A Little Preparation Goes A Long Way

People often go furniture shopping without any sense of what they like, their long-term goals, or even something as basic as the dimensions of the room. Before you visit your first store, draw up a floor plan of the space you’re shopping for, including all measurements. [You can also prepare a plan using our quick link Arrange-a-Room and Color-a-Room planners.] Take some photographs of the room, and go through design magazines and tear out photos of homes or furniture pieces that appeal to you. Bring paint samples from the room, along with swatches of carpet and fabric from the other furnishings. If you don’t have a fabric swatch, remove the cover from a cushion and bring it with you. Pack these clippings in a file folder or portfolio and bring it with you when you shop.

Think about your long-term plans for the room: Do you like it the way it is, or do you want to change it? If it’s the latter, what kind of look or feeling do you want the space to have? Buy for the way you want the room to be, not necessarily the way it is; that way, you’re not tossing out your furniture in three years when you finally get around to decorating it the way you want it.

Scale. Size Does Matter

Stores can play tricks with your sense of proportion. A piece that looks perfect in a store that’s half the size of a football field and has 20-foot ceilings may appear humongous in an apartment with 8-foot ceilings. Carry a compact tape measure in your purse or car and measure everything before you buy. If you’re still in doubt, go home and map out the piece in newspaper on your floor, or make a mockup with cardboard boxes.

What's In A Swatch?

Fabric looks different under different lighting conditions. Before you buy a piece of upholstered furniture, ask for a fabric swatch and take it home. Then look at the material in the room where the piece will sit—preferably in the daytime and at night. Check how the color looks with other pieces of furniture in the room, and with the wall color.

Give It Your Best Test

Never buy seating without testing it out. (I can vouch for this from—ouch!—personal experience.) Sit on it. Lay on it. If it’s a sofa you plan to use for napping or reading, stretch out on it in the store (taking your shoes off first, of course)—you might even bring a book and read for a while. This is a compelling reason to make your furniture purchase from a traditional furniture store rather than online.

Take Your Time

It can be hard to resist a piece of furniture that’s marked 50 percent off. But think things through before you pull out that billfold. If the item doesn’t work with your room’s scale, style or colors, you’ve just spent 50 percent more than you had to. If it’s cheap but doesn’t work in your home, it’s not a good deal. Likewise, don’t start shopping for new furniture two days before your in-laws arrive. Buying furniture takes time, so don’t rush it; give yourself plenty of chance to look around and comparison shop. And if you absolutely can’t pass up that sale item, make sure it fits your personal requirements.

Be Selective

The more opinions you seek, the harder it is to choose. Don’t take a squadron of friends and relatives with you when you shop; limit the input to your significant other or one friend with exquisite taste.

Using Professional Know-How

Unless you’ve studied interior design or apprenticed with an upholsterer, it’s a safe bet the salesperson will know more about their merchandise than you. Take advantage of that. Most sales personnel desperately want to be helpful; give them a chance and the odds of getting the right product at the right price is dramatically increased.

Getting One-on-One Time

If you’re going to need a lot of help and want the salesperson to give you his or her undivided attention, don’t go shopping on the weekend. That’s when furniture stores are busiest and the staff is most distracted. Pick a weekday and you might be able to monopolize the salesperson’s time for hours.

1   2   3 PUSH!

Forgetting to Measure Doors & Elevators Everyone who sells furniture has heard stories about people who bought a sofa and then couldn’t get it through the front door, up the stairs or into the elevator. Don’t become another statistic! Measure the size of every opening leading up to the room where the piece will sit. (Don’t overlook windows as an alternate entry point.) If you live in an apartment or condo, measure the elevator door and compartment, or the service elevator, if there is one.