Reviving the Portugal section with qn re furniture

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Entirelyidentifiable
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Joined: Sun Mar 29, 2015 10:29 pm

Reviving the Portugal section with qn re furniture

Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Hi,
Trying to generally revive the Portugal section (are you all drowning in tourism-related bureaucracy perhaps?)

I'm looking to replace a few items of furniture in our new villa and buy extra bedding. We are in the Almancil area.
There is a Linen Warehouse shop there for bedding which looks okay. Any other recommendation and for decent furniture.

For furniture the sort of thing I am after would be John Lewis pricing and styles and quality. I've scoured an expat forum and see mention of a few places e.g. Conforama and the difficulties of Ikea from Seville or Lisbon but that's about it.

In the first instance I need some new bedroom chairs and rugs.
e-richard
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Post by e-richard »

How urgently do you need it ?

I hear that IKEA have finally been given the go ahead to start building a new superstore near Loule - partial opening mid 2016 :wink:

But seriously, Conforama sounds like it would fit the bill, otherwise you can find a number of very expensive boutique shops dotted along the N125 from Faro to Albufeira.

IKEA in Seville is only 2 hours away, and visible from the Motorway. Much easier than Lisbon, and much cheaper on the tolls.
** Richard
PIMS: Holiday Rental Management system
They say we learn from our mistakes. That makes me a genius !
Marg
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re furniture

Post by Marg »

when we furnished our villa which was about 10 years ago we got most of the furniture from Moviflor in Olhao. They were good then but have not been back since. We chose and pre-ordered all the furniture and they delivered exactly when they said they would about 2 months later!!
We have since bought bits and pieces from Conforama which is OK - some stuff better than others.
The Linen Warehouse in Almancil is probably as good as any for bedding. I bought all mine in the UK and sent it by lorry. We only had 2 weeks to furnish the place so it seemed easiest to do it this way, then at least I knew we had everything we needed. The place in Almancil was not open then.
We used Continente for china, glass and cooking utensils.

If you weren't in a rush I would try and sell you my stuff as when I get all the paperwork in place I am going to put the villa on the market!!

Hope this helps. I am sure other people will have other suggestions
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Thanks Richard and Marg.

Yes I did see that about Ikea - shame they took so many years to sort it out as it could have been open for ages by now!

Marg, Re Linen Warehouse - would you go there or just ship over from John Lewis (£7.50 delivery for bedding etc!) assuming the sizes of sheets will fit whatever is in the villa now (I need to check bed sizes)?
I note a lot of the JL linen stuff is made in Portugal so in theory it should be cheaper out there.

Will look up Moviflor. Two months! Yikes. At the moment we have most of our furniture from the vendors so luckily it is just a few things but don't think we can wait that long as will have rental guests (hopefully). Thank you!
Marg
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re furniture

Post by Marg »

To be honest if JLewis only charge 7.50 for delivery I would go with them as you know exactly what you are able to get. The Linen Warehouse may not always have enough of what you want and may well be more expensive. If you email they give you prices but they are not available on the website - or they weren't when I last enquired.

A few years ago there was an offer for Portuguese bedspreads in various magazines and they were a lot cheaper than any I found in Portugal!!

I think you misunderstood me - we had to choose the furniture at Moviflor 2 months ahead as that was the last time we were out in Portugal before we needed delivery. Mind you, there are times when there is a delay on furniture delivery which is in the showroom.
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Ah I did think that was quite a long delivery lead time! I will check their website out.

At least in a year or so Ikea will be there to save the day for replacement kitchen stuff etc. Mind you, I hate shopping in their stores. Too busy and big for my liking.

Crazy really that linens probably made over there are cheaper here but probably to do with the buying power of a large retailer like JL versus one independent with a couple of branches over there and not as much competition maybe.
Will try OutofEden or whatever it's called - that and the other ones owners over here favour as will be cheaper, depending on their delivery costs.

It's a shame JL don't deliver actual furniture - will definitely get curtains and cushions and that sort of thing from them though. DFS is the only one I can find doing furniture. They quoted £105 for a sofa which I thought was very reasonable.

A question for my managing agent really but do most of them accept deliveries at their offices and then take to the villas otherwise I'd have to pay them to sit in my villa all day just in case the courier called?!
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

I mean £105 for the delivery of the sofa. That would be a cheap sofa. Not a big DFS fan normally but they seem to have some okay stuff.
tavi
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Post by tavi »

try http://www.maquedones.com/en/ in Loule. Good quality occasional furniture, table lamps, garden stuff, rugs, linens and towels. Most of it nice stuff. They also make-to-measure.

Moviflor in Olhao have closed down (not sure if the whole chain has closed or not).
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Tavi, that place looks absolutely spot on for what we need! Good one as nobody else had mentioned that.
Where would you liken it to in the UK for prices? E.g. John Lewis or Debenhams?

I confess that on our many trips, we have never ventured into Loule. Are there quite a lot of useful shops there? A visit is long overdue!
teba18
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Post by teba18 »

We've been to Maquedones a few times but not recently. It used to be a bit of a nightmare to find and park and was a real 'Aladdin's cave' with stuff piled up all over the place and pretty difficult to see. However, from Tavi's link it looks as if they now have a proper showroom so could well be worth having a look. I'm not sure about prices - we haven't bought a great deal there and haven't been for 2 or 3 years.
I think Loule is worth a visit. It's quite pretty in parts and the market is good, especially for fish. We bought all our towels there but I've no idea of the name of the shop - I just know where it is!
tavi
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Post by tavi »

Yes, the market is great at Loule especially on a Saturday morning.

Maquedones have (had?) a shop in the centre of Loule - absolutely stuffed and they could order you anything if it wasn't in stock.

They do have lovely linen, towels, bedspreads, etc They were the old fashioned type where you had to state what you wanted and the old boy would get it down off the shelf.

We bought two massive parasols - wooden with cream covers for our home - cost a fortune 10 years ago but still going strong.

The showroom is at Loule industrial parque - just outside town. I had cushions made to measure for my dining chairs in a really thick striped cotton which washes like a dream

Prices not cheap but quality excellent. (Not been there in the last year so can't guarantee anything!! :) )

Teba did you buy your towels in the "walking street"? There's (or used to be) a couple of nice linen shops there.
teba18
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Post by teba18 »

Yes Tavi - sorry, I've just re-read my post and it sounds as if I bought them in the fish market! We bought the towels about 8 years ago and they're still going strong!
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Love the sound of the food market too.

Hmmm think I might need a satnav for over there as will never find these places knowing me.

How long does it take to drive to Loule from Almancil?
tavi
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Post by tavi »

10-15 mins.

8)
Entirelyidentifiable
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Post by Entirelyidentifiable »

Great!

Do you use a property management service (cleaning, guest key collection etc). out there and if so can you recommend them?
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