Buying furniture in NYC?

So after three weeks here and so many hours spent looking for all our furniture I decided to write about it. There is not a single store that could sell and deliver things perfectly. I'm not sure if we were unlucky, or if this is just a typical characteristic of setting an apartment. I really appreciate any comments everyone has from all over the world, I will publish my own opinions about all these stores, but everyone is welcome to criticize and praise them as long no bad words are written.

There should be a first one. Not the best, not the worse (or you can conclude by your own opinion). We went to [Straight from the Crate] recommended by a friend as "an Ikea that delivers and assembles". We bought 2 dressers (cômodas), a desk and 3 floor lamps. So the dressers were fine, Ikea quality indeed, but that is what we expected. Lamps were terrible: we ordered black, they delivered silver, there was one that would take extra 6 weeks to be delivered and one that was supposed to have a "marble finish" that seemed like 2 huge scratches. We returned it all. Oh, and the desk? Hm, have you heard of Marabras? Really similar, and a translucent glass became a clear one.

[Bed Bath and Beyond] is a nice place. Things are not the cheapest, but they deliver on the same day for $15, nothing compared to other delivery fees. Good place for sheets, kitchen stuff and bathroom - there is a super nice [OXO toilet plunger] (desentupidor de privada) and many [OXO] stuff, good brands and not super expensive.

We also went to a place called [Jennifer Convertibles] for our sofa. Things went well, delivery date is scheduled to only 4 days after what was previously said, but prices were good, less expensive than [Crate & Barrel] and [Macys], but still good quality. The guy from Jennifer recommended us a store called [Lee's Art Shop]. It's a design store, they carry super duper expensive things and China version. Yes, I'm not mean, it's exactly what happens there. So we bought 2 cute stools and a dining table with 4 chairs. We only received the table and 1 chair when they first delivered our stuff. After complaining and explaining that we won't take turns to sit on the chair to have dinner, they also delivered a second one, previously on their display. So today we called - these people never call! - and we were informed that our stools are coming 1 week after promised, but our other two chairs will take 6 weeks. WHAT? Oh yeah, baby. "We don't call customers, there are so many."

Last but not least, famous [Ikea]. That's a 50 minutes trip to Brooklyn and extra $89 for delivery (no matter what you buy). Things were pretty good, I have to admit that I enjoy assembling their furniture and things were supposed to be here the day after. They tried. But the delivery guy broke our coffee table glass into a million pieces as well as our picture frame glass. So it was returned and we would get it in 3 days, IF the delivery company didn't try to bypass the system and blamed us for their mess. That's one of those moments that a lawyer comes in handy to solve all my problems and by the end of that week everything arrived.

Ok, so you might be asking: If almost everything is there, why are there no pictures? Well, not only our furniture is here, but our 45 boxes also arrived from California two days ago. Until things are neat, no pictures will be published, what I do hope to be able to do ASAP. You are only curious, but we are living with boxes all over.