Tips for Choosing Furniture

One of the most important things to remember when selecting furniture is to take your time.  You can be easily bombarded with the array of retailers, discount stores and catalogs. A good rule to remember is browse first, buy later. Later could mean six months when you are sure about the style, color, and construction that you are looking for.

Choosing pattern and color in furniture is the part that everyone loves, but that also causes the biggest headaches. Not only can it be disappointing to not find that perfect fabric, but it is also a time consuming and expensive mistake if you get it wrong. That's why it is worth the time and money it takes to buy a roll of wallpaper, good sized fabric swatch, or sample of paint before making your final decision when buying upholstery pieces. Before investing a large amount of money, move the samples around the room according to what time of day it is and how the light falls.  Always buy items together so that you build up a complete look.

A few things to keep in mind:

• Make sure the furniture will fit. Take your room measurements and floor plan, tape measure, color samples and maybe even fabric samples if possible. 
• When shopping for an upholstered piece, sit on it, lay on it, lift it. Check the piece for comfort, construction and durability.  The frame should be kilndried. The hardwood should be joined by dowels or interlocking pieces, not glued or butted together.
• Sagless, eightway, tempered steel springs that are hand tied show good quality and workmanship.
• Down filling is softer and more high quality. If you choose polyurethane foam, make sure it's fireproof.  You can find the best value by balancing the quality of fabric with the inside construction.  Fabric on a low cost item will be the first thing that will wear out and fade. Hardwoods such as oak are the most durable. Low quality frames will use soft woods or plywood.

A good rule of thumb is that it is better to purchase one high quality piece of furniture that you really want even it it takes a couple of years, rather than buy a poor quality set that will not hold up to daily functions of busy lifestyles.  

One thing that you should demand when purchasing seating is comfort. It makes no sense at all to lavish time and money on a room if it is not comfortable. A really cozy armchair in which you can lie back with your feet on a stool is not a luxury but an essential. Cushions are essential because they have the effect of making seating look even more inviting.

Look for strong construction in legs, shelves, and drawers when shopping for chest and cabinets. Check labels to learn which woods or veneers are used. Today's furniture makers have become experts in making veneer appear to be real wood. Always read labels. Check the doors and drawers. Make sure they open and shut easily. Make sure that the finishes are hard and smooth with no scratches. Check the drawer pulls to make sure they are tight and durable. When buying a dining room table, think first about the table itself. Think about the style of dining furniture that is most appropriate for your room. Consider carefully how many dining chairs to buy . You may entertain ten people on average, but if you do have space for fourteen around the table, it makes sense to have fourteen chairs for those rare occasions when you might need them.

For bedroom furniture, the key is to create a space where you feel removed from the world outside. The bed itself must be extremely comfortable and inviting.  A headboard should support the back comfortably when you sit up for reading or watching television. For many people a four poster bed is the height of elegance and romance, although you might be deterred if your bedroom has fairly low ceilings. It is possible to buy such beds custom made and they will make a room appear larger that it is rather than smaller. 

When choosing dressers for a bedroom, remember storage, storage, storage. Good storage is the key to keeping bedrooms calm and serene. Lots of big drawers is a bonus for tucking away unsightly items. Bedside tales should be large enough to have space for a lamp, books, reading glasses, alarm clock, telephone, and maybe a glass of water.  Drawers on a night stand are always a bonus for tucking away a phone book.

If you are looking for a period piece, study furniture history. If you are buying reproductions, know the details and craftsmanship of the period that you prefer. Reproductions should be exact copies of antiques. They are usually even made of the same wood and materials.

Before making any major furniture purchases consider carefully who is going to use the room, what they are going to use it for, and when they are most likely to be in it. Following a few steps will help when making your furniture  purchases go easily if you take some time to plan before shopping.  The most important part to furnishing a room is measuring it correctly in the beginning. Look at your present furnishing and decide what pieces will stay and what pieces will go. Plot your room on graph paper. You can use one square for each square foot of floor space. Measure the length of walls, mark windows and doorways. Mark areas such as fireplaces, stairwells, and bay windows.  Measure your existing furniture pieces that you want to keep. Draw these pieces onto your graft paper in that area you want them placed. Remember to allow for traffic flow through a room. Then go shopping, remembering to browse first, buy later. Once you see pieces that interest you, take the measurements and add them to your template. Use space creatively, letting your furniture determine the function of the room. 

New furniture can be the best part of decorating and bring years of joy if you choose what's right for you. So have fun cozying up a big room into two or more groupings, or maximize a small room. Use a large scale piece such as a armoire or love seat for touch of grandeur.   It is amazing how different a room can look with a few new high quality furniture pieces.