Part VIII - How to Choose the Right Furniture for Your Home

Photo courtesy of Baker.com

If I asked you  ''What is the hardest thing to choose when you decorate a home?" would you say "paint color"? Many would agree that picking the right paint color is tough to get right. However in my experience, it's furniture selection can be problematic and challenging.

The challenge starts with the overwhelming variety of shapes, sizes, and price points for every type of furniture whether seating, tables or occasional pieces. But the choice is easier when you know the following bits of information, before you head out to your local furniture store:

• Know what size of furniture will fit in the room. Have a floorplan drawn to scale to discover what size of sofa or table will fit, without crowding a traffic zone.
• Determine how much seating you need on a daily basis and what you need for entertaining.
• Decide on what style of furniture suits your lifestyle and taste today. Country French may have been a favorite ten years ago, but your present lifestyle may call for a leaner and more contemporary look.
• List all the pieces you need and specify a budget for each piece.
• Create a folder of furniture styles that appeal to you to refer to when you go shopping. A picture is always worth a thousand words.
• Spend more time than you planned to find furniture. Don't settle because you can't find a certain piece right away. It's there - you just have to find it!
• Let a professional interior designer help you if you are crunched for time. They have the resources to find what you need quickly, saving you time and money in the long run.

Just as you leave construction to the builder, it might make more sense to leave the decorating to professionals. Decorating isn't just fluff. It's making your home not only beautiful, but comfortable and ageless for years to come.


M. A. Smith, Ltd.
Interior Design
732 690-2030
Allied Member ASID
http://masmithinteriordesign.com
Serving New Jersey and Metropolitan New York

Part III - an interior design best kept secret

Where do you start when you want to decorate your home?

Last week I visited the home of a couple I worked with earlier in the year. They are now enjoying their newly constructed home, but I remember the beginning of the project and how their design concept began.

In essence, with this couple and with all my clients, before design begins a lot of thinking and communication is the first step in the design process. For instance, in planning a room one needs to consider not only what will the room be used for, but how does it work with the adjacent rooms. In addition, how will you move around in the room?

Take the time to think through ideas like this:

• Will the Family Room need to seat six or eight comfortably or is it for the two of you?
• How will the room work six years from now, when the kids are away in college or when your family grows from two to six?
• What are the lighting needs? Do you read, knit or use your laptop and is there enough task lighting?

Tried but true, function is first before purchasing furniture! So, before I head out to my resources for furnishings, I make sure to complete a 'field survey' of an existing room, including photographs and measurement of everything. If it's new construction, I study the architects' plan and determine traffic patterns and available furniture placement.

Stay 'tuned' for a BestDesignCoach blog post to find out about the next item on my Website's list to consider when decorating a home.

Most important... if you or someone you know is renovating, redecorating or involved with a new construction project - send them to this page or better, send them to me to see how we can help them, or you!

Then call me, Mary Alice at 732 690-2030 or email me at: masmith729@comcast.net to get your project off to a great start.

M. A. Smith, Ltd.
Interior Design
732 690-2030
Allied Member ASID
Serving New Jersey and metropolitan New York with exceptional interior design