interior of spacious living room in country style

Tips for choosing the perfect furniture for your home

Ian Mutuli
Updated on
Ian Mutuli

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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It can be very exciting to buy furniture, whether it is because you have moved into a new home, or because you feel like it's time for a change and want to redecorate. Visiting a furniture store can be an amazing experience within itself, especially with all the different smells of new cabinets, sofas, dining tables and more.

However, choosing the perfect furniture is a different story entirely, and many people feel frustrated with all of the choice. It can be very easy to either get something that is too big, too small, or not the correct style, and you might be tempted to give up entirely. If you are needing help to get the perfect furniture, and aren’t sure what to consider or where to start, here are a few tips to help you do just that.

How many people will be using it?

The first thing to consider when buying new furniture is how many people will be using it. This is highly dependent on your lifestyle, how many friends come over, how often family visits, and how many people are living in your household. 

If you have a big family and there are many people living in your household, then you might need to consider the layout of the furniture itself. This might mean having a larger dining table, but then it also means losing out on additional furniture in the room. If you have many visitors then perhaps more sofas would be better.

If you want to have a cozy corner just for you and your partner, you can search for options that include functionalities that will make your space even more enjoyable. It is good to know that there are websites like CozySeating that can help you keep up with the trend of seating furniture with an innovative approach on cozy living solutions and having a best loveseat recliner may be something you want to consider for your perfect rest with your partner. The reviews and descriptions that you will find there are based on constant market research via feedback and studies, so this may be a good place to check.

Have a theme   

The next thing you should keep in mind would be the theme or style of your house, and this can vary quite a bit. For example, are you going for a minimalist look? Then getting large, ornately carved sofas is probably not the greatest idea since the styles would clash.

There are many potential themes out there if you haven’t decided on one just yet, such as:

  • Bohemian
  • Contemporary
  • Elegant
  • Mid century
  • Hollywood
  • Art deco
  • Classical

These are just a few, and each have their own unique characteristics, so your furniture should match.

Cheaper is sometimes more expensive          

When it comes to buying furniture, it is undoubtedly one of the most expensive things you could do, so you might be tempted to save a few bucks and buy something that is much cheaper. Why spend a lot of money? Unfortunately, furniture is, in most cases, only as good as the price tag, which means that most of the time it is not worth it to buy cheaper quality materials.                           

Expensive furniture is expensive for a reason; it lasts a lot longer than cheaper furniture. Consider for example, you buy a sofa for $1,500, instead of $2,100, thinking you have saved a lot of money, but then the cheaper sofa only lasts for 2 years whilst the more expensive lasts for 4, and at the end of the day, you have actually spent much more.

Have a budget        

A piece of advice that could be used for any stage of life is to have a budget, and this is incredibly important when deciding on furniture. When you have a budget, you know what you can and can’t afford, and this helps to also narrow down the options for what you are looking for. As mentioned, the price dictates the quality, but that isn’t always true. Just like clothing, or mobile devices, or even cars, some furniture is just more expensive simply because it was made by a certain manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean it is 100% better than a slightly cheaper option.

Do some research, learn the differences between different materials, create a budget, and you will be amazed at the options available to you. At the end of the day, you won’t get all of the furniture you want at the same time, so budget for what you can and need to get.

Size and needs

The final thing to consider when buying furniture is the size of the furniture in question, and how much room you actually have. Something that happens to everyone is going to a furniture store, seeing a piece of furniture that you fall in love with, buying it, and then realizing you don’t actually have space for it anywhere, and it ends up looking very out of place.

Before going shopping, find a spot in the room where you want to place something, take the measurements of available space, and use that as a reference when looking at furniture. Remember, a great piece of furniture will look terrible if its badly positioned in a room.         

Ian Mutuli

About the author

Ian Mutuli

Founder and Managing Editor of Archute. He is also a graduate architect from The University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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