Setting Up Home

Verified July 202618 min read13 sections

So you've signed a lease (see Where to Live) and you're standing in an empty — or half-furnished — apartment. This section covers the practical business of turning it into a home: where to buy furniture and appliances, how Thailand's electrical system affects the gear you brought with you, and how to find a cleaner or nanny. Chiang Mai makes this easy and cheap by Western standards, but there are a few local quirks worth knowing before you spend.

A quick orientation first. Most condos and serviced apartments here come at least partly furnished — bed, wardrobe, aircon, water heater, sometimes a small fridge and washing machine. Detached houses and houses in moobaan (gated developments) are more likely to come bare, or with kitchen and built-in wardrobes only. Work out exactly what's included before you sign, because "furnished" means very different things to different landlords. If you're only staying a year or two, furnishing a bare house from scratch can cost more than the rent difference to a furnished place, so factor that in.

Prices below are in Thai baht (THB) with rough USD equivalents at about ฿33.3 = $1 (the baht traded in the low-33s through mid-July 2026 — stronger than the ฿34–35 older guides assume, which quietly nudges up USD costs). Retail prices change and stock varies by branch — treat figures as ballpark and check the store apps (Lazada/Shopee list most of these chains too).

Furniture#

The big chains (new, mid-range, delivered). For a fast, no-fuss fit-out, the mainstream Thai chains all have large stores clustered on the ring roads:

Index Living Mall — Thailand's biggest furniture retailer; sofas, beds, wardrobes, dining sets, plus housewares and small electronics. Reliable mid-range quality and in-house delivery/assembly. Big showroom on the inner ring road (Superhighway/Hwy 11).
SB Design Square — sister-brand feel to Index, slightly more design-led; good for sofas and bedroom sets.
HomePro — home-improvement giant (think Home Depot meets furniture): furniture, appliances, kitchenware, bathroom fittings, lighting, curtains, and a delivery/installation service. Several branches including inside/near malls. The obvious one-stop shop when moving in.
Global House — larger-format hardware-and-home store on the outskirts; strongest for building materials, garden, tools and bulkier appliances, but also stocks furniture. Handy if you're setting up a house rather than a condo.
Boonthavorn — a big, more upmarket home-and-tile/sanitaryware showroom; worth a look for kitchens and bathrooms.

IKEA — yes, but there's no store here. The nearest full IKEA store is in Bangkok. Chiang Mai has an IKEA Order Point / Pick-up point, and IKEA delivers to Chiang Mai via a third-party service. Practical realities to plan around:

You order online (or at the Order Point) and choose parcel or truck delivery. Provincial delivery typically lands within 3–14 days depending on the slot; smaller parcel orders up to ~7 business days. Allow an extra 1–3 days around Songkran and New Year.
Parcel delivery can be free from ฿0 with a 5,000-baht spend on qualifying items; larger/truck deliveries are priced by size. Always check the current delivery fee at checkout — it's the part people underestimate.
Flat-pack means you (or a handyperson) assemble it. If that's not your thing, the Thai chains that deliver and assemble are less hassle.

Baan Tawai (Hang Dong) — teak, carved wood and factory prices. About 15 km south of the Old City in Hang Dong, Baan Tawai is a woodcarving village with hundreds of workshops and showrooms selling solid-teak furniture, carved pieces, antiques and architectural salvage at close to wholesale prices. This is where a lot of the city's exporters source. Expect to negotiate — the asking price is usually a 10–20% starting point — and budget for delivery. Great for a statement dining table or a bit of character; less relevant if you want flat-pack practicality. Most showrooms open roughly 09:00–17:00 daily.

Secondhand. Expats cycle through Chiang Mai constantly, so there's a steady supply of near-new furniture and appliances going cheap from people leaving. Check Facebook Marketplace and expat sell/swap groups (e.g. "Chiang Mai Expats Buy & Sell" and similar — see Community & Meetups). Departing families often sell an entire apartment's contents in one go, sometimes with the aircon-cleaning and delivery thrown in. This is the single best value route if you're patient.

Appliances & electronics#

For fridges, washing machines, TVs, microwaves, aircon, kettles, fans and the like:

Power Buy and Banana IT — electronics/appliance chains found inside the major malls (Central Festival, Central Airport Plaza, MAYA). Power Buy for large appliances and TVs; Banana IT leans toward computers and phones.
HomePro and Global House — both carry the full appliance range alongside furniture, often with installation.
Lazada and Shopee — the two big online marketplaces frequently beat in-store prices and deliver large appliances; watch for official brand stores (avoid grey-market sellers for warranty items). See Essential Apps and Shipping, Post & Couriers.

Aircon is the one to get right: most rentals already have wall units, but if you're buying, budget for professional install and factor regular cleaning (a few hundred baht per unit) into your routine — it matters a lot in the heat and during burning season.

Power, plugs & voltage — read this before you plug anything in#

Thailand runs on 220–230 volts, 50 Hz. Sockets are the hybrid type that accept Type A (US flat pins), Type C (European round pins) and Type B/O — in practice, most flat and round two-pin plugs fit straight in. So fitting the plug is rarely the problem; voltage is.

Dual-voltage devices are fine. Phone chargers, laptop bricks, most cameras and modern electronics are marked "100–240V" and work here with at most a cheap plug adaptor. Check the label.
Single-voltage 110V appliances are NOT fine. If you've brought hairdryers, kettles, some kitchen gadgets, or anything with a heating element or motor rated only for 110–120V (typical of the US and Japan), plugging it into 230V will destroy it — or worse. You'd need a step-down transformer (heavy, and only worth it for one or two sentimental items), and even then it's usually cheaper and safer to just buy the appliance locally.
Frequency (50Hz vs 60Hz) can affect some motor-driven and clock-based appliances even at the right voltage — another reason to buy big appliances here rather than ship them.
Grounding: older buildings may have unearthed two-pin sockets. For anything with a metal casing or a water heater, make sure there's a proper earth; a plug-in RCD/surge protector is cheap insurance, and instant water heaters should always be on a modern earthed circuit.

Bottom line: bring your dual-voltage electronics and a couple of universal adaptors; buy everything with a heating element or motor locally. Adaptors, power strips, transformers and surge protectors are all available at HomePro, Global House, and the IT malls.

Getting the utilities switched on#

When you take over a house, the electricity and water accounts almost always already exist in the previous tenant's or the owner's name — you rarely set up a brand-new connection, you just take over paying the bill. In a condo or serviced apartment the building usually handles this and simply rebills you, often at a marked-up per-unit rate (see the utilities note in Where to Live before you sign). For a standalone house it's worth knowing how each service works.

Electricity (PEA). Provincial power is run by the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA). The official government residential rate is roughly ฿3.9 per unit in 2026 (about ฿3.88/unit Jan–Apr, ฿3.95/unit May–Aug), plus a small FT adjustment and 7% VAT. If your landlord or building is charging ฿6–8 per unit, that's a private markup, not the government rate — normal in many rentals, but worth checking. Paper bills land in the mailbox; pay them at any 7-Eleven, at a PEA office, or through your bank app / PromptPay by scanning the barcode. You usually have 7–10 days from the issue date to pay before disconnection risk.

Water (PWA). Most houses are on the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA) mains; some moobaan run their own supply and bill through the estate office. Tap water here is cheap — a typical household bill runs ฿150–1,000/month depending on use (note: cheap, but still not for drinking — see below). A reconnection just needs the customer number off an old bill and takes a day or so; a genuinely new connection needs ID and proof of address and can take up to a week.

Cooking gas (LPG). Many Thai kitchens cook on bottled LPG rather than mains gas or electric hobs — a cylinder sits under or beside the counter and feeds the burner by hose. You buy the first bottle with a refundable deposit, then just swap empties for refills. A standard 15 kg cylinder refill runs roughly ฿380–450 and lasts a light cook a few months. Shops are on most main roads, or use a delivery service like GasGo (Chiang Mai, delivers same-day, TIS-certified bottles). If you'd rather avoid gas entirely, a plug-in induction hob (฿1,000–3,000 at HomePro/Lazada) is a popular condo choice.

Rubbish & the moobaan common fee. In a gated moobaan you'll pay a monthly common fee — typically ฿200–1,500 depending on facilities (pool, gym, security, gardens) — which usually rolls in rubbish collection (1–2 times a week), security guards, street lighting and shared-area upkeep. Standalone houses outside estates pay a small municipal rubbish fee instead (a few tens of baht a month), and you leave bags out for the district collection. Confirm what your rent does and doesn't include before signing.

Drinking water — don't drink the tap#

Chiang Mai's mains water is treated and fine for washing, cooking and brushing teeth, but locals and expats alike don't drink it straight from the tap — the pipes and rooftop storage tanks are the weak link, not the treatment plant. You have three easy options:

20-litre refill bottles (the default). The big reusable blue jugs delivered to your door are how most households drink. A refill is only about ฿15–30 (≈$0.50–0.90) with a one-off ฿90–200 refundable deposit on the bottle itself; brands like Singha, Nestlé Pure Life and local suppliers (Glacier is widely trusted) deliver weekly and take the empties back. You'll want a dispenser stand — a simple manual pump is ฿100–200, an electric hot/cold cooler ฿2,000–5,000.
Refill vending machines. The coin-operated RO water machines on many street corners fill your own bottle for ฿1 per litre. Cheap and everywhere, though hygiene varies by machine — pick a busy, clean-looking one.
Home filtration. For a house, an under-sink reverse-osmosis (RO) or multi-stage filter (branded units like 3M/Aqua-Pure, or local installs) runs a few thousand baht up front plus periodic cartridge changes; whole-house sediment filters are common too. Worth it if you drink a lot of water or hate lugging bottles, but the bottle route is so cheap that many people never bother.

Soft furnishings — curtains, bedding & a decent mattress#

The two things a "furnished" place most often gets wrong for newcomers are window coverings and mattress quality, so budget for both.

Curtains & blinds. Bare or ill-fitting windows are common. Ready-made curtains are at HomePro and the hypermarkets, but made-to-measure is cheap here — local specialists like P.P. House Curtain and the curtain/blind shops clustered on the ring roads will measure, make and hang blackout curtains, roller blinds or shades for far less than you'd pay back home. Blackout linings are worth it: mornings are bright and hot.
Mattresses. Landlord mattresses are frequently rock-hard or worn. Thai brands Lotus (mattress and bedding), Slumberland, Omazz and Satin sell through the malls, dedicated stores and Lazada/Shopee; expect ฿5,000–15,000 for a decent queen, more for memory-foam/pocket-spring. A cheaper fix that works well: a topper (฿1,500–4,000) over an existing firm mattress.
Bedding, towels & the rest. Lotus Bedding for sheets and pillows, plus HomePro, the Central department stores, Index and the hypermarkets (Lotus's, Big C, Makro). Note Thai bed sizes differ slightly from US/UK — buy sheets to fit the actual mattress, not the name.

A basic home-security & safety kit#

Chiang Mai is a low-crime city and most rentals are secure, but a few cheap additions are worth it, especially in a standalone house:

Locks & a small safe. Check the existing door locks on move-in and ask the landlord to re-key or replace if you're not the first tenant. A portable safe (฿1,000–3,000 at HomePro) or a good hidden spot for passport and cash is sensible.
CCTV & video doorbells. Wi-Fi cameras and video doorbells (TP-Link Tapo, Xiaomi, EZVIZ) are cheap and everywhere — ฿500–1,500 a camera at HomePro/Lazada, app-monitored. Popular for houses and for keeping an eye on deliveries.
Smoke & gas detectors. Rarely fitted as standard. If you cook on LPG, a gas-leak alarm (a few hundred baht) plus a smoke detector is cheap peace of mind.
Electrical safety. As noted above, add a surge protector / RCD for expensive electronics and make sure water heaters are on a modern earthed circuit — power quality and grounding in older buildings can be patchy.

Home & contents insurance#

It's an easy thing to skip, and most renters do — but a cheap policy is worth a look, especially if you've furnished a place yourself or own the condo outright.

Renters (contents-only) cover. If you rent, your landlord's building policy (if they have one) covers the structure, not your stuff. A contents policy covering electronics, furniture and personal liability (e.g. you accidentally flood the unit below) is inexpensive — comparison sites like CheckDi list renters/condo plans, and premiums for a modest contents sum insured often land in the low thousands of baht per year.
Condo/homeowner cover. If you've bought (see the buying note in Where to Live), a combined building-plus-contents policy is the norm. As a rough steer, whole-property packages start around ฿2,000–5,000/year for smaller sums insured and scale with the value insured — insurers like AXA (Sabuydee My Home), MSIG (My Home Plus / Condo Easy) and Allianz Ayudhya all sell direct or through Thai brokers, and CheckDi/comparison sites are the fastest way to see a few quotes side by side.
What's usually excluded or capped. Flooding is very commonly excluded by default or needs an add-on rider — worth paying for if you're near the Ping River or in a spot flagged in the flooding notes in the Neighborhood Guides (Saraphi, riverside areas). Read the fine print on "named perils" vs "all risks" wording, and keep photos/receipts of higher-value items for a smoother claim.
Chiang Mai-specific help. IE Solutions, based at Pantip Plaza, is a long-running Chiang Mai insurance broker used to placing home/condo cover for expats and can talk you through policy wording in English rather than leaving you to parse a Thai-language PDF alone.

Most people who skip this do so because the numbers involved (a rented condo's worth of furniture) feel low-stakes — that's a reasonable call for a light furnished stay, less so if you've bought a house full of your own gear.

Pest control — termites, ants & the geckos you should leave alone#

Tropical climate, a lot of wood and greenery nearby: pest pressure is simply part of living here, more so in a standalone house than a high-rise condo.

Termites are the one that actually costs money. Subterranean termites can seriously damage wooden furniture, door frames and structural timber, often invisibly until the damage is done. If you're in a house — especially an older teak-heavy one — a preventive termite contract is a sensible line item, not paranoia. National operator Rentokil has a Chiang Mai branch and offers a free inspection plus pre- and post-construction treatment programmes; local specialists Green Nano Thai and CNX Pest Control also work the area. Pricing is quoted per job/area rather than a flat rate — as a rough anchor, a small residential termite-control contract with a few visits a year has been quoted locally around ฿4,000–5,000/year; get 2–3 quotes for your specific property size.
Ants, cockroaches & mosquitoes are the everyday nuisance rather than the structural risk. General pest-control packages (quarterly or biannual spray/bait visits) from the same companies typically run a few hundred to low-thousands of baht per visit depending on property size; many people instead just manage it themselves with supermarket bait stations and a can of spray from HomePro/Lazada, topped up seasonally. Keep food sealed and bins covered — the single biggest deterrent.
Geckos (jing jok) are not pests — leave them be. The small house geckos that patrol Thai walls and ceilings at night eat mosquitoes and other insects and are considered good luck by many Thais; almost nobody tries to get rid of them, and you shouldn't either. Bigger tokay geckos (loud, distinctive croaking call) are noisier but equally harmless and beneficial.
Mosquito precautions (dengue risk) are covered in more depth in Emergency Numbers & Safety — screens on windows, standing-water control around the property and repellent are worth combining with any pest contract.

Air quality at home — getting ready for burning season#

Chiang Mai's burning season (roughly February–April, worst in March) regularly pushes the city's PM2.5 into the world's most-polluted rankings — 2026 was no exception, with AQI readings well over 150 in early March. If you're settling in for more than a season, sorting indoor air quality is a genuinely practical setup task, not an optional extra.

A decent air purifier per main room is the standard fix. The Xiaomi Air Purifier 4 Pro is a widely recommended, good-value option available on Lazada with real HEPA filtration and app-based AQI monitoring; budget units with H13 HEPA + activated carbon (e.g. AirCleaner Personal) start from around ฿1,900 for a small room, with mid-range household units more typically ฿4,000–10,000+ depending on room size (CADR) and brand. Smart Air's Sqair is another well-regarded option built for larger rooms (up to ~40 sqm). HomePro, Power Buy and Lazada/Shopee all stock the mainstream brands.
Match the unit to the room, not just the flat — a single purifier in the living room does little for a closed bedroom at night; if budget allows, prioritise the bedroom for sleeping hours during the worst weeks.
Seal what you can. Weatherstripping on windows/doors and keeping them shut during high-AQI spells (running aircon instead) makes a bigger difference than people expect — most Thai homes aren't built airtight, so smoke infiltrates easily.
Track it locally, not just off a national average — apps and sites like IQAir and the Thai government's Air4Thai give hyperlocal PM2.5 readings; treat AQI over ~150 as a stay-indoors-if-you-can day, especially for kids, older residents and anyone with asthma (cross-ref Health & Fitness and Kids in Chiang Mai for burning-season routines and school policies).
Replace filters on schedule — HEPA filters lose effectiveness as they clog; budget for a replacement every burning season rather than running last year's saturated filter through a second one.

Hiring domestic help#

Household help is affordable here and very common among both expat and Thai middle-class families. Two broad options:

Part-time / by the visit cleaner — the most popular choice for a condo. Expect roughly ฿300–500 per visit (≈$9–15) for a few hours, or an hourly rate through an agency/app. Many people have someone come once or twice a week.
Full-time or live-in maid/nanny — for houses and families. As a rough guide, full-time salaries run about ฿15,000–20,000/month (≈$450–600), with English-speaking or nanny-housekeeper hybrids at the ฿17,000–25,000 (≈$510–750) end. Live-in arrangements start around ฿15,000/month plus room and board. (These are widely-cited 2025–2026 ranges; Chiang Mai often sits slightly below Bangkok.)

How to find someone. The most reliable route is word of mouth — post in Expats in Chiang Mai and Chiang Mai Mums on Facebook, where departing families regularly recommend a trusted long-term housekeeper or nanny. Cleaning apps and agencies (e.g. Kiidu, ThaiHelper, and local operators) offer vetted, insured one-off or recurring cleans if you'd rather not manage it yourself. For nannies and anyone working with children, ask for references and do a trial period.

A few norms worth knowing: pay is usually monthly and in cash; many families give a bonus (often around a month's pay) at Thai/Western New Year; and it's normal to cover a helper's lunch. If you employ someone full-time and formally, understand there are labour-law obligations (minimum wage, days off, and — for a foreign employer — work-permit and visa considerations for the employee); an agency handles this for you. Keep arrangements clear and fair from the start.

A move-in deep clean. Before the furniture arrives is the moment to get an empty place professionally deep-cleaned — a one-off "big clean" that does aircon units, windows, floors, kitchen and bathrooms top to bottom. Dedicated operators like Khun Clean, CNX Cleaning, Bliss Clean & Care and platforms like Seekster handle this; expect a few hundred baht an hour or a flat per-property package depending on size. It's cheap, and starting from a genuinely clean base beats fighting old grime around your own furniture later.

A sensible order of operations#

Confirm what's included in your lease and photograph the condition of everything on day one (protects your deposit — see Where to Live).
Buy the essentials you can't live without first — bedding, a fan/aircon check, kitchen basics — from HomePro or online.
Trawl Facebook Marketplace for a week before buying big-ticket furniture new; the savings are large.
Sort power — grab adaptors and a surge protector, and buy (don't ship) any heating/motor appliance.
Line up a cleaner once you're settled; a recommendation beats a cold hire every time.

Cross-references: accommodation types, deposits and the lease process are in Where to Live*; delivery, parcel pickup and importing goods are in* Shipping, Post & Couriers*; the shopping apps (Lazada, Shopee, HomePro) are in* Essential Apps*; nannies and childcare also appear in* Kids in Chiang Mai*; drinking-water safety, dengue precautions and burning-season air quality also feature in* Emergency Numbers & Safety and Health & Fitness*; flooding risk by area is covered in* Neighborhood Guides and Suburban & School-Corridor Neighborhood Guides*.*