How we moved to the Netherlands - Part 5
How to furnish a place from scratch
We chose to ship pretty much no furniture with us due to the exorbitant costs of shipping and current shortage of shipping containers. Instead, we sold off most of our things to fund the move and replaced furniture we didn’t bring. We used U-100 crates from UPakWeShip to ship our small items. These crates fit into one of their containers and were the most cost efficient option. Most of our crates contained books and personal belongings but we did manage to squeeze a small foldable patio table and chairs. That was it for furniture! How to furnish a house from abroad? Interestingly. We learned a few things along the way.
You can rent things
There are several furniture rental companies in the NL and Europe. They range from rent to own packages to rent only from a month to two years. Some even offer accessory packages that include a vacuum, kitchen basics and appliances. We chose a company that lets us rent to own our furniture and also rented a washer and dryer. Thankfully our Makelaar was able to meet the delivery crew before we moved so on the day we arrived, we had the basics, like a bed and a mattress. However, we had no bed slats. Somehow that was missed in the ordering process, sigh. So we spent a week sleeping on the floor until we just bought some bed slats from Ikea.
The basics … Ikea and Hema
For the first week, we only had what we crammed into our suitcases: one checked and one carry on for each of us. I packed some utensils, my favorite tea mug, some napkins, toiletries, basic clothing, washed sheets and towels (we wouldn’t have a W/D for another week). Our first outing was to Hema for duvets, and a few other essentials. The next day was the first big Ikea run where I bought kiddie cups and plates to hold us over until I could pick out some better plates and glasses. Yes, those cups above. We live a short walk from a train stop and two stops away is … IKEA! It literally stops in front of the store. I call it the IKEA stop, instead of Spaarnewoude because I can’t pronounce that word yet.
By bike
We are trying not to have a completely Ikea furnished and accessorized house so how to get the rest when you don’t have a car and don’t really know where to shop?? We grab small items every time we’re in the city center to carry home in our bike crates but mostly it’s E-Commerce. There are also thrift shops (Kringloopwinkel - what a name!). They are huge here! We tried several visits but didn’t find what we needed. Except some awesome green fuzzy bunnies which I scored for 4 Euros. When I get too lazy to keep the front window display flowers up to date (this is a thing), these will suffice.
Besides this, people have things delivered all the time here because they don’t have cars. Or they’ve been riding bikes since before they could walk and can swing entire sofa cushions on a bike and gracefully ride it home. I’m not there yet. In fact, I am currently off bike due to a leg injury (silly and minor) so I have a few more weeks before I can jump back on.
E-Commerce a step above Ikea
So e-commerce it is! This is where it gets interesting because it works quite differently here. There is no one super company (looking at you, Amazon) and it’s a small country so things ship quickly. Most of the online companies are really just consolidators, or fronts for many, many, many small independent businesses. So I thought I was ordering a bunch of things that would all ship in one big delivery. Nope! Each independent shop gets the order and sends it directly to you. And the stuff arrives the next day because the country is small! I tried to be smart about it the next time I put in an order and focused more on choosing products from one company but that doesn’t always work out. Or I tried ordering directly from the company but they just sent you back to the consolidator website. I tried! Basically our doorbell rang about thirty times the first few days after we placed one order. I got really good at saying “Spreekt u Engels?” And of course, they all answered back with impeccable English.
Below is a list of some of the Netherlands e-commerce shops. Here’s a video where this expat goes over all of them but left out the part about how it all works behind the scenes. By the way, our doorbell is SO LOUD!!