Dunelm Mill

Background

Dunelm is a successful home furnishings shop which has been in operation now for over 20 years. Started in Leicester, the company first established smaller high street stores primarily in the East Midlands. In latter years Dunelm has grown to incorporate the more convenient out of town 'superstore' shop. Dunelm stores usually provide free parking for customers, although the store I normally frequent does not have that many spaces attached to it. It is what I would class as a high street shop however, so there is plenty of parking nearby. There are around 70 Dunelm stores around the country and I would seriously advise you to check them out if you haven't already.

What do they sell?

Dunelm stocks a variety of home furnishing goods and one of the main attractions is that you can buy your own furnishing fabric and make things for yourself. There is generally a good range of fabrics arranged by colour so if you know what kind of look you're going for you can get to the relevant section without too much of a fuss. Other stuff you can buy for making your own soft furnishings includes zips, cotton, header tape (for curtains), wadding, foam balls (for bean bags) and tassels. This is by no means an exhaustive list and you will find much more haberdashery type wares in the store.

The price of goods is actually quite cheap as well. There is usually a promotion on fabric and you can get some really good bargains. I bought fabric and all the things that go with it for making curtains (bedroom) including blackout lining and the whole lot came to about £50, these were then made up by my mum so I didn't have to pay extra to have them made. The fabric I have for the bedroom curtains is really good quality also, a bit like sofa fabric (well the same kind of weight to it), something I couldn't have afforded had I bought ready made curtains.

If you are not handy with a sewing machine or don't have a mother like mine who is then you can have your curtains made for you in the fabric of your choosing. Dunelm bought a custom curtain making facility in 2001 and will send your curtains there to be made, all you have to provide is the measurements (and of course choose the fabric).

Aside from the fabric shop Dunelm 'superstores' tend to have a large homes section (you will find a smaller one in most Dunelm shops). In the homes section you can find anything from furniture, kitchenware and lighting to Christmas things and gifts.

In the past I have bought plenty from Dunelm. In fact when we bought our house, Dunelm was the place where we bought the bulk of our home wares. The kinds of things they sell include mugs, glasses, plates, storage jars, utensils plates and cutlery. Basically you will be able to find anything you could need when setting up home or replacing old things. If you are a student leaving for university Dunelm has the kind of things you might need to take with you, and they do some quite funky stuff too.

On the soft furnishing side of things you can buy bed linen, bean bags, pillows, duvets and ready made curtains. We have some curtains on our landing that were tab topped and cost about £10, a bargain I thought. There are also ready made curtains that are top quality and there does seem to be regular sales where you will be able to get top quality curtains (lined ones too) for cheap prices. Last Christmas time I bought some heavy weight lined curtains to go across a 3m wide window which cost me £50 which I though was quite a good price.

Bed linen can be expensive if you look to buy the embroidered stuff but you can get basic ranges which really won't break the bank and look just as good. The pillows we bought were the cheapest ones and are still quite fluffy after almost 2 years of sleeping on them.

For more information on Dunelm please check out
http://www.dunelm-mill.com although the site is being re-designed at the moment and there isn't much information you will find a handy store locator to find your nearest store.

Overall

I think Dunelm is a fantastic shop and really useful. Now that most independent fabric shops are disappearing it's nice to know that there will be somewhere to go to buy fabric for home improvements. As for the other things Dunelm sell, I guarantee that if you go to a store you will leave with something you just hadn't previously realised that you needed. I enjoy going to Dunelm and feel that it offers great value for money. Recommended to all.

What are you waiting for??? Go check it out.

:o) Jo