Just back

Arrived back this afternoon from our week on Condado. What a week, we need a holiday now to recover!! We shopped and shopped and then we shopped some more. Hard to believe a 2 bed apartment needs so much stuff.. However we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and any concerns i had have been laid to rest. Since our snagging visit in August I feel that someone has snuck in and made the apartment bigger!!  There's plenty of room in the lounge area and we've bought a settee and two chairs which sit in snugly without a problem. The Jardines area looks terrific, the whole resort looks vast , there's a hint of grass here and there on the golf course,and the Foro is clearly ongoing. My husband has assembled and put together so much furniture he's thinking of going into business, we've cleaned, washed , taken up curtains (well, I did that) and had an excellent time playing house.

We met Carol and her little family and it was great to put a face to a name and know who's going to be keeping an eye on our apartment. Very friendly and hospitable too. Also met Jackie (scapa) during the week so already have a friend in our Jardine.

For anyone who has bought the TEKA range of appliances from Real Domestics but not yet seen them, we think they are excellent. The surface colour of the appliances exactly matches the work tops and they are all good quality with a 1000 spin on the washer and the dishwasher seems equally good.

We have two full size single beds parrallell to the wardrobes i bed room two and there's about a tiles width gap to pass at the end of bed one. PW have fitted the radiator in that room down by the widow (fortunately) so it all works very well- we used the radiators too as it was chilly late evening..

Thanks to everyone who has provided names of stores, we found Camposol shops and bars really useful- especialy the Brico DIY and the supermarket for the daily newspapers (and a bar for the footy last Sunday). We got ourselves twice to EROSKI, Leroy Merlin and IKEA and Primark (great bedding and towels) We also travelled out to Dos Mares near San Javier and by mistake to Churra- where we bought a tv in a PC world type store Media Mark I think it was called. Really liked Gines Navarro- got a bargain on outdoor furniture there and can see us going back there frequently, so much on offer.. 

We had a drink in the bar and used the Supermarket ,which is really handy. Unfortunately we were so busy we didnt go for our planned long walk to get a feel for the wider Condado- save that for next time.

And then to top it all- I drove some of the time! Which is a first for me in Spain, cant wait to go back.

Hi Jan,

Good update - what/who/where is Gines Navarro? - I still have my outdoor funiture to get!

Thanks

Ted

Hi Jan,

We are off out next week to follow in your footsteps and shop, shop, shop 

Do  Real Domestics have a showroom?

Phil

Hi Ted- Gines Navarro is a large furniture, DIY and general house/garden store on the way in to Puerto Mazarron. Lots of outdoor furniture across the whole price range-low to high- plus dining furniture but not so many living room suites. There's bathroom suites and cabinets too.They also have a wide variety of crockery, pans, cutlery etc. Then they have electrical goods, office equipment, garden equipment- brushes, spades you name it and some of the furniture was on offer- which looked a regular feature. We bought a glass outdoor table and four chairs with textured metal style frames for 150 euro's and had seen the  same item elsewhere in another colour for more than twice as much- but they had many different styles and prices in the rattan and wicker varieties of tables/chairs or settee and armchairs for the terrace.  They had small glass black metal framed tables with rattan and black metal frame chairs that will suit the terrace by the front  door of the 2 bed and we plan to purchase those next time. They do deliveries too although we didnt price how much as we'd hired a Bellingo and managed to get the items in the back.

Phil, dont know if Real Domestics have a showroom but it I think it is possible. I chose them because they were recommended on the forum and I had seen a TEKA fridge/freezer elsewhere  and thought it looked fine and I just went from there.

Hi Jan and Mike,

We've also just returned from a hectic 4 days (26-30 Oct) during which we picked up NIEs and completed snagging on Monday, visited notary on Tuesday to complete POA as hab cert wasn't in place, and then hit the shops. Went to pretty much the same selection as yourselves. Agree with you on the Teka range. The English lads in DFS in San Javier are offering fridge/freezer, Washing Machine, Dishwasher and Microwave for 1499 Euros. Not sure how that compares with your purchase but they confirmed that it was a match colour wise with the kitchen tops. We're in Los Naranjos Jardin 8 but rented from Debbie and Paul Payton in Jardin 5 (same 2 bed apartment) to give us a feel for size and layout. Hopefully we should get final completion soon and then plan to go back out end Nov to start to seriously look at furniture. Found Gemma at Murcia Furniture very helpful in laying out pack options so will return there to see what discounts can be had!! Popped into the Chinese in Camposol a couple of times. Can highly recommend it. Tends to be reasonably busy - but that's a good sign. Great food at a reasonable price. Tried the Indian on the same site - also very good.

Strange last day on Thursday - On the beach at 11.00am sunning ourselves in Puerto de Mazarron. 9 hours later arrived in Luton to be greeted by snow!!!!!

Best wishes to you both.

Paul and Jane

Hi everyone,

Reading your comments regarding Gines Navarro and DFS, would you say they are better value than Carforre and Ikea for the usaul furniture ie; beds, sofa, table and chairs, etc. 

Also for kitting out the kitchen, white goods, pots and pans, cutlery and general kitchen stuff, would you recommend the same stores?

Thanks

Phil & Debbie 

Hi, we bought all our furniture from Ikea including a massive fridge/freezer for 300 Euros.  It took us 4 trips but it was worth it, saved us a bit of money I think.  Also got hoover, iron, ironing board etc. from Carrefour in Murcia.  It's so costly getting everything!  Have fun shopping.
Andrea & Paul (Jardin 1)


This message was last edited by scottishdesigner on 10/31/2008.

In the end I bought most kitchware at EROSKI -purely because we want any family and friends to be able to find and replace anything without it being hard work. I had selected the whole lot in a houseware store in Dos Mares commercial centre, then thought better of it. Really liked what we selected in EROSKI but I know this wouldnt be everyones choice. If it was only Mike and I using the apartment I may well have gone with other products but with 3 sons planning to use the apartment I didnt want them to be worried about using the cups! We do plan to buy some good quality plastic crockery for use on the terrace though. 

I bought far less in IKEA than I expected to but the crockery prices compared well to EROSKI. IKEA's wooden blinds are a great size for the long window,but the towels were less expensive in Primark and they seem to be good quality, as is the bedding. I had planned to buy blinds for the lounge window but the window handles foxed me as the blind will have to run inside the handles rather than frame to frame and we forgot to take that measurement with us. However other apartments seem to have blinds on the lounge windows but, from afar, they seem to be roller blind or roman blinds rather than the venitian style I had wanted. I bought voiles in the end from Dos Mares but they are everywhere to select from.

We liked the out door furniture at Gines Navarro and would go back there 1st to look when we get to buying an outdoor settee and a couple of armchairs. I think Carrefour would be less expensive for their rattan furniture and standard patio table and chairs.

We haven't looked at DFS although we got a quote via email a long time ago, as we did from Murcia Furniture and a couple of other furniture pack companies- for us the furniture packs were too expensive and contained things we didnt like.  They are, however,more convenient so it depends on what you want to do- whilst this past week has been really hard work it was also great fun and I really feel we've made the apartment our own. Fitting the apartment out this way was less difficult for us because we dont have to have any children with us I'm not quite sure how you'd manage with children in tow as we were shopping till late evening and travelling all over the place- not much fun for children.

We had the 4 kitchen appliances, a toaster and a kettle delivered and fitted by Real Domestics for approx 1459 euro's before we arrived. We got 4 full size single beds (main bedroom beds zip together) delivered before we arrived and from the plane went to an EROSKI and bought bedside lights and a few essentials we'd identified back in August- then we camped overnight in the apartment. I'd bought some bedding to take over. On Saturday we started shopping in Brico and it was a bonus to find chest of drawers in Brico at Camposol that match the wardrobes in the apartment  and fit in the wardrobes in both rooms(although my husband had to make them up) and we got a couple of jazzy sunloungers so we had something to sit on until Monday when our PW living room suite arrived, and we got our bathroom screen  at Brico too. Their prices for the range of bathroom screens was better than Leroy Merlin etc. Our electrician arrived on Monday and fitted lights and all the bathroom bits and bobs including a heated towel rail from Leroy Merlin.

We have still got things to buy but will add as and when we go over and the apartment is usable now, searching for rugs and a standard lamp will seem simple in comparison to the marathon of this past week.

Camposol was a bonus on the door step too.

Hi Jan & Mike,

Just read your comment on blinds for the lounge, we bought two 60cm x 155cm wooden blinds from Ikea and they fit perfect in between the handles

Paul

Hi Paul- the blinds info is good to know- at a later date we might still put venetian blinds on the lounge window then, as the sun reflected onto the tv.

Hi guys,

We are also just back and I dont think hubby has shopped as much in his whole life!! bless him. Just a little note on the white goods, we got ours from PW for €1313 which included fridge/freezer, dishwasher, washing machine & microwave. I know that the dishwasher & washing machine are Teka.

Tamsin

Just added a photo of the blinds, sorry you can only see one half, 
Its great if you want to block out the sun in the afternoon to watch the Disney channel!!!

Paul

Hi Tamsin, are your PW appliances white? We were quoted far more than 1313 euro's by PW for their appliance pack but we were looking for a chrome (grey/silver) finish. The price I included earlier in the thread from Real Domestics is for chrome coloured items.

Hi Jan & Mike,

Yes they are white, the chrome one that they quoted was about €100 more. Just grabbed the homestyle book, the white goods are quoted as 1192 & the chrome are 1473 but thats without the tax. I hate the way they do that!! Hope that helps

Tamsin & Alan

Thanks Tamsin will pass that on to a work colleague who's looking at snapping up a bargain apartment.