9 Steps to Finding “that” Perfect Piece of Affordable Furniture

We have now lived in the burbs for a year and a half. Moving  just seemed like yesterday, maybe because it’s a colossal undertaking; what a beast. I still can’t believe it’s been that long. They say time flies when you are having fun, and oh the fun we have had in this house. We have done so many projects, from the huge undertaking of painting over 3000 feet of this house (thank the heavens the basement level was already painted), to putting up shelving, planting shrubs and our garden, putting a chandelier outside our front door, the list goes on.  In addition to the mountains of projects that involve physical labor, my time these days is consumed with finding furniture, to furnish this beast. Who knew furniture was do darn expensive. I mean I knew it was expensive, but what I thought and reality is a whole other level. 

Affordability

I seriously don’t know how people afford to furnish their houses these days. You could spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just on one level of the house. While that is grandiose if you have that money and can spend it, I am not about spending our whole life’s savings on furniture. Yes, I do want quality and beautifully elegant pieces, but there are other ways (time consuming at points) to furnish your house on what I like to call a budget. I use the word budget loosely because when I am working on a room I really don’t have a set number in my head on what I can and can’t spend. The budget comes after I search high and low for pieces I like and see the reality of what these pieces cost, and then the HUNT begins.

Time Commitment

There have been many hours, days possibly even weeks when you add up all the time I have searched for the furniture and décor we have in our house now, and let me tell you a secret. I am not even close to being finished. I have made boat loads of headway in the furniture department but the art to fill the walls, that my friends, hasn’t even begun. 

Maybe your not furnishing a huge house, or maybe your house is mostly furnished, or perhaps you haven’t gotten to the house buying stage yet. In any matter I am here to help. I am sharing my tips and tricks to not spending your life’s fortune on furniture and still getting what you want. I am not going to lie, it’s going to take some time and effort on your end, but I PROMISE  you it’s worth it. 

More Bang for your Buck

The key to finding the best quality and least expensive furniture for your house is time and patience. The below steps will help you refine what you are looking for to really narrow your search in on “that” item. If you don’t do the lead work below, you will end up spending even more time searching for “that” piece because you really don’t know what you want.

Step 1

Step 1: Gather Inspiration

Gather inspiration on what you are looking for, for the room.

Step 2

Step 2: Choose a Concept

Vision what you want the room. Make sure your concept is specific, but not too specific. You don’t want to corner yourself. You want a concept that allows everything in the room to fit under it’s umbrella.

Step 3

Step 3:  Color Scheme

Decide on the colors you want for your space. This will help in picking out furniture. Pick no more than 1-2 dominant colors, a couple secondary colors and then accent colors.

Step 4

Step 4: Make a list of the furniture pieces you are looking for

Make a general list. What are you looking for, for that room? A coffee table and entertainment center perhaps or maybe a dining room table. Make the list.

Step 5

Step 5: Establishing a Reasonable “Budget” 

Research in general the pieces you are looking for and in the material you are looking for. What I mean is, if you want a glass coffee table, research glass coffee tables. If you want an all wood entertainment center, research all wood. I caution you, so many pieces out there these days are manufactured wood, which doesn’t always mean they are cheaper. If you are like me, you want the real thing. The real wood, so read the descriptions.

Step 6

Step 6:  Search

Sometimes the search engines on websites have the option to sort by best quality for the price, however most times they don’t, as the website doesn’t want you to be drawn to those pieces. They want you to pay full price and buy the most expensive pieces. The search part takes forever. When searching make sure you put on some filters, but not too many. The only filter I ever put on is price. I have found sometimes when I filter too much some of the options I would pick don’t show up.

Step 7

Step 7:  Details

When you think you find a piece make sure you read the specifications and description. Some product titles are deceiving. Make sure it’s made of the material you want and it’s the size and color you want. If it checks all the boxes save it to your favorites (most furniture websites all you to save to favorites or make inspiration boards). If a website doesn’t have a favorite option add it to your cart.

Step 8

Step 8: Keep Searching

Just because you found one option doesn’t mean your done. Find multiple and play with different pairings. You will be surprised in the end what you end up picking. Nine times out of ten I don’t end up purchasing the piece I was certain I was going to.

Step 9

Step 9: Narrow Down & Purchase

After you have numerous options for the furniture you want to purchase narrow the pieces down to “the one.” I find it helpful to search for all pieces of furniture I want for a room so when I narrow it down, I am narrowing down each piece of furniture to match/work with the other pieces. Now purchase!

Considerations

• Hardware can be changed: Don’t get stuck up on things you can change. All hardware can be changed on furniture. Maybe you found your dream piece of furniture but don’t like the knobs on it. Order it, and change out the knobs. You will end up saving money this way, because it’s likely that when you find a piece of furniture with knobs you like it will be significantly more expensive
• Sale doesn’t always mean Sale: Stores sometimes advertise “sales” but in fact they really aren’t. Stores can hick up the price on furniture and then discount it back to the original price it was. This makes you think you are getting a deal, when in fact you are paying full price. If you find a piece you like. Google it. See if you can find it anywhere else. Compare the “sale” price to the average prices you found when you did your research. 

All the Deals

I highly recommend installing the plugin Honey. When you are checking out it automatically searches the web and tries all coupon codes it can find for you. You just click a button. Sometimes there is no buyers remorse, but quite often there is. I am all about any savings. 

Best of luck furniture shopping. I hope you find the “that” piece you are looking for!