Best Place For Furniture In Bangkok?

[fletchsmile]

We'll be moving into our new condo in a couple of weeks, after several years of renting. Things like bathroom, kitchen, wardrobes, aircon etc are already fitted. However, on all the moveable stuff, we'll need to buy. We're mainly looking for value for money, rather than to do things on the cheap.

I've heard Index has a good reputation. I've heard Modernform for furniture is quite good, but don't know where to get it. The type of things we're looking for are:

beds, tables, chairs, cupboard units, chest of drawers, bookcases, storeage etc.

I'm not a fan of shopping, so not really well up on these things, despite several years in Thailand. Does anyone have any recommendations?

BTW For Index and other similar places are you supposed to bargain on the prices? I'm not a fan of bargaining (much prefer fixed price shops - take it or leave it, and look in a few for comparsion), but Thailand often seems to require bargaining, regardless of whether or not it's supposed to be fixed price.

Thanks

Edited November 17, 2007 by fletchthai68

[gregb]

On the west side of Rangsit market, on the same soi as the parking garage about 100 meters down towards the klong from Rangsit-Pathumthanee road is a 4 story 5 wide shophouse.

You will find exactly the same merchandise you can buy at Index, and at about 1/3rd the price. They supply many of the small, independent shops in Bangkok. We bought a bedroom set here. The exact same set was selling in Index for 24,000 baht. We bought it including a mattress (not included in the Index set) for 11,500. We also bought our sofa and a bar for the livingroom there.

You won't get the nice glitzy showroom, and no aircon but if you're really looking at value for money that's the place to go. Index might have slightly more variety, but for the price I would absolutely check these guys out.

There are probably other places like this throughout Bangkok, but this is the one I know about. If you want value for money you won't get it at a chain store like Index.

[Thailand Tiger]

We'll be moving into our new condo in a couple of weeks, after several years of renting. Things like bathroom, kitchen, wardrobes, aircon etc are already fitted. However, on all the moveable stuff, we'll need to buy. We're mainly looking for value for money, rather than to do things on the cheap.

I've heard Index has a good reputation. I've heard Modernform for furniture is quite good, but don't know where to get it. The type of things we're looking for are:

beds, tables, chairs, cupboard units, chest of drawers, bookcases, storeage etc.

I'm not a fan of shopping, so not really well up on these things, despite several years in Thailand. Does anyone have any recommendations?

BTW For Index and other similar places are you supposed to bargain on the prices? I'm not a fan of bargaining (much prefer fixed price shops - take it or leave it, and look in a few for comparsion), but Thailand often seems to require bargaining, regardless of whether or not it's supposed to be fixed price.

Thanks

From my experience, you have a few choices. For most household items (ie. equipping a kitchen etc), you can try Chatchuchak market.

For furniture, there's Prachanarumit (known as Wood Street). There are numerous shops all selling wood furniture (the real stuff, not particle board rubbish), including everything from office desks, to dining tables, to beds and wardrobes. They have some nice pieces, and you have the choice of colour/finish, though I find them expensive.

There are some shops in MBK (I think 5th floor, but could be wrong). There you'll find some good quality solid wood furniture along with the "modern" IKEA style stuff. You'll also find lounge suites here which is lacking at Prachanarumit.

You also have Siam Paragon (again I think 5th floor). There are some beautiful pieces there, though it's probably about the most expensive place to shop. Ok if you have the budget and really want something unique and high quality.

Central World (just down the road from Paragon) has some furniture (once again I think on the 5th floor....is a pattern emerging here?). I found it all to be overpriced and of little interest.

I'm sure there are many other places, but these are some I've found in my search for good quality furniture.

As for bargaining, yes it still applies to fixed price stores (though they might not discount by as much as other places). It becomes expected if you purchase several items from the same store. Make sure you consider delivery. Best of luck...!

[mauiguy90]

I agree that MBK 5th floor is a good place to start. The entire floor is composed of furniture stores so you can compare quality, prices and appearance, all in one place. Although you may end up buying somewhere else, this is the best place to start, since so many stores are in one place. Shop till you drop!

There are also a bunch of furniture shows and many seem to be held this time of year. They are held in many locations including the Impact Arena and the Queen Sirikit Center. Of course, most of the vendors go to every show. Look for big signs on buses, at the sky train, etc. Most of them are written mainly in thai so you may need to have someone read for you. At these shows, there are often specials that are hard to beat, so they are worth going to. As well, you can generally bargain with the vendors, so if you enjoy that, its fun(relatively).

Found this link for furniture fairs. Apparently they have one at the end of the month at the Bangkok Convention Center in Ramkamhaeng.

http://www.eventseye.com/fairs/event_tc84_113_1.html

You can also find furniture at Chatuchak market, in the area with the more permanent shops(on the Saphan Kwai side). They tend to have a lot of wood furniture and not so much in terms of sofas, etc.

Edited November 17, 2007 by mauiguy90

[yeti]

Two shops with good quality (but a bit pricey) wooden furnitures: Podium and Apina.

[fletchsmile]

Thanks for the posts. Have been trepsing around the shops. Still not a fan of shopping, but it was very helpful having places to start. Anything to cut down number of hours shopping Thanks again

[dotcom]

Looks like the Furniture show has been moved to BITEC. Will head over there & check it out.

[dotcom]

A quick Google search finds this webpage:

http://www.bangkok.com/shopping-furniture-...ecor/index.html

[dotcom]

Anyone needing furniture is encouraged to head on over to BITEC. Heaps of free parking & admission is free. This is the same furniture fair that used to move around BKK - I used to see it about where Carrefour is now on Rama 4 road.

Anything you can think of is for sale & quite a bit you would never think of. Prices heavily discounted.

I will order a sofa (takes 15 days to make) a wooden coffee table & a swivel office chair.

[pkrv]

We'll be moving into our new condo in a couple of weeks, after several years of renting. Things like bathroom, kitchen, wardrobes, aircon etc are already fitted. However, on all the moveable stuff, we'll need to buy. We're mainly looking for value for money, rather than to do things on the cheap.

I've heard Index has a good reputation. I've heard Modernform for furniture is quite good, but don't know where to get it. The type of things we're looking for are:

beds, tables, chairs, cupboard units, chest of drawers, bookcases, storeage etc.

I'm not a fan of shopping, so not really well up on these things, despite several years in Thailand. Does anyone have any recommendations?

BTW For Index and other similar places are you supposed to bargain on the prices? I'm not a fan of bargaining (much prefer fixed price shops - take it or leave it, and look in a few for comparsion), but Thailand often seems to require bargaining, regardless of whether or not it's supposed to be fixed price.

Thanks

Hi fletchthai68 - going through the process now. Yes MBK has Index plus lots more. Central World also has a HUGE floor devoted to this type of stuff - Design Square - Zen - plus lots of others. Modern form is also there but they are a design company their office design section is located here.

Next stop Siam Paragon 4 or was it 5^th th floor - Perhaps I could recommend a blind fold for the other half at this time…

[cmsally]

I had a quick scout around last week and it seems the 5th floor is the place to be anywhere!

There is also a Homepro on the corner near the UK Embassy if I remember correctly, for the extra fittings etc.

They had some good prices on lamps, I thought.

This place produces real wood furniture, which is nice on the eye when you have been looking at chipboard all day

http://www.apina.co.th/

Otherwise maybe a truck down from Chiang Mai is a good idea.

Also anyone know when the next BITEC fair is?

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

Hi cmsally,

I fully second Apina, we just yesterday put in a rather large order for furniture for a main bedroom (I don't like the word "master"), a full-time guest room (not "short-time" nor "long time"), and a combination study/library/back-up guest room, which will have a bedsofa and a coffee table as well.

For orders over 300K they will give you a 25% discount, but since times are slow, I am sure that with good negotiating skills, one can get a nice discount also on lower amounts.

For the two bedrooms we chose the Cielvento II range, the only quibble I have with that is the display of the brand name, but it is not too obtrusive, and we otherwise liked the stuff very much. And since it is in bedrooms, one tends not to notice much.

For the study, we chose the darker wood Harvest II range (the only small quibble here is that the bookshelves have a small "lip" as a design element in the front, but I guess we will soon get used to that, or even remove the "lip", it seems to be just tacked on with a couple of screws). Both ranges are quite similar, and in many cases modular, so you can custom design a room to your own wish.

I would recommend using the drawing function in MS Office, and make a scale drawing (floor plan), if possible use A3, and make up all the different units to scale. Then you can furnish like a designer to fit your room, but of course, only birds eye view, not perspective view. Apina should offer this service (a 3-D view), it is strange that they don't, in this day and age, where such software is easily available. It will happen when time is ready I guess...

Disclaimer:

This sounds like I am paid by Apina to flog their stuff. Not at all, again just a happy customer! And when we decided, I didn't know about Podium furniture, check them out as well (Google it).

Edited December 7, 2007 by MeaMaximaCulpa

[yeti]

I loke Apina and Podium as well (most of our stuff come from those 2 brands).

One question, where did u get a decent sofa bed?

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

The sofabed is great, and it came from IKEA. We just got it recovered with new fabric, done by Asia Curtain off Thepprasit road in Pattaya. PM me if you need any details on that, a great shop!

But since there is no IKEA here in Thailand, the nearest I think is in KL.

Some friends ordered one not long ago however, but that was a leather bed sofa, perhaps not to everybody's taste. The shop is (I think) called Sofa, and is on the Thappraya Raod, going from South Pattaya towards Jomtien. On the right hand side up the hill, the last shophouse on the right, a few hundred meeters before the intersection. This is second hand info, so scout around.

Good luck!

[cmsally]

Some sofa beds here:

Index furniture

or

SB Furniture

Index have sofa beds under Products (drop down) - sleeping zone

Can't find any listed as being sofa beds in SB

[paulsmithson]

hey guys if yopu want to see how yur furniture layout will look in 3D then have a play with Google Sketchup.

It is free do download and is an excellent deign toll for many applications.

[yeti]

Being in Bkk, I didn't go to Pattaya for a sofa bed .

As for Index and SB I did not like theirs: most are for 1 person only, or not long enough, or just thought they were ugly.

I ended up buying one from Bangkok Futon which is nice, but I was wondering if I had missed the possibility to get something cheaper.

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

Isn't Pattaya the center of the universe...?!? Doh!!!

Sorry, I just realised after posting that the thread title was related to Bangkok.

Good to hear that you got your sofa after all, and don't worry about the cheaper option, it usually pays to buy quality products.

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

Hi paulsmithson,

Even if we are more or less done with our house furnishing, I shall have a go at Google Sketchup.

Thanks for the info!

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

Just for your further info, and to reinforce Yeti's earlier statements;

Today we went to the Thong Lor Podium showroom. A lot of very nice stuff, but perhaps a bit too modern in style for our taste and fit with the rest of our house. But we are still considering some pieces. There is a showroom across from Macro in Muang Chonburi as well, for you Pattaya & surrounding areas dwellers.

So there you have it: Apina is the (if I may generalise) old fashioned, "classic" style, while Podium is the more modern and trendy style.

Both certainly have merit, and it is up to your personal preferences.

Good luck!

[dotcom]

Home Pro have nice sofa sleepers at about 20,000.

I went completely crazy at the Furniture show. Bought a 3 seat leather sofa for 12,000, wooden coffee table & a bedside table at 3200.

Edited December 15, 2007 by dotcom