Furnishing and decorating a home can be pricey with a capital P. And that expense can feel even more drastic if it’s coming on the heels of paying for or contributing to your wedding. Fortunately, there are many affordable furniture brands that don’t sacrifice style for price. So you can turn your marital house into a home without maxing out your credit cards—or losing your mind.
When searching for home decor and furniture brands to shop from, consider the aesthetic and vibe you want to create. Do you want a rustic-chic ambiance? Companies that offer statement leather chairs and sturdy wooden tables are the way to go. Looking for something modern and minimalistic? Opt for pieces in sleek, solid colors and simple designs. Once you decide on your dream home aesthetic, review the materials, overall quality, customer reviews, and delivery and assembly options.
To help you enhance your home at a fraction of the price, we researched a variety of trusted, high-quality affordable furniture brands and retailers with these considerations in mind. For unique pieces to elevate your space, we love World Market and Article. If you’re looking for a little bit of everything, you can never go wrong with Amazon or IKEA.
Read on for the best affordable furniture brands.
When in doubt, shop from Wayfair. That isn’t their motto, but it should be. Whatever your affordable furniture wish may be, odds are exceedingly good that this online retailer has it—and all kinds of varieties of it. While prices are already good to begin with, it doesn’t hurt that there always seems to be a sale going on, and it’s not too difficult to find discount codes on top of that.
The customer service is great (always worth noting), and be sure to check out the reviews section, which is particularly helpful when trying to get some real-world input on things like actual color or texture or assembly time. You’ll find everything from top-rated office chairs to upgrade your work-from-home office to stylish and comfortable couches for your living room.
A fairly new player in the affordable furniture scene, this brand fills a void in the industry that until late had been missing. Not only are the furniture pieces affordable, but they’re all completely customizable in an extensive array of fabrics. “Custom furniture for a cookie-cutter price” is the tagline, and indeed that’s what you’ll get. There are over 100 different prints and fabrics to choose from.
These include both a core collection and partnerships with heritage fabric brands, such as Old World Weavers and Scalamandré. Feeling overwhelmed? There’s a helpful quiz that can help narrow down your style, and the options are also categorized by design aesthetic. Oh, and we should mention that you can also order swatches for a dollar a pop if you prefer to see your fabric first. If you’ve always had your heart set on a cheetah print ottoman (and really, who hasn’t?), you’re in luck.
Whereas the idea of buying a couch online was once a foreign concept to many, it’s now more commonplace than ever with no shortage of sofa-selling sites. If you’re having trouble finding a couch or sectional that will fit your particular space, this is the place to shop. Not only can you customize the design—choose a style among 14 different collections in an array of aesthetics and pick from over 100 colors of fabric and leather—you can also change the size in five-inch increments.
For example, this option comes in 67 different sizes. While the prices are slightly higher than some other affordable furniture brands, the customization factor makes it well worth it. Plus, if you’re going to shell out more money somewhere, a couch is a good place to do so. Just think about how much use it gets! Don’t love the final result? There’s a free 100-day trial period. But perhaps the best feature of all is that you’ll get your new couch in just four weeks, notably faster than the eight to 16-week lead time for many similar custom couch sites.
Adding unique, vintage pieces is key for good design, and World Market is where you find those “vintage” pieces if you don’t actually have any. Take, for example, this coffee table, which you could easily say was handmade by your Great Uncle Ned back in 1902 if you really wanted to. They also do the boho aesthetic particularly well—as seen in both their furniture and accessory offerings—and we’re big fans of their affordable outdoor furnishings, too.
And while we’re all about online shopping, those who prefer to actually touch, feel, and sit on the furniture they’re going to buy will appreciate that there are plenty of World Market stores to be found across the country. If you are in-store shopping, you can buy many of the pieces already assembled, taking one extra thing off your to-do list. And don’t forget to sign up for their loyalty Explorer program to earn points (aka money back) and get exclusive invites to sales and more.
Okay, so technically there’s no furniture to be found here, but there is pretty much everything else you need to turn your house into a home. We’re talking about every last detail and accessory, from adorable baskets to candlesticks to vases to Southwestern-inspired throw pillows and blankets.
Just like with the brand’s fashion offerings, the prices can’t be beaten. It’s a major win when you’re decorating on a budget, since not only are all of these accessories the finishing touches you need to really complete your home décor, but the affordable prices mean you can easily switch them out to completely transform the entire look and feel of a room. This is a great alternative when a full furniture overhaul isn’t quite in the cards.
If you’re anything like us, Amazon is probably already your go-to for everything from underwear to dog treats to hot sauce to ant traps to…you get the point! But the site is also a treasure trove of incredible, wallet-friendly furniture finds from a wide array of brands.
Case in point: A recent search for “furniture” yielded over 20,000 results. But don’t worry, you don’t need to scroll through all of those. Get super specific in your search term and browse by the department to find exactly what you need, be that a bookshelf or bar cabinet. If it’s the latter, we suggest this two-tone, mid-century piece. We can easily see it serving a number of different functions in various rooms.
Our go-to move is checking Amazon for specific pieces from brands we’ve seen elsewhere, as the odds are good you can find them at a more affordable price and with faster shipping. To that point, let’s not forget that possibly the best part of Amazon shopping is the free Prime delivery and returns, a major selling point for those who might be prone to changing their minds post-purchase.
Did you know that you don’t always have to buy furniture, and you can actually just rent it? Mind-blowing, we know! Think of Fernish as a Rent the Runway for furniture. The LA-based brand was started by two entrepreneurs who wanted to find a way to make moving and furnishing new homes easier—and more affordable. How it works: Check out their offerings—there’s not only furniture for every room but also accessories such as rugs, lighting, art, and more—and pick what you like. We have our eye on this boxy accent chair, clad in ribbed gray velvet. You pay a monthly rental price for each item, which is delivered, assembled, and placed in your space.
You get three days to make sure you like it and if not, you can swap it out for free. Once your rental period is up, you can either keep the item and just pay the difference between what you’ve paid in rental costs and the retail price, or swap it out and start again. It’s a brilliant concept, particularly for those who may be moving frequently, aren’t quite sure of their design aesthetic, or don’t want to commit to a piece without living with it first. While they’re currently only available in Los Angeles, Orange County, and the Seattle area, they’re quickly expanding nationwide, so keep your eyes peeled.
Insert obligatory “duh” here. Essentially synonymous with affordable furniture, IKEA is the ultimate destination for inexpensive furnishings. We know what you’re thinking—yes, the assembly process can be a bear and the impetus for many a fight among spouses. But since you’re saving so much money on the actual furniture, you can hire someone to do the hard work for you while you kick back and enjoy the store’s bring-home frozen Swedish meatballs.
In our experience, the quality of IKEA furniture can vary slightly, but one staple that always wins is this ever-popular Billy bookcase. It’s so popular, in fact, that it’s estimated that one is sold every five seconds somewhere in the world. There are a ton of different variants on the classic design in different sizes, configurations, and colors, but you can’t go wrong with this tall white option with glass doors. If you want to take it one step further, Google “IKEA hack billy bookcase” and peruse through the thousands of creative ways to turn this simple staple into an eye-catching showpiece.
When this direct-to-consumer brand first launched in 2013 they set out to completely reimagine the backend of the furniture-buying experience. Rather than there being several different middlemen in between the manufacturer and consumer, Article is the only go-between. That direct relationship translates to a drastically lower-end price tag for you, up to 30% lower to be exact. The aesthetic is clean and classic, with a nod to both Scandinavian and mid-century modern inspiration, as seen in their selection of chairs and dining tables specifically.
This particular table earns our vote for the impeccable quality, beautiful design, and various sizes and finishes—and the fact that assembly only takes 15 minutes. For those who might have trouble visualizing how certain pieces might look together in one room, the site also offers helpful one-click rooms where they do all the hard design work for you, bundling furniture together (and you save even more money when purchasing said bundle).
If you need to buy bigger items for your living room, like a sofa, sectional, loveseat, or armchair, you’re wise to look at the offerings from Albany Park. The brand’s sectionals start at around $1,700, and you can get a sofa for as low as $1,100. Of course, these prices aren’t the cheapest you’ll find, but you can definitely count on quality. You can also check out using Affirm and pay for your furniture through smaller monthly installments. And shipping is usually free.
We like that you can choose from various upholstery materials, colors, and leg styles, many of which are in stock and ready to ship. Not only that, but the designs are made with easy assembly in mind—most won’t take you more than 10 minutes to put together.
Best for Bedroom Furniture
Birch Lane is an excellent resource for bedroom furniture. You can get a bed frame for a little over $300 and a solid wood dresser for about the same price. The brand also carries mattresses, headboards, nightstands, armoires, vanity tables, benches, and accent chairs. Large furniture items from Birch Lane usually call for at-home assembly, but you can add professional assembly to your order if you’re not up for it.
We like that you can filter by price, material, color, or style and read through reviews to see what other buyers said about a particular piece of furniture. Most items are in stock and ready to ship, and shipping is typically free.
What to Consider When Buying Affordable Furniture
Design Aesthetic
When shopping on a budget, search for furniture brands that align with the overall aesthetic you want to help elevate your space. If you love a vintage-inspired look, you might shop from a brand like World Market, which offers unique and rustic furniture pieces. If you’re drawn to mid-century modern furnishings, Article might be more up your alley.
Materials and Quality
Once you choose the vibe and ambiance you want to inspire in your home, take a closer look at the materials used, the overall quality and construction, customer reviews, and the delivery and assembly options. Some brands even offer completely customizable furniture and home decor designs–that’s why we love BenchMade Modern and The Inside.
Assembly
When you buy affordable furniture online, you can usually expect to have to assemble it yourself (at least partially) at home. Newlyweds arguing over putting together an IKEA couch might seem like a cliché, but many married couples have had an experience just like this. If you’d rather sidestep the task, some retailers—like Birch Lane, Wayfair, and Amazon—give you the option to add professional assembly to your order.
Don’t Rush It
Shopping for new furniture can be overwhelming. Between finding the best pieces to complement each other, figuring out your personal design aesthetic, and of course, spending a chunk of your cash on investment pieces, home makeovers are no easy task (contrary to what the HGTV shows might make you think). The best thing to do is take it one room at a time—there’s no rush when it comes to creating your dream home!
Why Trust Brides
Brides contributor Melanie Rud has nearly 15 years of journalism experience covering the beauty and lifestyle space for some of the biggest magazines and websites out there. She’s also a recent newlywed! Additional research and reporting was done by Theresa Holland, a seasoned commerce writer specializing in home goods and lifestyle.
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