Independent buying guides
For UK households furnishing a room where a few centimetres decide everything. One buying question per guide, dimensions and prices sourced and dated, and a room-fit calculator that shows the clearance it assumes.
Each guide answers one buying question and shows the figures behind the answer.
How to choose
Depth decides a sofa, not length. How to choose on floor you can spare, the fire labels UK upholstery must carry, and cost per year rather than price.
Photo: vastateparksstaff · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Budget and prices
Headline prices hide delivery, old-furniture removal and return carriage. What UK rules require a seller to show, and what a £900 sofa really costs per year.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Measuring and planning
The route into the house fails more orders than the room does. A measuring order that catches doorways, stair turns and dining pull-out before you pay.
Photo: Shixart1985 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
The decisions that actually change what you end up with.
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Photo: xlibber · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Measure once, order once.
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Photo: Pere Torné Esquius (1879 - 1936) Born in Barcelona. Died in Flavancourt. Details on Google Art Project · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
What things are made of, and how long that lasts.
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Photo: www.Pixel.la Free Stock Photos · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
What the total comes to once everything is counted.
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Photo: vastateparksstaff · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Putting pieces together without buying twice.
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Photo: Florida Keys--Public Libraries · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Keeping it usable for years instead of months.
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Photo: Shixart1985 · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Each calculator shows its formula, units and assumptions. Nothing is estimated for you in secret.
Checks whether a piece fits the space, including the walkway you need to leave around it.
remaining space = room dimension - item dimension - walkway x sides; delivery check compares the largest item dimension against the narrowest door or stair width
What a cross-border order really costs once shipping, duty and tax are added.
landed cost = (item price + shipping) + duty + tax, where duty = item price x duty rate, and tax = (item price + shipping + duty) x tax rate
Spreads purchase price, consumables and repairs over the years you expect to keep it.
cost per year = (purchase price - expected resale value + consumables per year x years + expected repairs) / years
Every figure in a guide is taken from a named source, with the date it was checked. Where a number is an assumption or an example, it says so in the same sentence.
We do not run paid product tests, we do not publish reader reviews, and we do not claim to have handled every product mentioned. Where a claim needs a lab or a long-term test we do not have, the guide says that plainly.
Photographs are free-licence images from Wikimedia Commons or Openverse, credited to the photographer with the licence named. Charts are drawn from the figures printed in the same guide.
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