Home Furnishing and Decorating
A Personal Expression of Style

Home furnishing and decorating has shifted away from the formality when we were growing up and greater emphasis is placed on individuality and personal expression of style

Know what you love and convey your style consistently throughout the home. It's the secret to creating a happy home that reflects your personality.

The home furnishing and decorating style you choose for your personal environment must keep pace with the constant demands of a lifetime cycle. Consider your needs as your taste and lifestyle changes.

The first home or apartment when we are starting out, our home furnishing and decorating allowance may have been such that we couldn't invest much.

Then marriage, or a long term relationship, possibly children, our standard of living is on the rise, and greater choices become available to us.

Finally the empty nest stage... the kids are grown and out of the house, or we are close to retirement, we renovate, pare down, relocate or start over!

Whichever life stage you find yourself, examine your personal needs and desires before you start your home furnishing and decorating plan.

Doing your Home Furnishing and Decorating...

Flip thru magazines, collect color swatches and start a notebook to take with you shopping to record useful information, including photographs of the room/area you're are looking to furnish.

Visiting model homes can be helpful too. (And fun!)

If you are furnishing an entire house, tackle one room at a time. It is far more satisfying than trying to do too much at one time. Plus it allows you to refine your choices and develop solutions along the way, keeping you focused.

Learn what the different resources have to offer:

Warehouse showrooms: These are “hit or miss” resources because they offer no custom orders. It is stock merchandise or floor models, but well priced.

Specialty stores: Unique, one-of-kind merchandise, specializes in one type of look and atmosphere.

Discount operations: no frills atmosphere, deep discounts, catalogs orders and packaged deals.

Department stores: a division inside your favorite department store, often offers private label merchandise.

Custom: cabinet or furniture maker who will make furniture from his own portfolio or your specifications.

Be comfortable with the store you are going to do business with and have trust in the people who work there. Become friendly and use their expertise.

Know the place of operation has a good standing in the community, should there be a problem after taking delivery. They will support their product with exceptional service, (or should.)

Trust your instincts and feel good about your decisions, don’t be talked into anything.

An alternative to buying new, is used or antique furniture. You will want to know what you are looking at because sometimes you are paying for the fact that it is "an antique". The money you save on used furniture can be lost if recovering or refinishing is needed.

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