I would add, IKEA has been our go-to with both of our expat moves (we lived in Australia for two years... we did not ship anything for that move, all was left behind in storage). It is cheap enough and surprisingly easy to unload at the end of your stay, as well. Also in Ireland, most rental properties are furnished. This is really important to keep in mind.

Had I to do it over - my bookworm daughters would have been forced to travel with a Kindle only... myself, as well, as I'm sure the cookbooks shipped could have been purchased digitally, as well. I would have settled on having a lean kitchen (I shipped my KitchenAid and other cookware, as I cook and bake a ton). And my kids... well, perhaps we could have shipped their toys over DHL, really. My husband would have needed to purchase a new bike (surprisingly his Trek wasn't pinched... he is a cyclist and was worried about that as much as the piano). And I would have rented or purchased a used piano keyboard here and left the other in storage. NONE of it was critical, just a means of making this feel more like home for our four years here.

I did leave trunks full of photos and sentimental items in storage with family, as I always felt a little uneasy about international shipping (my gut was right). On our return, I intend to ship toys and only 1/4 of our books back via DHL, and hopefully most everything else I can just sell on DoneDeal.