暗网禁区

Praktiker is good for floor tiles etc. and also sell furniture and textiles. There's a Jysk in Ruse, they might have suitable items. For both stores, she can check online to see if they have what she wants. There's sure to be plenty of other stores, too.

@knobworx

I rarely go to the stores, as you can order online with delivery to your house/apt. You just need a local mobile number so the courier can call you when he's nearby (and a browser with auto translation).

Most things are covered by the dot-bg sites for: IKEA/JYSK (flat pack furniture and soft furnishings/bedding); Praktiker/Praktis (DIY tools and materials inc. paints and flooring); Technopolis/Technomarket (electronics and home appliances); eMag (misc. stuff inc. electronics, clothing, furniture, household goods); Decathlon (all sports and outdoors related).

I occasionally use a Euro Amazon (.es or .de), but usually eMag is good enough (with fast, cheap delivery). Praktiker and Praktis have nearly everything for gardens and renovations, but I did use Baniastil a fair bit (bathrooms) and onlinemashini (tools, mowers, strimmers, etc.). AliExpress and Alibaba still have some utility, as do cheap Chinese sites like Shein.

Thank you. We are in BG now, just had a few days sightseeing in Ruse before we head back to Chereshovo on Sunday.

I hope you were able to find what you needed! Enjoy your stay!

well tonight is our first night in the house! There鈥檚 still a lot of work to do to make it properly liveable but we are in! Deffo need an air con sorting out as it鈥檚 still very warm in the house even with a big fan sweeping the room.

Kitchen is useable as is, we went to praktiker yesterday and got a mattress, pillows and what is possibly the worst vacuum cleaner in the world, got some paint etc ready to get stuck in!

Now on the look out for a cheap run about car and some gardening stuff to put me on until I can bring proper stuff from the UK.

exciting times ahead!

We found a few bits but still need a mattress etc. hoping to head out to Praktika or Metro this week.

Exciting week ahead!

Exciting for sure. I hope it's enjoyable and productive.

We found a few bits but still need a mattress etc. hoping to head out to Praktika or Metro this week.
Exciting week ahead! - @knobworx

Absolutely no idea why this was posted yesterday, but it wasn鈥檛 by me!

Exciting for sure. I hope it's enjoyable and productive. - @janemulberry

I think we have hit a low part of our stay. Nothing seems to be going well. Onwards and upwards as they say.

I'm so sorry. I think we all experience this --聽 the challenges feel overwhelming and we wonder if it's worth it. I doubt it's just me who has those days!

@janemulberry

I think it鈥檚 down to simply being 鈥渟tuck鈥� here, once I come back in my van with tools and stuff that we need. Even simple stuff like聽 normal building sand so that I can get on with repointing walls and around windows etc.聽 it is what it is though.

It can be frustrating learning where to get things and how things work in Bg, and just plain not having what you need available. The local builder's merchant should have sharp sand, but probably delivered at a minimum of a half-tonne, not bagged. Places like Praktiker sell bagged premixed stuff, though their prices are higher. Not having a vehicle and tools makes it difficult when almost all Bulgarian houses need so much work and you just want to get in and get it done!

@janemulberry

We are back in the UK for now, we cut our stay a week short mainly due to not being able to get about to do the simple things - like going shopping, "nipping" out to collect something. As you'll no doubt聽 know the local shops / Magazin are very limited in what they sell, especially the local shop in Yuper!

I'm sorting my tools and van out so that we can get back over ASAP and crack on with sorting the house and garden.

A vehicle in rural Bulgaria is an essential part of day to day life!

Agreed! Hubby is at our Bg house at the moment, and having similar frustrations. Having tools and transport will make a huge difference when you return!

Some (all?) of the big DIY chains have a curtain-making service; we've used Mr Brico's in the past and it was okay; most towns have shops selling textiles and offering a similar service, prices and quality are usually acceptable.聽 I've yet to find a good upholsterer though, they're mostly of a pretty poor standard.

We got our air con from Technopolis the price included installation , so no problems but I found that the older workers were more useful. Oh and buy batteries for the remote thingy when you order ad I didn't the first unit I had installed thankfully the men who installed it for me had some in their lorry. A mistake I didn't nake the second unit I had done.

@Kath948381

Lidl regularly have good deals on rechargeable batteries and chargers - it's cheaper in the long run and much better than running out of batteries at the wrong time or, even worse, finding that they've leaked in remotes that don't get used much/often.

I have to say that we favour Mitsubishi Heavy aircon kit, but the units sold by Technopolis/Technomarket et al are certainly more affordable up front.

Using rechargable batteries makes life a lot easier - no risk of ever running out of batteries. I always keep a supply of AAA and AA rechargeables. They cost more upfront but save a lot over the lifetime of the batteries, plus the energy to recharge them can be almost free using a small solar panel.