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I am researching a furniture package purchase in Costa Rica, to furnish our home in Playa Hermosa, Guancaste. Can anyone provide any advice in terms of refurnishing an entire home. I am not certain whether shipping furniture from the U.S. would make financial sense.
There are certainly plenty of places to shop for furniture in the Hermosa / Panama / Coco / Liberia Area. Call Magda at Concierge – she will put packages together – if you have a price point – make sure to let her know.
Others will surely disagree, but I come down on the side of shipping your household goods to Costa Rica.
Large furniture pieces are readily available at very attractive prices. It’s the little stuff that will run up the costs and drive you crazy. Not only is anything that’s imported very expensive, but the selection will be limited, and there is no single place where you could shop to completely outfit a house.
If you sell your household goods, you’ll be lucky to get $.15 for every dollar you spent. Then you come to Costa Rica and, if you can find satisfactory replacements, you’ll spend $1.40 or more to replace a dollar’s worth of value in the U.S. You’ll be $.125 in the red.
And the process will be mind numbing.
What’s more, some of your possessions may have sentimental or esthetic value. Yes, you can replace Grandma’s quilts with locally purchased blankets, but will you be as warm? And what of the ashtray the kid made at summer camp, the pictures, and all those other parts of your life that give you pleasure.
I have to agree with David’s input. We shipped everything, including a car selected for cost and durability and we have been really happy that we did.
We are so happy to have our excellent mattresses as their equivalent costs would have been outrageous. To re-equip our kitchen would have been crazy expensive here in Costa Rica and I wouldn’t have been able to replace many of the items I use for parties/cooking, etc.
One big “BUT”….if you are going to being living in a very small home or plan only to be here for a part of the year, then buying everything here might make more sense.
i bought everything here and most of what i bought was custom made. it was great to have all new things, made by local craftsmen and local woods, and materials. i just had a huge dresser made out of solid cedar that would{ve cost $3000 in the States, and which i had custom-made for $800. plus, i got stuff that actually FITS the room it is intended for. i did bring some kitchen stuff, good sheets –although i just bought 600 TC sheets here — and my art and baskets. but i{ve acquired so many beautiful native things since i{ve been here — things from guatemala, honduras, nicaragua and costa rica. to me, that was the fun of relocating!
Maravilla,
Thanks for your input. My wife and I are considering the route you took, we want to go as native as possible. We both also like the option of custom made, local woods and materials. Our home is a traditional Costa Rican design 2500 sq. ft. two story villa. We bought the home turn-key, however, the furniture is too modern for our taste.If by “turnkey” you mean that all the contents of the home are already provided then certainly you should shop for large furniture pieces here in Costa Rica. I’m not familiar with the area you’re moving to, but certainly a trip to one of the many furniture fabricators in Sarchi will satisfy your desire to have more traditional pieces.
What folks tend to overlook is the cost and inconvenience of replacing all the little stuff. It’s the kitchenware, linens, rugs and lamps, etc that are hard to find and much more expensive than in the States. If they’re already furnished, or if you can bring them with you, then by all means don’t ship a container.
David,
Our home is in Playa Hermosa. We are still trying to figure out how to dispose of the furniture in the house now. We pack small appliances, etc. in our suitcases, when we return twice a year. I will be shipping my 9000 original miles, 2006 Toyota 4Runner, packed full, in a container. Thanks for reminding me about Sarchi.
Sarchi is overpriced now, and most of their designs are, well, a bit baroque for my tastes. Better to find a local craftsman, not located in a tourist town, give him a photo or a design, and then choose your wood. There are a lot of woodworkers here, and most do impeccable work.
[quote=”Disabled Veteran”] We are still trying to figure out how to dispose of the furniture in the house now. [/quote]
If all you want is to be rid of it, offer it to the first local person (taxi driver, clerk in a store, maintenance person, housekeeper, etc) you encounter. Someone will jump at the opportunity.
If you want to sell it, advertise it on craigslist.
maravilla, I fully agree that most of the readymade things in Sarchi are too “baroque” for our tastes; however, you can have things custom made in almost any design you wish. What’s more, for us Sarchi, with its host of sources, is convenient. We live in Grecia.
i would post a photo of this massive piece i just had made if i could figure out how to upload the shot. i admmit it, i can be quite the dunderhead when it comes to this stuff.
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