Avoid These 5 Common Furniture Shopping Headaches with These Helpful Tips

You work hard for your money — that goes without saying. So when you are ready to take the plunge and re-do some of the rooms in your casa with some snazzy new furniture, you want to be sure you're spending those hard-earned dollars as smartly as possible.

Unfortunately, when it comes to buying furniture, some people will see something in the showroom, scream out “I LOVE that color!” and buy it without thinking about the sizes of their rooms, if it fits the rest of their decor, and if it will offer enough room for the entire family plus pets to sit on and binge watch Netflix.

So, with all of this in mind, we present to you the five most common furniture-buying mistakes and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: Buying Furniture That Doesn’t Fit Your House

When it comes to buying new furniture, we cannot over-emphasize the importance of measuring. Have you ever heard the saying “measure twice, cut once” when referring to carpentry work? We’d like to run with that proverb a bit, changing it to “measure at least three times, buy once.” 

Measure the entire room you plan to redo with new furniture, as well as your existing pieces. Then, bring along a measuring tape when you shop to see if the new sofa you adore will fit in your family room. To be super accurate, head to an art supply store and buy large rolls of brown craft paper, or use old newspapers to mark out the spaces in the room where the new furniture will go. This will give you an accurate idea of what will fit and what will not.

Mistake 2: Not Trying Before You Buy

You might think all coffee tables are alike. Heck, some of us thought that too, before we came to Jerome’s. But we are here to tell you that each piece of furniture is different in its own way, and you really should avoid impulse buying furniture based on pictures. 

Instead, visit one of our showrooms to see, feel, and try out the furniture. Do you usually lie down on your side when watching TV, with your head on a sofa cushion? By all means, feel free to do that in our showroom. Do you like a coffee table that is super high to avoid having your dog’s Power Tail send cans of Dr Pepper flying? Please come by and make sure the table you saw online and loved will be tall enough to thwart your pooch.

Mistake 3: Buying Pieces That Don’t Match Your Lifestyle

This is another issue that we see with the impulse buying crowd — folks who go gaga for a certain style of kitchen table, sofa, armchair, or end table without stopping to think if it complements what they already have and their lifestyle. 

For instance, if you have kids and the aforementioned pup who loves to fling cans of soda pop all over the place, that uber fancy-pants sofa with the unwashable velvet cover might not be your best bet. As much as you can, families and those who actually enjoy their furniture on a daily basis should probably avoid precious furnishings that cost more than a small car or have fabrics and finishes that are delicate and easily damaged.

Mistake 4: Buying Cheap

The expression “you get what you pay for” applies quite nicely to furniture. Yes, you can probably find some super cheap couch for $49 someplace, and it might even look pretty nice … for a week or two. But in our experience, spending money on cheap furniture is figuratively like throwing your money out the window. 

Pieces made from particle board and other cheap materials tend to fall apart really fast. The way we see it, it is better to invest in well-made and high quality pieces of furniture that are built to last/You will pay a bit more, but in the long run, you’ll save money because you won’t be replacing them all the time.

Mistake 5: Rushing the Process

The vast majority of the time, choosing and buying new furniture does not have to happen all in one day. Take your time, do lots of measuring, and research the furniture store where you want to shop. Also, look at reviews of the furniture brands you had in mind, along with the materials used to make the pieces. Unless your dog manages to flick the entire couch out the window with his tail and you no longer have a place to sit, this whole process is not an “emergency” type situation that has to be done right now.

Great Decision 1: Coming to See Us at Jerome’s

At Jerome’s, you’ll find plenty of attractive, durable and high quality pieces of furniture for every room in your home. We encourage you to start the shopping process at home — from the less-than-wonderful comfort of your soon-to-be-replaced-couch. Check out our selection of living room furniture and other pieces online, and then head to one of our showrooms to try everything in person and get the answers to any questions you may have from a friendly and experienced member of our team.