sansblague's Profile

I agree a power strip is vital. We have one that actually accepts US, UK & most Continental (and maybe more - bit not Switzerland) that goes everywhere with us, even on holiday! This is handy since having lived in several countries, we're a multi-outlet family. We also bought special light bulbs in NYC before we left that allow us to use our American lamps in Europe's 220V environment. These are amazing and each one lasts a long time. I had some lamps I really couldn't part with. I also second the bedding. If you're planning on bringing U.S.-sized beds or a baby cot, good luck finding sheets abroad. Especially for those deep mattresses - and forget about the things that hide the box spring. We ultimately gave up on our U.S. beds and went native wherever we happened to be living.

I had a wardrobe with this style of hanging bar. I thought it was a great idea at first but it was actually an incredible pain to use - you require a lot of space to pull it out and must be able to open the wardrobe doors fully to both sides in order for it to come out, so it really affects the placement of your wardrobe. The main thing is that mine was really heavy to re-position when it was time to push it back in. I have a lot of clothes, but the wardrobe wasn't overstuffed.

We're from NYC and moved to Switzerland for my husband's job, then to the UK. We were allowed one huge container of tax-free household goods for the move from the USA to Switzerland. If we could do it all over again, we probably would have just filled it up with laptops, cars, clothing and shoes from America. We had to replace practically all of our furniture with stuff from Ikea because their furniture is sized for European living spaces, whereas American furniture most definitely is not. We have these giant dining chairs from Restoration Hardware that were perfectly normal in New York and now they live in storage in London since they are just ridiculous -looking to us now, even if they are comfy. Such a poor deployment of space! What's disappointing about home furnishing in Europe vs. America is that there aren't a lot of options other than Ikea, unless you really want to pay a LOT of money on top-of-the-line, designer furniture. There's no Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, CB2, or other mid-price home furnishing options. It sucks. That means everyone's home is like an Ikea showroom unless you can really afford to spend the big bucks. You get used to it, though. Also, in NYC I was a craigslist addict and was constantly buying and re-finishing things - there's really no equivalent in Europe that I've found, as even used things in Europe command a high price, so it's not really worth the risk or effort.

It's also important to keep the size of your bed frame in mind when moving overseas. They are not universally standard! So, if you need to replace a mattress, get new sheets, or whatever, this can become a real headache. I ordered a crib from Pottery Barn Kids and had it sent to us in Switzerland by very good friends, and this turned out to be a mistake, even though I really thought we wanted one of those huge American drop-side cribs. Shipping hassles aside, the crib is really too big for any Euro bedroom (I got an Ikea one for our second kid and it's so much easier to deal with), it constantly requires expensive shipments of additional sheets, waterproof mattress pads, and attending gear. You need this stuff more often than you realize. Also, the mattress I chose for this crib turned out to be crap despite its price, and now I can't replace it - I'd have to junk the whole frame to replace the mattress and ugh, it's all such a headache. My best advice is: see what the locals are doing and just copy them.

I am not a fan of those Pottery Barn things. Here's why: If you're going to pay close to 2 G's for an entryway ensemble, wouldn't you want something with doors to hide all the clutter?

Maybe the thing to do would be to buy side by side large cabinets - like kitchen or wall cabinets from Ikea. Depending on your needs and the size of your coats and the height of your kids (you definitely want them to be able to reach the coat hooks), you could either mount these to the wall above the shaker pegs or put them on the floor below the pegs with a butcher block top on or another type of "counter" on top for setting things down.