Don't think retail shops - Think Craigslist & local Flea Markets.

Definitely craigslist.

The one thing I'd buy new is a sofa, or anything upholstered. And in that price range, your options are pretty limited.

Uhuru Furniture is often a good stop for slightly used large pieces. It's stacked to the ceiling. 1220 Spruce.

You should try The Dump.

I know the name sounds terrible. I know. But it's a great big store that offers nice furniture at discounted prices.

http://www.thedump.com/

The store nearest to Philly is in Langhorne, which is in the suburbs to the north of the city.

Raymour & Flanigan is a popular furniture store in the suburbs. And there's an IKEA in Conshohocken (you could get a whole bunch of good dining room chairs for a couple hundred bucks), which is in the suburbs to the west of the city.

I am sure that after Paris, any city might be a disappointment but as a Philly native, I wanted to let you know that you might really enjoy Philadelphia. It's incredibly walkable and especially lovely in the springtime.

As far as furniture, you'll find modern stuff in Old City and antiques on Pine Street. There's a new West Elm on Chestnut and an Ikea in King of Prussia.

Depending on your transportation/hardiness factor, you might also want to think about shopping in nearby tax-free Delaware. You will have to transport yourself - if you have it delivered out of DE, you'll have to pay sales tax.

Enjoy the City of Brotherly Love! Stay out of North Philly!

Have you thought about Freecycle? You might need to arrange pick up, but I've been pleasantly surprised at the quality of things that people are giving away.

Call a decorator, and see if/when the decorators are having a warehouse sale. Usually decorators end up with samples, objects they bought, or furniture returned to them by clients. If they get together and have a tag sale, you can expect up to 90% off. My favorite piece of furniture is my red lacquered Henredon drop leaf desk that I got at 90% off. One just sold on Ebay for more that I paid in 1980.

There are a lot of furniture consignment stores along the main line with generic names like "home furniture consignments". There's a Sheffield outlet in Phoenixville or the Morgantown Outlet Mall way out towards Lancaster. If you're up that way, there are quite a few antique malls around. There's also auctionzip.com, where a lot of local auctions are listed (usually they post pictures of the items online a day or two before the auction). All can be pretty hit or miss.

There's an Ikea in South Philly as well as out in Conshohocken. If you want to take a drive, Crate & Barrel has an outlet in Jersey.

As a Philly girl, I would recommend CraigsList and flea markets too. Those are the first places that come to mind that are in your price range. And as monkeymilk said, DE is also an option. There are a lot of outlets, the furniture is cheaper, and there is no sales tax. A lot of people from PA and NJ go to DE to shop.

Kinda sad someone said stay out of north Philadelphia. Parts of North Philly are fine, others not. All cities are like that. I love Uhuru Furniture which has already been mentioned. Craigslist is not bad in Philly (just bought a table tonight in fact) but I suggest being willing to drive (we rent Zipcar) to the mainline and parts of NJ or DE to pick up items. I've found my best items at garage/house sales all over the city. Boyfriend and I will walk there and then if we find something we really like, arrange to pick things up later. There's also a West Elm in the city and a couple Ikea stores not to far away as someone already mentioned. Welcome to Philly!

To expand on what monkeymilk said, you should also be wary of West Philly! And South Philly! And Camden, which is practically like East Philly. (It's funny because it's true....)

If ppl are just tossing out random stores, then there's a Dane Decor somewhere in Philly. Their stuff is not that inexpensive, but you have $3k of play, so you could probably find something you'd like there. There's also a boconcept. And an Usona (maybe the only Usona, actually). And a store that is on the same block as West Elm.

Dwelling (http://www.dwellinghome.com/) has an awesome showroom and is pretty affordable.

Luxe Home (http://www.luxehomepa.com/) is a little pricer, but they are willing to negotiate.

Host (http://www.hostinteriors.com/) is awesome, although their website shows the range of their selection more so than their stores.

Lastly, I highly recommend you check out Three Potato Four (http://threepotatofourshop.com/). You may not find a couch or dining room table there, but they have great vintage home accents. They are only open once a month, but with a little planning its worth the trip.

I live in the Philadelphia area too. I would go with Ikea.

After a lot of flying visits in the past mostly for work I recently spent a couple of great days ambling around Philadelphia just for fun. No, it's not France, but it IS very cool, with great food, beautiful architecture (lots of surprising art deco!) and elegant squares & parks. I think you're gonna love it, no matter where your furniture comes from.

Material Culture is always worth a look, but for inexpensive you can't beat craigslist and Ikea.

The college campuses and off campus areas are also a great resource for discarded furniture when the semester is over and the apartment/dorm dwellers move out.

forgot the link. you can't shop online, but you can get a sense of the store. www.materialculture.com

I just recently moved from Philadelphia to LA and one of the things I miss most is a mid century modern store on Pine Street called:

"Shag" - http://shagphiladelphia.com/

The prices are incredible - super cheap, & everything is in excellent condition. I would definitely check it out if you are looking for quality craftsmanship and design that wont kill your wallet. Note: I've never seen a couch there before so you may have to hit up the West Elm a few blocks north (I bought a leather chaise lounge on super sale at the location for $200!)

I hope that was sarcasm from Lepidoptery. You do not need to stay out of West Philly or South Philly (or parts of North Philly). There's plenty of great food, parks, and shopping in those areas. You can live or work in South, West or North Philly and yet be a victim of crime in a nice part of Center City.

hello home on pine street can be great but is quite small

I don't know anything about shopping in Philadelphia as I live in California but I have a hard time believing that Ellen will not be able to find a nice couch, table, and six chairs for $3,000. For many people, that is a lot of money.

Don't worry, Ellen. I think you can find things that are more than adequate, even if I can't tell you which specific Philly stores to shop in.

As mentioned- uhure can be good, they have a blog where they post new things,
the Philadelphia Trading Post on Market streeu
Bryn Mawr Hospital thrift has a lot of furniture, a little further out, Home Furnishings Consignment in wayne
Reseller Consignment Gallery in Frazer often has some really funky pieces
Impact in Norristown
Consignment Furniture Showplace in Springfield
and of course Ikea in both South philly and Plymouth Meeting
Also has been mentioned there is a plethora of thrift and consignment stores along the Main Line west of the city, most within a block or two of rt 30 (as well as the train line) between narberth and frazer.

I would get one of the slipcovered white sofas from IKEA. Unique? No. But also works with your suggested colour-scheme, its quite washable, and its local.

An Ektorp is four hundred dollars.

Pier One Imports has bonded leather parsons chairs in a range of colours for $119.00 a chair. You can search for Pier One coupons online. They also give student discounts if you or someone you love have a college ID. There is A LOT worse you could do for wipeability with small kids than leather parsons chairs. I believe IKEA has parsons chairs in a similar price range, as well, around a hundred, a hundred and twenty dollars each. Compare the coupons.

For a table you really have to decide what kind of look you're going for. I mean a modular mix and match table base/top from IKEA vs. Pottery Barn is purely an aesthetics call. PB is running a sale through April 20th for delivery right now.

And these are just for places its easy to shop online with *and* that are in the city *and* if you need it all right away with no worrying about locating things in consignment stores or antique stores.

@quinnley
It was mostly a joke. :p Generally there is center city, and then a ring that gets kind of scary, and then if you go further out (... like... even a mile, or the next block over) things get nicer again. A friend of mine lives a mile west of UPenn and has gotten held up at gunpoint twice in the past few months. And she works near Temple, and... she hasn't gotten held up, but....

I miss Philly a lot.

Incidentally, I never realized how hard it was to shop for someone else than to be given nothing more than "maybe white?" for furniture. My friends/family tend to give REALLY SPECIFIC requests/demands. I thought it was always kind of a pain but it does make it so much clearer what they want than "I dunno, anything." (Hidden message: but not that)

Good grief. I wasn't going to comment but I feel forced to correct some of the inaccuracies listed above.

Big Box Stores: In Philadelphia proper</>, a 10 minute drive from Center City are a bunch of big box stores all together. This is probably your best bet if you need stuff quickly. There's:
Target
Ikea
Raymour and Flanigan
Pier 1
Walmart (whatever, it's there, I'm just sayin')
There's also a Lowe's and a Home Depot which you'll probably need.

In Center City (Philadelphia's downtown) there's a cluster of pricier options, all within walking distance of each other including:
West Elm
Luxe Home
Usona
Bo Concept

In Old City (just beyond Center City) there's another cluster of pricier options. I don't know them all offhand but I know there's Minima and Dane Decor. There are definitely others though, either walk around when you get here or look them up on the internet.

In Manayunk (still in Philly proper but about a 25 minute drive from Center City) there are a bunch of (pricier) stores along Main Street including:
Pottery Barn
Restoration Hardware
Dwelling
Ligne Roset

Those are your best bets for shopping expeditions. All of the stores mentioned have websites so you can check out the options before you go.

For secondhand options Craigslist is usually a good bet, and I LOVE Uhuru Furniture (in Center City) but you have to go often because the merch turns over FAST.

For housewares and some smaller pieces (i.e. no couches or beds), you should definitely explore some of the smaller independent retailers (also in Center City and most within walking distance of each other). These include:
Open House and Verde (on 13th Street)
Hello Home and S.H.A.G. (on Pine Street)
The owners of the 2 stores on Pine are super nice (the others might be too, I've just never met them)

This is by no means an exhaustive list but it should get you started. Regarding safety: Philly is like any other city. Keep your eye open and your wits about you and you'll be fine. Welcome!

Gah, I wish we could edit comments. Sorry for the bold.

I just did the SAME rigamarole coming back from Vienna, Austria. (stop, I know - haha).

My budget was slightly bigger than yours but not by a lot. Here's what I did:

1. ebay - got a super awesome vintage red upholstered chair (looks like something that could be Eames, but way cheaper at $1200) -- and a vintage Eames aluminum table base for $150 shipped.

2. craigslist - got a set of 4 Eames black aniline DCM dining chairs for $700. That's $175 apiece instead of $450/ea, plus I was able to get them immediately instead of waiting 12 weeks for an order.

3. IKEA - bought a $99 solid wood table and tossed the legs, and attached the table top to my Eames base (it's awesome!)

As for the sofa, I got a Jane bi-sectional from Gus Modern. I bought it at Matthew Izzo, who gave me a good price... but they have TERRIBLE service. They said it'd arrive in 2-3 weeks and it took 7. So, avoid.

However, you could still get a new sofa if you got your other stuff the way I did -- and you should check out Gus Modern and BluDot, they both have very affordable and lovely stuff. Like the One Night Stand (which is also a well-rated sofa bed!) for $1799 - then if you did the chairs and table my way (6 chairs @ $175/ea, table top $99, table base $150), that'd add up to $3098. Not bad.

There are several cool funky-looking used/vintage furniture shops up in the South St shopping area from 9th to 7thish. I haven't popped in yet (cuz now I'm broke!), but I've heard good things :)

@LizS -- thank you for your suggestions. I live close to Exton and had no idea there was the Reseller Consignment Gallery in Frazer! Gonna make a stop there soon.

Also I haven't been here yet, but there's a mid century furniture warehouse in Fishtown I think, and looks awesome -- http://www.midcenturyfurniturewarehouse.com/

I already live in Philly and have gotten some great ideas that I didn't know about (or forgot!).

Consider CORT clearance centers. CORT is a furniture rental company. After the furniture has been returned or depreciated, it goes up for sale at very good prices. The furniture is in good condition, probably as good or better than anything you will find on craigslist. You can buy furniture and accessories for every room of your house. It might feel a bit generic but think of it as good neutral pieces that you can accessorize to your tastes.
There is a CORT clearance center in the Brunswicks section of NJ near me. There's probably one close to Philly as well.
http://www.cort.com/furniture-clearance

I'm glad that someone mentioned Shag. When I visited your amazing city, I was envious that you have an amazing source for sleek vintage furniture and retro inspired accessories.

I'm a big fan of craigslist, freecycle, etc. But if you were interested and willing to go a little further, there's a Crate and Barrel outlet in Cranberry, NJ, about an hour away. My Philly-living sister got their Pacifica 87" dining table (currently listed on their website for $1199.00) there for $150.00—no blemishes or anything, I think they were just having a massive sale.

There are some great warehouses in new jersey that can be found easily on google search if you have transportation. Otherwise, might be worth it to try AIDS thrift warehouse on 6th and Bainbridge. I live and love that area, and have found some great pieces there; cedar chests, imported chairs, headboards, all for steals. I go about once a week though, so i tend to catch a lot of good finds. If you have time to aquire things slowly, you will definitely be rewarded! good luck.

ikea, cb2.com , wisteria.com , westelm.com

I would also add Howard Hill Furniture. They are just over the Ben Franklin Bridge in NJ and they sell a lot of unfinished wood furniture. They have some very reasonably priced simple wood chairs and tables. I bought a nice dresser for my son's room there.

http://www.howardhillfurniture.com/

I dont live in Philly but I know a lot about budget shopping. I would purchase the couches new and look for sturdiness and quality. For that, stay away from IKEA. If you are going to sit on it, dont buy it from there! Furniture is an investment...especially couches. I too had a 3k budget for DR and LR and went to Ashleys and Im sorry I did. The quality is better than IKEA but it wont last. I bought our rustic but modern 6ft table and chairs from World Market for under $900 (with 25% coupon). 4 chairs and a bench that can fit 2-3 ppl...EXCELLENT quality. Craigslist has GREAT finds especially in big cities...but the good stuff goes fast!! GOOD LUCK :)

There is also crate and barrel (not the outlet) in conshohocken (30min from center city?) and cherry hill, nj (20min?) Note: city tax makes sales tax 8% within philly, but it's 6% in the rest of pa and 7% in nj. Of course, you are coming from europe....

Also re: CL, sometimes ppl will try to sell their entire apt's worth of furniture as a package. I always wonder what they're smoking, but perhaps they're just hoping for someone like you. XD

I got my couch @ Macy's - it's been featured on here quite a few times. It's currently on closeout: http://www1.macys.com/catalog/product/index.ognc?ID=518940&CategoryID=35419&LinkType=#fn=sp%3D1%26spc%3D404 - the Blake sofa.

I

I just moved back to Philly after being away for 11 years spent in Providence, SF, LA, and Boston.

West Elm has a city guide to Philly on their website.

I have a few things on Craigslist, if anyone on this message board is interested.

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/fuo/2279791592.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/fuo/2279781511.html

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/fuo/2279799027.html

Try Hipster Home. They have a great selection of Gus Modern, Blu Dot and Omni Plus Furniture. www.HipsterHome.com