Moving with/without furniture??

[Stuttgart Family]

we are a family with one daughter, aged 6 and will move from stuttgart/germany to singapore in feb./march 2003. at the moment we are heavily discussing, whether to move with or without our whole furniture. we´re a bit irritated, because there´s  two groups of hints we were given so far.
one is to leave everything in germany due to the fact, that most of our wooden pieces, leather couches, pictures, .. would not survive the next years due to the climate/humidity. some told us, that even an airconditioned housing wouldn´t solve the problem, because many items won´t survive the transport in the unclimatised container. this would of course lead to the fact that a fully furnitured flat/house would be the thing to look for.
others said, that those stories are just exaggerations and we could easily  take all our furniture with us, perhaps apart from old and fragile/precious antiques (which we don´t have anyway).
we would be happy, if some people would be so kind to give us their experiences on that.
thanks in advance!

[Leyla]

Hi there!!

Kindly be informed that the weather in Singapore is usually hot and humid thus, you leather furniture will definitely be mouldy.  Also I will suggest that you bring your wooden furniture coz it will last longer here in singapore.  However, you may opt to find a place to stay with furniture provided.  Be prepared to fork out few thousand dollars for the moving of your furniture from where you are now to singapore.

[This message has been edited by BoardManager (edited 16-12-2002).]

[Expat12]

Leave all the wooden furniture behind. We went through the same tough choice and are very, very glad we left it behind. The furniture that you will buy here to replace it is unbelievably beautiful and cheap. We have no regrets. If you bring all your stuff, once you see the teak-woood furniture here you will be kicking yourself.

That's our experience. Good luck in your decision.

[cactus]

Anything made of wood, leather and in some cases, even metal will either mould or corrode. If it does not do so on the journey, Singapore's humidity will get to it. Ikea furniture, for example, cracks, peels, or wears out in one third the time it does in North America.

I've seen everything from leather jackets to the back of my computer get oxidized. Plastic is king in this envrionment.

[Essex Girl]

Hi,
We moved the entire contents of our home from the UK to Singapore via HK.
Unlike some of the other posters, we didn't have any problems with wood splitting etc. The only thing that suffered in the container was candles, which were a bit misshapen when unpacked.
We're glad we did bring everything, as otherwise it wouldn't feel like home here!
Good luck with your move  

[Wilkommen!]

First of - welcome to Singapore!  You will enjoy you time here but make sure you are very supportive of your wife who will probably be going through a lot of stress over this move.

The furniture here is beautful and not very expensive - so I would leave as much at home as you can manage otherwise you won't have room in your place for anything new!  Also, being German, you are probably used to having your own wardrobes - most places here have built-ins so these may be unnecessary.

I would not get a furnished place - most landlord-provided furniture is pretty horrible and your place with feel more like home with your own stuff.

Have heard that leather couches do go mouldy here.  Leave them at home as well as leather jackets (the latter you will never need).

Also depends on how often you use your aircon. - some people here, to keep expenses down, never use the air con. (as the bill can be as high as  $500 a month).  If you think you might fall into this cat., leave anything that might be prone to mould at  home.  

[Brit]

I came with nothing and regretted it. Leave leather items. Bring everything else (if company paying), you will feel at home quicker and you will buy your new products without haste. I feel you may as well wear out the furniture here and enjoy the process of replacing it. As it is for us we now own 2 households of goods (9 beds!) and will get rid of much that we left behind when we return. Furnished accomodation is limited, none of the houses we viewed offered this although I know some condos do.

[Allibert]

I brought a leather 3-piece suite with me from Germany and have had no problems here whatsoever. However, I do use the aircon quite a bit.

[Dianne]

We brought 2 leather sofas with us 2 years ago and they are fine.  No mould.  Leather sofas are sold in lots of furniture stores here.

When deciding whether or not to take furniture on our first expat posting, we were advised to take everything with us because having your own stuff around you makes a foreign place feel like home.  We took that advice and this is the 3rd international move for our furniture and possessions.  A couple of things have been damaged in transit, but nothing major.  

[Brit]

I am wondering if the different advice regarding leather sofas is because the leather has been treated in some way. This morning was spent cleaning some leather straps which although not used in a while had been stored in a 24/7 airconned room. They were totally green!

[Depends]

Well, it may depend on your housing.

We were in a renovated shophouse (like a terrace house) when we first moved to Singapore for 15 months.  EVERYTHING was mouldy most of the time even though we used air-conditioning all the time.

We have now been in a new condo for 18 months and still use the air con all the time and no mould problem.

I think that the shophouse was just a damp, mouldy building and I pity the poor people living there now even though I loved the place and the character of the building.

If you move into an older place it also could have damp problems.  Perhaps a newer place would be less of a problem.

[No Aircon]

I've not had air-con since I've been here (8 years). Most of my books are ruined (plain white matt paper gets brown spots, glossy paper goes tacky and sticks together), as are water colour paintings done on card / paper. All my VHS tapes, magnetic floppy discs and the lenses of an expensive camera went mouldy in about 3-4 years. The zipper on my leather jacket went rusty and then the leather went mouldy, so I put it down the rubbish shute.
I bought a leather sofa about five years ago which is fine, probably because it gets a rub over with some leather cleaner once every few months. I know people with light fabric covered sofas where the fabric has grown black spots.
Like most people my advice would be bring as little as possible, then buy Indonesian, Thai or Chinese furniture depending on your preferences. When you take it home in the future, the chances are you will be able to sell it at a profit if you want to dispose of it. Otherwise it is nice to keep.

[want_to_believe]

brought all my stuff with me years ago, including leather sofa , no problems . But you need a dry cabinet for camera lenses, thats for sure.

[Hoki]

Congratulations! I bet you will enjoy the years to come.

We had the antiques and winter clothing (sic!) stored at home, but took most of the day-to-day items. Part of the furniture we replaced over the years and think we made the right choice.

In order to make it easier for the kids, we brought all of their stuff! They were so happy when the container arrived and they could repossess all their goodies.

[aussie gal]

I have a leather jacket here (which I purchased on a trip to London) and haven't had a problem with it, simply because during the day I leave the light on in my walk in wardrobe, and the door open.  The light stops the mould from growing and since I have started doing this haven't had a problem with shoes or bags etc.