Time to express yourself with the furniture that suits your style. It may be your first apartment, or just another home you moved into because rent is cheaper, the point is you’re moving and you need to buy new furniture. Let’s guide you into a smooth furniture buying process. 

Task 1: Budget

The real decision maker for your purchase. Having a clear understating of your budget will help dictate how your money should be spent.

It will guide you to break your furniture into essentials versus secondary pieces. The essentials are usually the foundational items that ground the room, in the case of a living room it will include, a sofa, coffee table, area rug, and a TV stand.

While secondary items will be throw pillows, side tables, wall art and floor lamp; these items can be purchased on a later date, especially if the budget doesn’t permit it. 

Task 2: Time

The saying time is money comes to mind. Start your furniture search early, this will make furniture shopping go smoothly because you never know when a product will go out of stock.

Especially with living room furniture, coffee table and area rug which tend to go out of stock quickly along with any trendy item, so to prevent delay on any must have item get them early.

Also, some items take three to four weeks to be shipped which may conflict with your schedule so understanding shipping and delivery time is very important.

Renting a storage is an alternative that will ensure moving in your furniture goes smoothly. 

Task 3: Floor Plan

The backbone of the decorating and design process. Creating a floor plan is the first step to understanding the space and what it can accommodate.

However, most people fail to complete this stage because they are focused on the furniture stage which is the exciting part of the whole process. 

Get a designer to create a floor plan for your room, we have this service as part of our freelance package.

When shopping, you can take the floor plan with you which has the dimensions of the walls so you can play with different furniture arrangement.

Task 4: Tools

This is a relatively simple and straight forward list to create.

The general rule of thumb includes a tape measure, a hammer, scissors, E-Acto knife, and tape.

The most important is the tape measure which you will need when you visit any furniture store.

During the planning stage, a tape is a great way to get an idea of how much space a rug or a sofa will take. 

Task 5: Furniture List

What furniture do you need for your space? This is a question I ask my clients when I complete e-design for their space.

Some clients appreciate this direct question and immediately answer it while others take offense because they believe I should know what they need for a specific room. 

 Answering will help you create a check list of the things you need. 

Task 6: Style

Selecting a style is crucial to the buying process because it will dictate what features aligns with the style.

In the living room, when purchasing a sofa, you notice there are several variations such as the Lawson, tuxedo, camelback, English roll arm, chesterfield, loveseat and settee.

Within these style there are different colors and leg options, so this is why opting for a specific style at the beginning of the buying process is important. It will save time, stress and eliminate frustration. 

Plan ahead, select a style and begin furniture shopping.