The largest investment that one makes during the lifetime is perhaps buying or constructing a home which is the most prized possession. Next, comes purchasing a car and close behind it, people do not mind spending significantly on furniture. To make the home décor express your style and taste, you need suitable furniture which is why planning for furniture is often a part of interior decoration. The looks of your home interior and the kind of ambiance largely depend on the selection of furniture, and it is likely that you do not mind spending some decent sum in buying the right furniture. People spend thousands of dollars on purchasing furniture which often needs replacement whenever there is a home upgrade that changes the interior settings.
The design and style of furniture are the most dominant factors during selection because the furniture must be appealing enough to enhance the looks of the place. At the same time, durability is a significant factor because furniture buying involves good investment and it’s long lasting ensures justified returns from the investment. People often experiment with cheap furniture by giving more emphasis to the looks over durability only to learn the hard way that they have made a big mistake. Even if you buy cheap new furniture, be ready to invest frequently in changing it as it would simply not last long enough.
People who have experienced the futility of choosing looks over durability have quickly realized their mistakes and decided to buy only quality furniture that lasts long and looks beautiful too. The better you can balance the factors of style; design and durability better would be the satisfaction of making a good purchase and return on investment. Focusing on the right factors during furniture selection is not enough to buy the right quality of furniture unless you have knowledge about what constitutes furniture quality especially for wooden furniture. In addition, you must know the common mistakes that people commit when buying furniture so that you can avoid it.
First, let us look at the mistakes to avoid in furniture buying especially if you want to buy the best furniture online.
Measurements
Never make the mistake of choosing the furniture first without thinking about the available space at the place where you want to install it. The most important aspect of furniture buying is to ensure first that the furniture will fit well at the designated place and will not look something out of sorts. The dimensions of the space where you want to place it determine what would be the right size of the furniture. Next, is the furniture design which impacts the size because to create some specific designs the furniture must be of some stipulated size.
Take proper measurements of the place of installation and ensure that there is enough space left after placing the furniture for accessibility and ease of movement around it. Never should the space look cramped as it can make people feel uncomfortable and even the best piece of furniture would appear to be a misfit.
Consider the space available at home including door sizes and passages so that it is easy to manoeuvre the furniture across it for taking it to the place of installation. Choosing the wrong size of furniture can turn out very expensive if you want to send it back to the store.
Compatibility with the setting
It is not enough to ensure good looks of furniture because it must be in tune with the theme of the overall interior décor. When you are visiting a store or looking at a furniture catalogue of some online furniture store, it is not always easy to envisage how well the piece of furniture will match with the surroundings of the place where you want to install it. It is a very important factor because the furniture design and style must go with the flow of the overall scheme of interior design and stay aligned with it as if it is an integral part. It should never appear like something imposed upon the place without any relation to other pieces of existing furniture. The colour of furnishings might look beautiful in the showroom under the lights but will it be the same in your home setting? Bringing a colour swatch to home to see how it matches with the surroundings is a better way of understanding the compatibility of the furniture in its actual setting.
Fit to your lifestyle
The furniture must be suitable for supporting your lifestyle and should not interfere with it. Consider the kind of family you have including children, elderly people, and pets so that you can decide about the design and style accordingly. For example, you may have a strong liking for silk upholstery of chairs but have kids and pets at home that can damage it quickly and choosing the furniture would be a waste of money. The furniture must stand the test of time, and this must be the prime consideration to enjoy high durability that justifies the price. Careful thinking about all aspects that impact the life and looks of furniture is extremely important to save money in furniture buying.
Wood furniture can last well beyond a lifetime and is even a part of luxurious living as it looks elegant and classic. But you must know what makes for a long lasting and strong piece of furniture because wood can often be quite deceptive. Judging the quality of wood furniture by understanding what lies beneath the surface is not at all easy, but unless you can do it, you can never evaluate its quality in terms of durability. It requires some knowledge about timber quality by looking into the aspects of composition and construction and for the upholstery material too that accompanies it.
Composition of wood furniture
Trying to figure out the quality of wood from the literal meaning of words can have some funny outcome as some people have experienced. Hardwood does not always mean the toughest wood because hardwood like aspen is even much softer than many other softwoods. Actually, timber from deciduous trees is hardwood and timber obtained from coniferous trees constitutes softwood. Evaluating wood objectively instead of going by the name is a better way of ascertaining its quality. To maintain the good looks of wood surface, regardless whether it is softwood or hardwood, scratch the surface with your fingernail to see any visible marks of denting. Choose wood that does not have knots that makes it susceptible to cracking. Particle boards, fibre boards and pressed are like wood but not pure wood.
Construction of wood furniture
Wood alone does not make excellent and long-lasting furniture because the construction method must make it strong enough to withstand the strains of extended use. The wood joints must be strong and rigid to ensure good furniture quality. Using dowels and screws for joints makes joints strong, and the type of joint adds to the strength. To fix two planks of wood, using the technique of dove-tail joints or mortise and tenon joints is the standard norm that ensures firm bonding. Corners joints need special reinforcement by attaching a reinforcing block at an angle.
To impart more structural stability to a chest of drawers or desk, the norm is to use thin sheets of wood between drawers known as dust panels that also protect the contents of the drawers. Drawers must have stops to prevent pulling them out completely which can happen at any time. Ideally, drawers must float in a groove for providing extra strength and leaving room for expansion and contraction of the wood due to changes in humidity.
Upholstery material
The removable cushions used on sofas and chairs can often be a cause of concern if it is not of the right quality. Cushions are made from foam block covered with cotton or Dacron with a protective inner cover made from muslin. The density rating of foam should be 1.8 pounds or higher because foam only cushions are not much comfortable to use and do not last long. Removable back cushions have loosely filled foam and having several internal compartments for filling the foam ensures that it does not settle.
Upholstered furniture construction
When buying upholstered furniture, you must rely on your feelings while testing the furniture at the showroom by sitting on it. Usually springs of different types placed inside the upholstery ensure comfortable sitting and you can sit at various places to get a feel of it to determine its usefulness. The balanced feeling of pressure and resistance when pressing down on the upholstery of the sofa or chair gives a measure of comfort that you can derive from the furniture. Some cushions are reversible that doubles its life. Check the thickness and depth of the cushions by squeezing the arms and back of the furniture to see that the padding is thick enough as you should not be able to feel the frame.
So, now you know what should the right way to prepare for buying furniture that gives back more than what you pay.
Leave a Reply