Furnishing your home in Germany

I hadn’t thought twice about the fact that I didn’t even know of any German furniture stores before I moved into my unfurnished apartment. I’d assumed I would buy everything from Ikea however, it turned out that Ikea is great for some items but not so good for others. I found myself having to  look for furniture stores in Germany before I could even look for the furniture. As you can imagine, it was a long process.

To save you some time, here are my favourite German based furniture stores:
Home24
Wayfair (amazing customer service)
Otto

And I also bought a set of beautiful velvet chairs from DuHome.

I originally found the chairs on Amazon but realised I would save a bit of money if I bought them from the seller’s website directly. I also did this with a few other items and found that I saved around €5 each time.

I kept an eye out for items on eBay Kleinanzeigen, a website where you can find second-hand items for sale in your local area. I didn’t end up buying anything myself but do know people who have bought and sold items successfully.

Talking of selling items, I did need to get rid of a few things too. When I first moved here I was given a few bits from other people, and since the items were in perfectly good condition, I thought it would be kinder to just give them to someone else, rather than sell them on.  Free items go quickly and I managed to get rid of everything I needed within 48 hours by posting in expat Facebook groups.

I haven’t finished furnishing yet, but as you can imagine I’ve had a lot of outgoings over the last few months. I have bought the majority of my furniture and appliances at a discounted price or second-hand.  Look out for discount codes for first time shoppers online and always check the returns policy before buying.

You can generally return any item within 14 working days. If you receive a faulty item but can’t be bothered to return it and it’s still perfectly ok to use, let the company know because they will usually refund you a percentage of the price.

I’ve become obsessed with furniture shopping. I have boards after boards of interior design pins on Pinterest (which is great for inspiration) and my measuring stick has become my new best friend. I’ve had my ups and downs but it’s definitely been worth it. Good luck!