Hi everyone, just wanted to put in my 2 Eurocents here as a long time Madrid adopted resident.
Tracy, IKEA has 3 STORES in Madrid alone, they may not have when you were here last but they sure have grown. The 3 are just outside the city (10-20 minutes by car). See [!-- BBCode auto-link start --][a href=\"http://www.ikea.es\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.ikea.es[/a][!-- BBCode auto-link end --] for store locations. The store I go to is in San Sebastián de los Reyes Madrid, see [!-- BBCode auto-link start --][a href=\"http://www.ikea.es/ikea_near_you/local_store/ssdlr/store.asp\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.ikea.es/ikea_near_you/local_store/ssdlr/store.asp[/a][!-- BBCode auto-link end --]
fotoguy, I did not have a stick of furniture when I moved here 6 years ago but I rented a furnished apt so that was taken care of. 2 Years ago I moved out of my bachelor pad and into an apartment here in Madrid with my girlfriend and we furnished the place nicely between a mega trip to IKEA here in San Sebastián de los Reyes (20 minute car ride from the city center) and moving sales of other ex-pats who were returning home. You can find these moving sales and great furniture and appliances at dirt cheap prices in my classifieds section at http:/www.multimadrid.com/classifieds (new ones each month).
Ok, the furniture at IKEA is stylish and reasonably priced but it is not really built to last too long.
I have a friend here who has a big house outside Madrid and he shipped all of his furniture and appliances in his own container by boat from San Diego to Valencia and then to Madrid. He told me that he did the calculations before he did this and it came out that he saved $6,000-$7,000 by shipping it all instead of bying it new here.
His furniture is VERY nice (oak tabels and bed frame, rustic lamps, etc...) and in his case I am sure it was cheaper to ship it /he said the container cost $3,500 to ship in 1996) since his furniture and appliances are top brand and such so I guess it depends on the stuff you have -vs- the stuff you buy when you are here. He was comparing shipping the stuff he had to buying the same uality stuff here and it was better for him to ship. He also shipped his washing machine and other electical appliances in the container which caused some problems since he had to adapt the water inlet and such to the Spanish hot water heater.
Hope all htis helped,
Saludos,
jer...
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[font size=-1][ Edited by jer On Date 14/05/2002 ][/font]
