnishing and the seller has agreed to include all these furnishings in the sale. I do how ever need to purchase some furnishings like beds, drawers bed side tables, coffee tables.Can anybody recommend some good reliable websites? I seen some people on this thread mention 'adverts'......whay exactly is this? I went looking at some of the local furniture store Xmas sales and possibly to my naivety as never paid much interest/attention to it...........but I could not get over the cost of a good brand new sofa!! I have found a couple liquidation furniture store on line and am thinking of using these as prices are far more favourable. Any any experience or advice from purchasing off these liquidation furniture stores?

LirW

Adverts is an online second hand market place. If you look around there, there's some serious value on there. Also people give away things for free, lots of furniture. Might not be the top notch stuff but it'll get you going in your own house.

I never purchased in a liquidation place because most of the furniture they have isn't my taste.

Muahahaha

Grawns wrote: »

Johnstone trade paints will colour match any colour from any brand. There's a shop in Palmerstown I swear by.

Thats interesting as I had always wondered was there a way of re-creating colours from some of the more expensive brands like Farrow & Ball. Whereabouts in Palmerstown is this shop?