Furnishings are some of the biggest and most long-term purchases that we make. It is therefore essential to make sure that you avoid the common blunders that often leave us feeling unhappy with the outcome of our purchases.
Many of them are simply common sense but are often still overlooked in the heat of the purchase moment. After all, that couch just looks fantastic, it doesn’t matter if it is a little large. Does it?
In truth, it likely does matter, this and a host of other common mistakes are listed below. Avoiding these mistakes can help you choose the perfect furnishings for your home.
1. Know your sizes
The importance of measuring cannot be overstated, particularly with larger pieces. This isn’t just to ensure that the furnishings fit and work in the room they are intended for (more about this next) but can actually be fitted through the doorway or up and around the tight stairway into the room, in the first place.
This is essential when it comes to furnishings like sofas and chairs. For other furnishings like beds, then check whether they can be disassembled or are available in flat-pack form.
The old saying “measure twice, cut once” can be reworked to “measure twice, no need to cut” when it comes to choosing furniture.
2. Size and scale
Okay, so you have determined that you can squeeze that couch into its intended room, but that’s just the start of the sizing considerations.
Scale is important when considering what furniture to purchase, and again this is a factor that applies more to larger pieces. If a couch, chair, or any other piece of furniture is too large to fit comfortably in the room, then the room will be overpowered and look small and cramped.
It also affects the functionality of the room. By swallowing up valuable floor space, large furnishings can make rooms awkward to navigate and can leave occupants trying to squeeze through tight spaces.
Erring the other way and selecting furniture that is too small can leave a room looking empty, echoey and cold.
The trick is to look at the room as a whole and plan the optimal furniture size before you make any purchases. This can be easily achieved with a simple scaled sketch of the room or by marking the floor of the room in question to get a clear picture of how the room and furnishings work together.
3. Avoid those impulse buys
We’ve all been there, stopped in our tracks by that must-have piece of furniture. We might have been shopping for a magazine rack, but the three-piece corner sofa suite would be the perfect accompaniment for it!
Maybe this is an extreme example, but the point is valid. You may strike it lucky and make the perfect impulse buy that serves you well for years to come, but mostly it just isn’t worth the risk.
Stop and have a think about it and not just 5-minutes either – At the very least, sleep on it, check the measurements, imagine it in position and make sure that the impulsiveness of the decision has passed, and it is the perfect living room furniture piece you imagined it was before you sign on the dotted line!
4. Factor in your lifestyle
That beautiful cream sofa may look the part in the showroom, but how long will it continue to do so with a house full of messy kids, cats, dogs, or all of the aforementioned.
Similarly, items with high-gloss finishes will be an endless source of grubby fingerprints in a house full of curious toddlers. These are just two examples of how lifestyle should affect your furnishing choice. Others include plush and comfy sofas that elderly and arthritic household members will struggle to get up from and plush hallway carpets for households with a love of the muddy outdoors.
Basically, furnishings need to be selected on how they fit into the household and how they fit into the lifestyle of the household too.
5. Select your furniture first, paint afterwards
Many people will decorate first and then choose the furnishings afterwards. This seems like a logical way to do it. The problem with this is that it is a lot easier to select a paint colour or wallpaper that matches your new furniture than vice versa.
Save yourself time and money by selecting your furniture first, then finding the perfect décor to match it.
6. Beauty isn’t skin deep
Many beautiful pieces of furniture will look stunning in any household, but when it comes to practicality and comfort, many of these pieces have achieved their stunning looks by sacrificing performance.
Remember that these are pieces that are going to serve you and your family for years to come. And the performance of your furnishings will serve you better over this time than sheer looks will.
Well-designed manufactured furniture will marry these two factors, so there is no need to sacrifice having beautiful looking furniture. Just make sure that its beauty isn’t the only thing the furniture has to offer.
7. Get value for money
Good quality furnishings needn’t cost the earth, but the process of furnishing a room can be an expensive one. The temptation is to try and cut costs by buying lower quality, cheaper furnishings.
As with anything in life – you get what you pay for. Cheaply made furnishings that use poor quality materials will end up costing more in the long run. Set a realistic budget and if you can’t afford all the furnishings at one time, then remember this is a long-term project, so not buying everything at once, but rather as you can afford to, will result in a beautifully furnished room that will serve you for years to come!
Conclusion
At Kingsbury Furniture, our friendly and expert staff are always on hand to make sure that the furniture you buy is the perfect choice for you and your home.
Why not contact us today and find out more about how we can help you make the right choices to ensure you end up with a beautifully furnished house that will give you years of pleasure.
