How to Buy Furniture

Furnishing a home or apartment is one of the costliest and trickiest things to do. Will the furnishings you already have match the new ones you have in mind to buy? Will everything fit? Where can I get the best deals? These and many more questions will be floating around in your head when it comes time to start putting a room together. Below are some steps to take and things to consider when taking the plunge and purchasing furniture-

Tips on buying furniture

1. The first and most important thing to do is know your style. Knowing this will give you a good idea as to where you want to shop.

2. Also be aware of how much money you can spend. If you can't get everything you want right away because of budget restraints, be patient. There are no rules that you need to purchase everything RIGHT AWAY for, say, your living room. If you can only get a few of the items you want in the beginning, fine. Do be aware that there are many furniture stores that will allow you to pay for all your furniture purchases on a monthly installment plan. An installment plan would be good for the furniture shopper who has to have everything, right away!

3. What is your life like? Do you have three rambunctious children who are always dragging mud into the house? Are you single and incredibly neat and don't have people over for social functions all that frequently? Do you have a lot of pets, pets that shed lots of hair? Look for furniture that will fit your lifestyle! For instance, if you have small children, look for furniture that is durable and easy to clean, and perhaps even dark in color (dark furniture hides stains well). If you are single, you can probably afford to indulge in furniture that's a bit more formal and maybe even a bit "high maintenance." If you're a pet owner, talk to the furniture salesperson about items on the floor that are easy to remove hair from with a vacuum cleaner.

4. When you find furniture you like, read about its features and what it's made from. Talk to the salesperson about whether or not customers who have purchased the particular piece you're looking at have been satisfied with it. Also talk to friends, family, and co-workers for suggestions of trusted places to shop for furniture at.

5. Another great way to furnish a home (and this is a lot of times a very affordable way to furnish a home) is to look in your local paper and see if there are any estate sales going on near you. Estate sales are sales that occur when a family or loved one sells off the furnishings of a loved one whos recently passed on. Great deals can be found at estate sales, so definitely be on the lookout for them!

Where to buy furniture

Browse the selection of furniture at these online retailers—

Home Decorators (http://www.homedecorators.com/) offers many styles of unique and stylish furniture.

Find traditional and unusual styles at Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/).

Home Visions (http://www.homevisions.com/hvprod/default.asp?partner=0/) has an excellent range covering all budgets.

Caution

Measure your spaces at home to see what you can fit in, and then measure the pieces of furniture you are looking at to make sure they will fit! Bring a tape measurer and maybe even draw up a rough layout of the room you are furnishing (for visualization purposes) with you when you go out shopping.