You have found your property, signed the lease, and now you are standing in an empty apartment with bare wires hanging from the ceiling where the light fittings should be. Welcome to unfurnished France. Knowing where to shop, and what to watch out for, makes a significant difference to how quickly and cheaply you can make a place liveable.
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The main French retailers
IKEA is the universal starting point. France has suburban locations across the country, but urban formats exist too and click-and-collect points in larger cities. For bulkier pieces, ordering online for delivery or reserving click-and-collect tends to be more practical than a full store run.
Conforama and BUT are large-format French chains found mainly in suburban retail parks, covering budget-to-midrange furniture, bedding, and major appliances (électroménager). If you need a washing machine, fridge-freezer, or dishwasher quickly, these are the most practical first stop.
Alinéa is a stylish French alternative to IKEA, Mediterranean design influence, slightly more considered aesthetics, similar price range. Worth checking before defaulting to flat-pack.
Maisons du Monde
Statement furniture, bohemian or vintage-inspired wooden pieces and home accessories. Strong online presence with regular sales.
La Redoute Intérieurs
Classic French-apartment aesthetics. Known for mid-century modern and clean lines, with frequent promotions worth timing your purchase around.
Habitat
Clean-lined furniture with a contemporary British-French sensibility. Good for sofas, dining and bedroom pieces.
Miliboo & Made in Meubles
More flexibility on style and materials. Miliboo offers customisable design pieces; Made in Meubles specialises in solid wood across industrial, Scandinavian and contemporary styles.
Second-hand: Brocantes, charity shops and online
France has a genuinely strong second-hand culture, and for anyone furnishing an unfurnished property on a budget, it is worth exploring before buying new.
Emmaüs is a nationwide network of social-enterprise charity shops where you can find heavy wardrobes, sofas, crockery and basic furniture at very low prices. The buying process works slightly differently from charity shops you may know elsewhere: select an item on the floor, get a ticket from a floor manager, pay at a central desk, then collect. Worth knowing before you arrive.
Ressourceries (community recycling centres) and dépôts-ventes (consignment shops) are worth looking up locally, they often stock second-hand kitchen tables, chairs, lamps and storage at reasonable prices. Brocantes and vide-greniers are weekend flea markets and garage sales, ideal for vintage mirrors, frames, tableware and smaller decorative pieces. Dates and locations are listed on brocante-finder sites and local Facebook groups.
For online second-hand, Selency and Design Market are the platforms for vintage and design furniture. Leboncoin has huge volume across every category. For free items, Donnons.org and the Geev app connect people giving things away locally.
Leboncoin and Facebook Marketplace
Leboncoin is the undisputed king of French classified ads. Locals sell everything from day-old mattresses to antique oak buffets. Basic French helps a lot, most listings are in French and communication with sellers is usually by message or phone. The key practical point: most transactions expect you to arrange your own collection or hire a local van. Filter by your city or arrondissement under Ameublement to keep results useful.
Facebook Marketplace is increasingly active, particularly among expats and people leaving France quickly. If you join local expat Facebook groups for your city, you will regularly see people selling full sets of furniture at a fraction of retail price simply because they need it gone before a flight home.
Delivery in France: what actually happens
This catches people out regularly. Standard delivery from stores like IKEA, Conforama, or Leroy Merlin usually means livraison au pas de porte, the item is dropped at the street kerb or building lobby. Not inside your apartment. Not up the stairs.
Old French apartment buildings frequently have narrow spiral staircases and tiny or non-existent lifts. A large sofa or a wardrobe may simply not make it up. In those cases you either need a monte-meuble, an external furniture lift hired for a few hours, or you buy furniture that can be flat-packed and carried in pieces.
If you want items carried up and assembled, explicitly select livraison à l’étage and montage at checkout. This adds a significant fee but avoids having a sofa stuck in your lobby. For peer-to-peer purchases, task apps and van rental from DIY stores (Leroy Merlin and Carrefour both offer this) are the usual solutions for heavy lifting.
Things that catch expats off guard
A few things that regularly surprise expats, particularly those arriving from the US or Canada, when furnishing a home in France:
- Dryers are far less common. Many homes rely on drying racks or outdoor lines. If a dryer matters to you, confirm the property has connections before you sign.
- No fitted wardrobes. Most older French properties have none. Budget for freestanding units and measure the space carefully.
- No window screens. Not standard in French homes. They can be sourced and fitted, but it is not automatic.
- Separate oven and hob. French kitchens sometimes separate these, check what connections exist before buying appliances.
- Smaller fridges. American-style fridge-freezers exist but are harder to source and may not fit standard French kitchen layouts. Most French kitchens are designed around under-counter or standard European-sized units.
Furnishing a home in France is one of the first things that makes the move feel real. It is also where many practical surprises surface: the bare wires, the missing wardrobes, the sofa that will not fit up the stairs. None of these are problems that cannot be solved, they just need a bit of advance planning.
Frequently asked questions about buying furniture in France
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