[Pat77]

Hi,

I've read a lot of threads on bringing or not bringing furniture issue. My question is related to this topic but is more specific: How much would it cost to fully furnish a 3 bedroom house? I am about to move into this house in Queretaro where there is no furniture at all and I'd like to have an indication of how much should I budget for.
I do not have luxury tastes but I don't want to ea or sleep on the floor either. I think a middle range level of furniture would be sufficient.

Anybody can help me with this?

 

[RVGRINGO]

The simple answer is, "A whole lot less than trying to ship your furnishings to Mexico." Once you find your way around a bit, you will be able to shop for quality and price. Mexico also has the advantage of being able to offer 'custom' sizes and styles, particularly in wooden furniture. For example, if you see something you like, but want it bigger, smaller, shorter or taller; just ask. In two or three weeks it will be delivered in your choice of finish or colorful painted carvings. Just bring whatever fits in your car and start your new Mexican adventure with a fresh outlook. Having that big garage & yard sale is a very liberating experience.

 

[Pat77]

Thank you. I was not really planning on moving stuff from Canada to Mexico. Therefore, I didn't want to compare both options. However, I am trying to budget for new furniture instead. I would like to find out if I'm looking at 5000$, 10,000$, 20,000$ for decent furnishing.

 

[RVGRINGO]

I would think that $10,000 USD equivalent in pesos would get you off to a good start and make the home livable. Of course, you'll add more as time goes by and you discover that you must have just one more piece of original art; so very affordable here. You will also add more to fill in those empty spaces which cry out for something which may only be decorative.

 

[El Toro Furioso]

We rented an unfurnished two-bedroom two-bath house lakeside in 2005. The biggest furniture expenses by far were the two beds. You can't go cheap on where you sleep. So figure at least $500 per mattress. But, again to start, we bought a three-piece living room equipale set, custom made with sofa, love seat and arm chair for $1,800 pesos in Tonalá ($1,250 pesos is $100 USD right now). We picked the design and the fabric. It is still padded, comfortable furniture today. Subastas (tag sales) made up a lot more of what we needed. We ended up after about six months with a new household pretty well furnished, with everything needed to cook for and serve eight people. We had spent under $5,500 USD during a time that the peso was relatively strong (between 10.4 to 11 pesos to a US dollar). Now we have sold our home NoB and moved quite a bit of fancier furniture and art here, plus we bought a fully outfitted home on the beach. We have way too much stuff, even renting our lakeside home fully furnished for six months or more a year. You can still furnish a home for about the same kind of money. Then you'll start finding things that you really want and don't really need, like RV said, and the expenditure, if not the budget, may go up.

 

[Pat77]

Thanks to both of you.

 

[AdePuebla]

Wow, wish we had that kind of money for furniture!! our bed with matress and frame cost about 1400 pesos.
one of these days i'll need to get a job so we can get a sofa or 2.

 

[slsadventurer]

Hi,

I've read a lot of threads on bringing or not bringing furniture issue. My question is related to this topic but is more specific: How much would it cost to fully furnish a 3 bedroom house? I am about to move into this house in Queretaro where there is no furniture at all and I'd like to have an indication of how much should I budget for.
I do not have luxury tastes but I don't want to ea or sleep on the floor either. I think a middle range level of furniture would be sufficient.

Anybody can help me with this?

I moved here to Queretaro last year and am still furnishing some rooms in my 3 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bathroom house. I have every thing I need really unless I want real beds instead of large air matteress for friends who visit. My cost was around 5000 canadian. a bit more or a bit less. I was lucky as my landlady friend got my appliances from Mabe though a relative and I got a really good deal. What you need to do is buy a few things then wait for sales got my dining room table a few weeks ago until then I had used a plastic outdoors table worked fine but I wanted a real table for guests to eat at especially for Christmas. So don't spend much till you have a good look around. Bernardo Quintana has lots of furniture shops.
You can email me here if you want anymore information.
Good luck with the move it cost me about 4500 from Toronto and the movers lost stole and broke a lot of things.

 

[conklinwh]

Furniture

Lots of good info, hopefully you picked up a couple threads.
1st, the longer you can take the better pieces you will get for less.
You can do Walmart/COSTCO but I would only look there for beds and electronics.
We were lucky in that Mosquetta in San Miguel has a large annual sale where we could get US mattresses and yes box springs. To me, beds are most important ( we and our friends need US length and yes there is a difference). COSTCO also has US sets and good pillows.
If I were bringing in things, my 1st choice would be sheets and other bedding, especially if opt for US sizes. We drive so some reasonable room for things from Bed Bath & Beyond. A lot of kitchen decisions will be whether you plan on US type utensils. Our cook favors what we bring versus what she can get in Mexico.
Beyond these, we explored. We went to Patzcuaro for a lot of wood pieces and found a village outside Dolores Hidalgo that does nothing but make mesquite furniture.
We also found a lot of antique/flea markets that had wonderful & unique wood pieces.
Especially in wood & metal pieces, you can have anything made to order inexpensively.
Key is don't assume anything. We are used to pictures with HXWXD measurements. This won't work. You need give every dimension possible, including slope of the seat back. If you don't, they won't ask and you will get what they think. Mostly good.
Biggest problem that we had is stuffed furniture like couches. Having contact in Queretaro is great.
Other key point is that the more you can get locally, the better and costs above about what I would expect. One decision you might have is stove. 1st is probably gas is better. 2nd is whom will do the cooking. Mexican cools almost never use an oven. Stove top burners/grills and pressure cookers are more normal.

 

[RVGRINGO]

This thread is outdated by several years.

 

[Greenlady]

This has been a great thread as our 3 bedroom home in Tulum should be finished by the end of November and we are hoping to get it furnished and ready for renters by February, until we are able to retire in about three years.

I had been worrying how much it would cost to furnish. I don't suppose the $5000 US includes appliances, as we have to get those as well, and outdoor furniture to boot.

Anyone want to take a guess on how much we'd be looking at for all that?

 

[Greenlady]

This thread is outdated by several years.

Oh dear, wish I'd read this last one before I posted my previous reply.

So, can anyone give a soon to be newcomer a good guesstimate of appliance and furniture costs in 2013 dollars?:fingerscrossed:

 

[RVGRINGO]

We did a two bedroom home in 2002 for about $5000 USD, including a patio table and chairs. I would guess that the cost today would be about double.

 

[citlali]

We made a mistake when we first came in and bought matresses and box spring, on the second house we bought top of the line Wendy mattresses (Mexican) and a 500 pesos. This bed is far better than all the box spring type bed we have ever slept in.
Skip the box spring and get a high quality mattress with good padding.

I do not know what you can find in Queretaro but you can get modern furniture for less than in the US and rustic furnture that is pretty inexpensive. Nicely finished high quality furniture is not cheap and not that easy to find.,

 

[maesonna]

Everyone is saying don’t bring your household furniture and stuff, buy in Mexico. I offer a single data point to the contrary, simply to point out that the advice that works for most doesn’t apply to everyone. We brought a container when we moved here (15 yrs ago) with pretty much our whole house contents except the large appliances, and have never regretted it (yet).

Some elements that factored into our satisfaction with our decision: we had a fairly big house and moved into a big house, too. We had recently invested in some nice pieces of solid wood furniture that we wouldn’t have been able to replace at near the same price we had paid. We had a piano. My parents were elderly, had already given up their home, and as the only child I was the recipient of a lot of their mementos. Since then they’ve passed away, and if I hadn’t kept those things, they would be lost to the family because at the time of the move, my children were still small and living with us.