How To Buy Furniture: 14 Mistakes To Avoid

Much to the consternation of our wallets (and our better judgment), a little impulse shopping is hardly the end of the world. That is unless you’ve gone and made a major, spontaneous purchase. Then, you just might find yourself facing an over-extended budget and buyer’s regret. 

Furniture is one thing that should never be bought on a whim. This is one impromptu purchase that is far too expensive, heavy, and burdensome to replace if you decide to return it as quickly as you bought it.

Instead, interior designers recommend taking your time when shopping for furniture, and putting some serious thought and planning in before making any decisions. For example, Virginia-based designer Caroline Agee advises furniture shoppers to consider functionality, style, durability, and cohesiveness before taking anything home with them.

To make the smartest furniture-buying decisions possible, we talked to three interior designers about how to buy furniture and which mistakes to avoid. The interior designers say that ignoring these oversights may lead to disappointing furniture that’s improperly scaled, low quality, or not meant for the long haul.

Mistake #1: Buying First, Planning Later

Before you even begin browsing, a planning stage is essential, designers reveal. Shopping unprepared might just be the biggest furniture woe yet.

“Purchasing furniture isn’t like purchasing artwork,” says Whitney Ray, a Georgia-based interior designer. “With art, you can almost always find a home for it. Artwork doesn’t need to necessarily work with anything else in the space. With furniture, it needs to be the right size, color scheme, and style to fit in with your space.”

Solution: Create A Plan Of Your Space

Agee agrees, sharing her strategy to bypass this miscalculation: “I always determine what dimensions would work best before I begin looking for a piece of furniture,” she says. “It’s best to have a furniture layout for a space so you have a long-term plan. Having a plan not only helps determine what dimensions will work best, but also helps to coordinate the style, fabric, and finishes of multiple pieces. It also helps to avoid ending up with pieces that don’t end up working.”

Mistake #2: Forgetting A Budget

Furnishing gets expensive: The average cost to furnish a three-bedroom house can range anywhere from $10,000 to $40,000. You can easily run out of cash fast.

Solution: Be Strategic With Spending Money

You need to be strategic about which pieces you’re investing in. You don’t have to spend hundreds— or thousands—of dollars on every piece of furniture or decor in your home. However, if you do plan to drop some serious cash, you should make sure it’s a well-made, classic piece that will last you years to come in terms of construction, style, and use. Good investment pieces include a dining table, a quality sofa, a wooden dresser, and a china cabinet.

Additionally, when you’re planning your budget and shopping around, ensure that the final cost of a piece, including things like reupholstering and shipping, fits in the amount you’ve designated.

Mistake #3: Overlooking Function

Considering function before shopping is top priority, designers say. With some foresight, you’ll surely save yourself lots of time shopping around and ultimately settle on a more fitting piece of furniture.

“Think about functionality for a space,” says Agee. “For instance, you may have room for a console table, a chest with drawers, or a cabinet with doors. Having an idea of what will function best helps you spend less time searching for the right piece.”

This rule applies to both choosing what kind of furniture you’re on the prowl for, as well as critical details. Agee also says that one common mistake she sees furniture shoppers make is not putting enough thought into what kind of fabric will best suit their functional needs for an upholstered piece. Consider your durability needs, she says, and Texas-based interior designer Sarah Brannon recommends that shoppers consider whether or not they wish to choose a performance fabric.

Solution: Keep Your Plan On You While Shopping

“When shopping for new furniture, keep notes with you about ideal dimensions and bring fabric swatches with you while you shop,” Ray says. “Anything you can do to feel more confident in your choice will lead to less buyer’s remorse.”

Mistake #4: Living Solely In The Moment

When shopping for furniture, think long-term. Interior designers agree that considering longevity is critical, both from a quality and design perspective. Ray recommends avoiding short-lived trends and asking yourself the questions: “Will I love this in five years? 10 years?”

Solution: Be Prepared To Wait

At times, thinking long-term might even mean making sacrifices in the short term. These days, furniture can take what feels like ages to arrive, but Agee reassures that timeless, quality furniture will be worth the wait. 

“I think people often want what’s available the soonest or they want to save money by buying a less expensive piece of furniture,” she says. “The best way to be happy with furniture for a long time is by carefully weighing the options and being okay with spending a little bit more or waiting slightly longer for it to arrive. Of course, if you spot a one-of-a-kind piece that you love, you should go for it!”

Mistake #5: Buying To Fill A Gap

Like decor, furniture shouldn’t be purchased only for the sake of closing a gap. Just because you’re in the market for a new coffee table, doesn’t mean that you should settle for the first one you see. 

“Furniture shouldn’t be purchased simply because you have a hole to fill,” says Ray. “It should be something that caught your eye compared to all of the other options. Something that drew you in.”

Solution: Be Okay With Temporary Solutions

Some pieces of furniture have long wait or shipping times. It’s best to be content with your temporary solution while you wait for your dream piece to arrive than to drop quite a bit of money on poor-quality furniture that will break or look out of date in a year or two.

Mistake #6: Taking Furniture At Face Value

Looks aren’t everything. As with people, beauty has to come from the inside. In fact, if something must slip through the cracks, it should be design over quality. While falling for a short-lived furniture trend isn’t advisable, it’s much easier to fix the look of a piece than its foundation. 

“I have consigned pieces that no longer work with my aesthetic,” Agee admits to her own past furniture mistakes. “Quality pieces can be transformed with paint, a new finish, or new hardware, too.”

Solution: Do Your Research

To avoid such missteps, Ray recommends researching a piece rather than simply being satisfied with the look of it online or in a showroom. Once you find a piece of furniture you’re interested in, take a step back and do your due diligence to make sure it’s right for you.

“Do your research on the quality of the piece,” Ray advises. “What materials is the piece made from, for instance is it real wood, and what kind of cushion content does it contain? Even if something is inexpensive, you’re throwing away money if it isn’t going to last you but a year or two.”

Mistake #7: Saying Yes To Bony Upholstery

If you’re not in the know on good furniture construction, you could fall victim to poorly made pieces. A couch may look beautiful in store but could fall apart the moment you host your first movie night or rip when your dog hops up on the cushion.

Solution: Check The Piece Before Buying

Having selected many pieces of furniture in her days as a designer, Ray reveals that there’s a sure-fire way to tell if a piece of upholstery is quality enough to consider buying. 

“If you push on the arm or back of upholstery and can feel the wood through the fabric, it’s going to be a no,” she says. “Look for thicker upholstery with plenty of cushion. Remember, when viewing furniture in a store or showroom, you are seeing the best that a piece of furniture is going to look, so you need to feel it’s of good quality.”

When you sit and sample on a showroom piece, if it demonstrates this red flag, then the furniture is immediately out of the running, Ray says—not even worth moving on to the research phase.

Mistake #8: One-Stop-Shopping

“Do not one-stop-shop for your room,” Brannon pleads. “Mix it up from various places and select colors, patterns, and textures that are interesting!” This could make your home look boring or generic—plus, you may not be getting the best deal.

Solution: Shop Around

In addition to building a space that’s layered and appealing, considering multiple stores is a reliable way to avoid making an impulsive purchase. Agee recommends shopping around for the best piece to suit your needs, style, and budget before coming to any decision. 

“Once I have an idea of the style and dimensions of the piece I’m looking for, I like to look at multiple stores for similar pieces that I like,” she says. “Then I can compare them based on a number of criteria, like price, finish options, and lead time. Comparing multiple pieces helps me eliminate which ones aren’t my favorite. This helps me feel like I’m making the best decision and prevents buyer’s remorse.”

Mistake #9: Pigeon-Holing Pieces

You don’t want to force a specific piece into your home just because it fits the design aesthetic or it’s the right dimensions. If it feels clunky or off in the space, it probably is. The best way to style your space, designers say, is to mix and match.

Solution: Get Creative

When shopping for multiple pieces of furniture, another way to shop for furniture to build an interesting and layered space is to push the boundaries of design. Rather than feeling limited by a strict color palette, design style, or any other constraints (apart from space), creativity is encouraged.

“I love when various design styles are used cohesively in one space,” Agee says. “My favorite rooms incorporate old and new pieces in various finishes. It’s fun to mix a neoclassical antique with a mid-century modern piece, and sleek current upholstered pieces. Mixing styles and finishes helps a space feel collected and personal to the homeowner.”

Mistake #10: Ignoring Bad Bones

A reliable and beautiful piece of furniture that’s in it for the long haul begins with good bones. Cushions can be replaced, wood can be restrained, and fabric reupholstered, but if the foundation of a piece of furniture fails, you’ll be back at square one of the furniture shopping dilemma.

Solution: Pay Attention To The Base Of The Piece

“It’s important to pick furniture pieces with good lines,” says Agee. “A new coat of paint or fabric can’t fix a bad silhouette. I look for silhouettes that are sleek and timeless.”

Mistake #11: Shopping Outside Of Sales 

If you’ve ever watched a TV commercial, you’ll know furniture stores love a good holiday sale. While some may think these sales are just gimmicks to get folks shopping, they can help you save a good deal of money. 

Solution: Figure Out The Sales Schedule

Pay attention to when your favorite store hosts sales and how much off they offer. You can also ask a sales associate when the next promotion is, too.

Generally, though, New Year’s, President’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Black Friday will all have big sales. There will also be sales in January and July when stores are getting new inventory in and need to clear the old stuff out. 

Mistake #12: Only Buying Online

Shopping online has quite literally opened the world to people. Why settle for the boring sideboard at your local big-box store when you can order your dream buffet online? However, with online shopping comes the risks of scams, broken pieces upon delivery, and difficulty returning inadequate furniture. 

Solution Be Wary With Online Listings

Like we said above, you should do your research before you buy anything online. Compare prices of the piece, look at company reviews, and the store’s return policies. If you’re able to see the piece in person—and order it later online—do so. Sometimes, in-person a piece you loved in the picture falls flat. 

Mistake #13: Furnishing A Whole Room With Flat-Pack Furniture

Ready-to-assemble furniture, also called flat-pack, is a great, financially accessible option to furnish a space. And they’re great to customize with your own style. But as anyone who’s tried to read the instructions of a build-it-yourself dresser’s instructions, the whole process of building it yourself is stressful. You’ll probably shed an angry tear or two. And a cabinet face could look crooked.  

Plus, these types of furniture are often made of cheap materials like particle board or MDF that won’t last as long as furniture made from real wood. 

Solution: Mix It With Preassembled Pieces

If your entire space is flat-packed furniture, your room is likely to look stale. Mix flat-pack furniture with pre-built or more unique pieces to give your room some depth and interest. Take a cue, too, from DIY influencers online hacking Ikea’s Billy Bookcase, and don’t be afraid to customize your flatpack furniture. A fresh coat of paint, new knobs, and even peel-and-stick wallpaper in the back of a shelf can do wonders in making a run-of-the-mill cabinet or bookcase look interesting. 

Additionally, some flat-pack stores will assemble the furniture. It may come with an additional fee, but that fee may be worth it. 

Mistake #14: Purchasing Everything New

There’s a certain rush when you swipe your card at your favorite home decor store and take home your new lamp. Or, when you see an online ad for a brand-new boucle chair, and you hit “buy now.” However, buying everything new for your space can get costly and can easily blow your budget. 

Solution: Consider Shopping Secondhand For Some Things 

While there are some items you should always buy new, like mattresses, cribs, and appliances, there are plenty of home furnishings that you’re better off buying secondhand.  Items at your local thrift or charity shop or online on Facebook Marketplace are generally cheaper, often better constructed, and can give your space more patina. Secondhand furniture to look for includes chests, footstools, dining tables, chairs, and vintage rugs. Just be sure to access any piece you’re considering for quality (ask yourself, “is it well made?”) and be wary of scams before you buy.