Deals to be had in China - The bedroom set!

Steph has always wanted a bedroom set.  I thought we had one...  it included a metal frame for our queen sized bed, my old dresser from when I was a kid, a couple of mismatched nightstands and the dresser from when she was young.  It also included very nice piece of furniture handed down through her family that originally belonged to her 'Nonnie'.  Then when we moved into the new house in Beaverton (Oak Hills) we went to Consignment Northwest and found a nice dresser with 2 end tables. 

This was the point at which I was sure we had a bedroom set.  Gone was the old dresser from my childhood (up to the guest room to be more accurate).  Gone were the mismatching nightstands.  Gone was her dresser from when she was a kid (since it was part of a matching set of furniture that's from Ethan Allan and is the girls bedroom set now).  In was the 'new to us' dresser and nightstands.  While not matching the style of the vanity/dresser from Steph's Nonnie, they were still in dark stain, and therefore 'close'.  Still no bed beyond the metal frame, but I was sure we now had a 'bedroom set'.

When it became clear that we would be headed home in June, as opposed to on time (end of July) or the extended date I had been talking with my management team about (end of 2009), we started to have the conversation about what we wanted to have done or have made to take home with us.  Steph explained that she wanted to have a bedroom set made, that it would be so much cheaper than it was in the US.  I asked and was quickly educated on what was wrong with our 'bedroom set' at home... seems an actual bed (headboard, foot board, etc), beyond a metal frame was the key component of a bedroom set.  My argument that random styles of furniture thoughtfully put together met the requirements of a 'set of furniture' not only lacked the key piece (an actual bed) but I was clearly told that our ecclectic collection of furniture was not a good example of a successful attempt at such.

So we started the process of deciding what bedroom set 'we' would like, so that we could compare the pricing to what we could have made in PRC before we head home. Stephanie picked out a set from Pottery Barn - a line they call 'Montego'.  The cost for all 5 pieces was ~$6000 including shipping.  OUCH.  The Pottery Barn construction is a combination of mahogany, mahogany veneer, plywood and MDF.

Off we went this afternoon to a furniture store that Steph found here in our part of Shanghai.  We had a set of cubbies made for the girls from ash that turned out well, and we like very much.  Stephanie has been leading a furniture tour of our part of Shanghai and has included this place in her tour, so she has some goodwill built up.

We started the conversation with the gal who runs the show there, and once she confirmed that they do many of these types of sets, the conversation moved quickly to money.  First was the type of wood we wanted to use.  There was no combination of wood, plywood, veneer and MDF, everything was made of wood.  This is why had we had the entire bed made in mahogany, it would have tipped the financial scale at 40% more than we paid!  We opted for elm with a dark stain (trying to match our best memory of the piece from Nonnie that's carefully tucked away in storage in the US).

All 5 pieces came in, after a little negotiating) at 17,000 RMB.  This equates to $2,500 USD.  LESS THAN HALF of the delivered cost of the Pottery Barn set!  Again, it's not the mahogany that the Pottery Barn set is, but it also won't have any MDF.  For less than half, we'll take the elm!

Now we are lucky that we'll be able to get the set home to Oregon as a part of our return shipment from PRC - otherwise, perhaps the cost would really not be that much better...  But at less than $0.50 on the $1.00, this was a deal that could not be beat.

So today a deposit was made and in 5 weeks, we'll have our new bedroom set delivered here to our apartment.  We won't set it up, instead leaving it wrapped and disassembled to ease the packing and shipping process.

The only problem that exists now is that we have to temper our enthusiasm for the great deal that furniture is here in PRC with the reality of spending money on things we 'want' as opposed to things we 'want'.

The dresser and night stands will make their way into the guest bedroom upstairs (much nicer for Barb and Jaques and my mom when they visit).  The old stuff in the guest room will likely make it into a summer garage sale.

At the end of the day, Steph is happy for the matching bedroom set - that meets all the requirements and definitions of an actual bedroom set - and I am happy for the killer deal we got!

There are lots of things on the 'what to get before returning to the US' list.  The criteria for making this list are either it's something to remind us of our time in China, or it's so much cheaper to get here.  The list is budget dependent, but these are some of the things we'd like to get to take home with us!

Stone lions for either side of the door at home

Couple custom made suits for Joe

Some golf pants for Joe

Coats for Steph

Framing

Some jewelry

Some pottery

Can't wait to see everyone again - it's been a great couple years in China, and we would have preferred to stay through 2009, but I am getting excited to be home again!

Cheers,

Joe