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any ideas where to buy inexpensive furniture for choson/kallah; also who pays for the dinette set, & bedroom set…..
Why don’t you split all furniture costs in half? Its the simplest. That’s the way my family works it.
mazal77, We will be buying furniture soon as well IY”H, (meanwhile we are renting a furnished apt) so I checked out Bob’s. Seems like a nice simple place with great prices!
Check it out!
Surprisingly for furniture the best bang for your buck might be the frum stores. I bought a dinette set at a store in BP (i forget the name but its on 13th ave) same description as above and under $500.
Ikea might be okay for bookcases but their stuff is junk.
arc, I completely disagree. If you take a close look at what you buy and go with the stuff that is what it looks like you can do quite well at the Big Yellow and Blue Box. If the description says “Birch” or “Stainless Steel” you’ll do well. If it just looks like that but doesn’t say so, not so much.
arc, I totally agree with you! Ikea is cheap because they sell junk. The store you must have gone to in BP is Mike’s Dinettes. They are located on 13ave and 39st. All my friends shop there. Speak to the owner, Heshy Kallus. Heshy has been able to find beautiful furniture for me that I could only find in Manhattan stores for, literally half the price!
I would just LOVE to know who made up the rules for who buys what for the chosson and kallah? Parents have just spent a fortune making a chasunah, and on top of that are expected to ALSO furnish the apartment for them? I could never afford that. I married off two children, and they used their engagement presents, savings, earnings, and so forth, to buy their own furniture. They waited to buy a real dinette set when they had money from the wedding, and used a card table until they could afford better (they also came to me a lot that first year, for Shabbos and yom tov). I am not saying parents should not help out, IF THEY CAN AND IF THEY WANT TO. But who decided that there is a specific chiyuv in this matter?
Both of us were raised to pay our own way. Not that we haven’t gotten help from family, but the rule has always been “If you can’t afford it make do or do without”.
Cheap junk furniture? When we started out everything was thrift shop, consignment store or hand-me-down. Over the years we’ve replaced things, and they’ve gotten nicer. And yes, sometimes nicer has been put-together. I don’t think we ever bought a room at a time and probably never will. But our house is safe, comfortable and attractive. And we’ve never had to ask for money to furnish it.
Thank you Lice Advice; Mikes Dinette is in business 40 years
same location….Their sterling reputation speaks for itself.
I feel for kids stuck with big bucks furniture that once they have a chance to actually live in their home a while and get to know each other better may not work for them or be what they really want.
I don’t believe there are any rules anymore, maybe by chasidim. It really depends what agreements the parents make at their sit down meeting before the chasunah. We agreed to go half on the furniture with my first two mechatonim. So I told both my daughter and daughter-in-law, don’t rush wait till you find something you really love because you will be stuck with it for 30 years. B”H they both have beautiful heirloom quality bedroom sets that they both still love. One from Spain and one from Italy and we split it with the mechutanim. Other items we wound up supplying because we are in the furniture business, and some things the kid’s got second hand from family members.
My other son took most of the antique furniture pieces from his own bedroom, leaving me just the bed and desk and that has been working for them for 5 years. We found them a used dining room set and we were able to give them the chairs and dinette table.
Today Kollel couples can find furniture that others give away. There is a chessed organization that was started this year that accepts and gives furniture and appliances I believe. I can’t remember the name at the moment but I think they have a classified ad in the JP and/or the FTJTimes.
Mikes Dinette is the best place to shop for furniture. Plus the owner is really cute and hes funny…but he’s happily married for over 37 yrs…HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!! Besides Heshy or DAD helps all the customers and provides them with all their furniture necessities. Heshy the owner stands behind his products and his reputation stands for itself tov shem tov mishemen tov. The upholstery department is the best. I just had my chairs reupholstered got it back with in one week they are beautiful. My mother had hers done too. Trust me I’m a real Hungarian and very finicky with my furniture. I would only buy my furniture and have my upholstery done by Mikes Dinette.
Many neighborhoods also have websites where used furniture may be offered for free, for low cost, or for regular sale (but still well below new retail). I have given away a breakfront, trundle bed (like a highriser with a second bed that pulls out, but does not rise, and which has storage drawers in it), a portacrib, and LOTS of clothing in great condition, to people in need. This type of chessed is available all over, and kids can get furniture for next to nothing. It was a great feeling when a kollel couple took my extra breakfront two weeks before their chasunah.
Hi OOmis. I love people like you. Is everybody out there paying attention? If you have anything used that you don’t need, pass it on. People who can’t afford will appreciate it beyond words.
Oh, OOmis, one more thing… I am sure that your mattresses were wonderful, but people need to know to be very careful before taking used mattresses. If bedbugs are around, they could be in big trouble. To be on the safe side, everybody should start with new mattresses.
You can also check with Nishei Agudas Israel. I believe they are also involved in helping with furniture. When I moved 15 years ago, I gave away my bedroom set. It was a very interesting story. Nishei sent a a couple from Brooklyn that was marrying off a son. They liked the set and I arranged with my mover to drop it off at their home. The woman called me after it was delivered. She said that she and her husband had been married over 25 years and never had a real bedroom set. All the kids said the set was so beautiful including the Choson and Kallah that they insisted that they keep it for themselves!
“Oh, OOmis, one more thing… I am sure that your mattresses were wonderful, but people need to know to be very careful before taking used mattresses. If bedbugs are around, they could be in big trouble. To be on the safe side, everybody should start with new mattresses. “
Your advice is a well-taken comment. Although you are also right, my mattresses were fine, never had a problem with bugs of any kind, but I also cleaned them thoroughly, washed and vacuumed, and sprayed them with Lysol. I told the people who took the trundle that if they had any qualms about taking the mattresses, they should leave them outside for bulk garbage. But they saw the mattresses were in excellent shape. generally speaking, people DO need to be careful about used mattresses. Some people cannot afford new mattresses, and the new ones are sometimes more expensive than the beds.
oomis, those measures won’t get all the bugs let alone the eggs.
I have never had experience of that, B”H. We never had bedbugs. If I saw one, I think I would throw the whole shebang out. Is there a neighborhood where it is more prevalent, because where I live, I have never heard anyone complain of this problem. I bet if they steamed the mattresses it would solve the problem you are mentioning. we are not talking about dust mites, right? Because everyone has those…and they are not visible to the eye.
oomis, if you had bed bugs you would know it. You would feel the bites and the itching. So if you didn’t have any problems someone else wouldn’t either. On that note, you can get bed bugs in a brand new mattress from the factory as well. That is why they are sealed in plastic, but if you get one where there is a rip or tear in the plastic or it was resealed, it is very possible to have a problem. When my son took an apartment for a couple months to live near his job, he bought a cheaper mattress from a discount store. After a few months he realized something was wrong and came running home. He had bed bugs.
I looked it up, it is advertised in the classifieds of the Five Towns Jewish Times. It is called menadvim.
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