Buying a piece of furniture isn't as simple as going to the store and picking out what you like. I can't tell you how often I have been in a home or hear of someone buying a piece of furniture and bringing it home to find, it doesn't fit in the door, it barely fits in the room, or it doesn't relate to any of the other furniture.
I'm sure we've all seen the room where they marched off to the store, bought the whole set (because it all goes together and it's such a good price) and brought it home to cram in their tiny room.
PLEASE stop doing that! Before you even set foot in a furniture store you need to measure your room. Get out a tape measure and a piece of paper and draw your room labeled with your measurements. If you happen to have a piece of graph paper, even better. Draw your room to scale (every box = 1 sq ft). Also measure the doors into your house and the room your furniture will go. Can you actually fit that king mattress around all those tight corners, down the cramped hall and into your 10 by 10 bedroom?
Once you have all of your measurements think about what your needs are for the room. A living room for example. Do you host a lot of people in that room or is it just for you and your family? If you host a lot of cocktail type parties in that room your needs will be very different than if it's just you and your family of four watcing movies.
Based on your needs make a list. Seating for 8. Storage for 150 movies. Side tables large enough to hold table lamps. etc
Now if you want you can make a first trip to the store to get some ideas and measurements or take a look at some furniture store sites to get measurements. With those ideas and measurements cut out some "furniture" to move around the picture of the room you drew. You could also make giant cut outs with craft paper to use in the actual room or make outlines on your floor with painters tape but I find the drawing method much easier. Don't make your floorplan based on a "set" of furniture (couch, loveseat, and chair for example) make it based on your needs.
Once you've come up with a floor plan that best suits your needs and you can see what comfortably fits in your room (and what size of furniture you can get through your door) then it's time to go to the store and actually start shopping. Remember to take your tape measure along to double check sizes.
I'll have some more tips in my next post!
If that's more work than you're wanting to put in or you think you'd like some assistance making the right choice, I'd be happy to come help! Email me realinteriors@hotmail.com
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