I hate furniture shopping. Need suggestions as to where to shop

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alfa147x

alfa147x

Lifer
Jul 14, 2005
29,307
106
106
So I'm currently living in housing provided by the company I work for. My last two apartments have been furnished (Nothing fancy just targeted towards college students)

Now I need furniture. I so far have been to:
Pottery Barn
American Signature Furniture
Ashley Furniture
Macy's Furniture

I have so far only liked the furniture at Pottery Barn. I know it's more expensive of the one's I'v been to but their quality feels so much better. This is a lot of money:
Bed + Dresser: $1000
2x Bed Side: $450

That's just the bedroom. I'm going to need office furniture too! Later when I don't have a roommate with living room furniture I'm going to need that too... It's not that I can't afford it. I just don't want to spend so much money without comparing prices.

Any recommendations for places to go look at?

Thanks!
 
ponyo

ponyo

Lifer
Feb 14, 2002
19,688
2,810
126
Ikea.
Costco. It's in season right now so check the warehouses. Selections vary by store.
 
Last edited:
J

John P

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,426
2
0
If you're just looking for functional inexpensive living room furniture JC Penney has some deals now and then. I thought I saw some decent deals in todays (Sunday) flyer.
 
Bignate603

Bignate603

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
13,897
1
0
alfa147x said:
Quality? Lol
Click to expand...

It depends what you buy. Typically they have their particle board stuff and then an option for something made out of real wood. We've got a pine TV stand, pine table (like the size of a small dining table), and a big kitchen island with a thick butcher block top from Ikea and they're all very solid.

If you want nicer stuff crate and barrel is good. For really well built furniture you could take a look at Stickley. It will outlast you but be prepared to pay quite a bit for it.
 
alfa147x

alfa147x

Lifer
Jul 14, 2005
29,307
106
106
Bignate603 said:
It depends what you buy. Typically they have their particle board stuff and then an option for something made out of real wood. We've got a pine TV stand, pine table (like the size of a small dining table), and a big kitchen island with a thick butcher block top from Ikea and they're all very solid.

If you want nicer stuff crate and barrel is good. For really well built furniture you could take a look at Stickley. It will outlast you but be prepared to pay quite a bit for it.
Click to expand...

Well I guess I'll go take a look... I shouldn't make assumptions...

Thanks for the recommendations!
 
Imp

Imp

Lifer
Feb 8, 2000
18,828
184
106
Ikea

Or check Ikea, then go on Craigslist to find someone desperate to get rid of theirs.
 
CrazyAznDriver

CrazyAznDriver

Golden Member
Nov 28, 2010
1,200
0
0
If you like crate and barrel, you could check out Room and Board. I liked a lot of their stuff too. It was basically between those 2 when we were outfitting our new house.
 
DrPizza

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
49,601
167
111
www.slatebrookfarm.com
If it helps, I've found that when more than one furniture store carries the same line of stuff, they're willing to negotiate on furniture. Found a living room set at one place - Couch & sofa, plus two end tables and a coffee table. Asked the salesman what the total price would be for the entire set. He started calculating. My cost was going to be the sum of all the individual pieces - no discount for getting an entire living room full of furniture. When I mentioned this to him & how most of the other entire sets were discounted somewhat, he said, "tell ya what, I'll give you 10% off the end tables." "Okay, we'll think about it."

Drove to Ramour & Flanigan (spelling?) - they were having their bullshit "do you have the magic key, get people in the door" sale. Bypassed the line of people hoping to have the key that opens the treasure chest. Found a salesman. "Yeah, we're interested in a particular Broyhill set of furniture..." "Okay, I think we have that set up on the third floor." "No, I know what it looks like. I don't need to see it again. The fabric I want is this,... I just want to know what your best price is on that set." "If I give you my best price, will you buy it now?" "If you beat the other place, I have cash in my pocket. <display cash.>" I saved hundreds ($700?) on the furniture.
 
Bignate603

Bignate603

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
13,897
1
0
DrPizza said:
If it helps, I've found that when more than one furniture store carries the same line of stuff, they're willing to negotiate on furniture. Found a living room set at one place - Couch & sofa, plus two end tables and a coffee table. Asked the salesman what the total price would be for the entire set. He started calculating. My cost was going to be the sum of all the individual pieces - no discount for getting an entire living room full of furniture. When I mentioned this to him & how most of the other entire sets were discounted somewhat, he said, "tell ya what, I'll give you 10% off the end tables." "Okay, we'll think about it."

Drove to Ramour & Flanigan (spelling?) - they were having their bullshit "do you have the magic key, get people in the door" sale. Bypassed the line of people hoping to have the key that opens the treasure chest. Found a salesman. "Yeah, we're interested in a particular Broyhill set of furniture..." "Okay, I think we have that set up on the third floor." "No, I know what it looks like. I don't need to see it again. The fabric I want is this,... I just want to know what your best price is on that set." "If I give you my best price, will you buy it now?" "If you beat the other place, I have cash in my pocket. <display cash.>" I saved hundreds ($700?) on the furniture.
Click to expand...

One other trick, hit the stores when they're doing a change over between styles, some will do change for different "seasons". Why they change out interior furniture that they're selling for summer or winter is beyond me, but it can still help you save if you buy stuff while they're getting rid of old inventory. For example, Crate and Barrel changes out the stuff on their floor twice a year, once in the summer and once around Christmas. They also change out a limited amount of stuff when they do their "Custom Fabric" event. If you hit them when they're doing the change over you can buy up floor models and sometimes any stock of discontinued stuff for very deep discounts. We picked up a nice upholstered chair for 70% off after the custom fabric thing. It took the price from "hell no" to "reasonable". ;)
 
PowerEngineer

PowerEngineer

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2001
3,586
762
136
One question to ask yourself is just how settled down are you becoming. If you expect to be relocating a lot, then perhaps you don't want to invest big dollars in nice furniture that will need to be hauled around with you. There's freedom in having furniture cheap enough to discard if you need to move across the state or across the country.
 
sdifox

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,941
17,367
126
any Amish people around you? They still make old fashioned solid wood furnitures the old fashioned way. You go in, specify what you want, and it gets built.
 
BarkingGhostar

BarkingGhostar

Diamond Member
Nov 20, 2009
8,410
1,617
136
alfa147x said:
So I'm currently living in housing provided by the company I work for. My last two apartments have been furnished (Nothing fancy just targeted towards college students)

Now I need furniture. I so far have been to:
Pottery Barn
American Signature Furniture
Ashley Furniture
Macy's Furniture

I have so far only liked the furniture at Pottery Barn. I know it's more expensive of the one's I'v been to but their quality feels so much better. This is a lot of money:
Bed + Dresser: $1000
2x Bed Side: $450

That's just the bedroom. I'm going to need office furniture too! Later when I don't have a roommate with living room furniture I'm going to need that too... It's not that I can't afford it. I just don't want to spend so much money without comparing prices.

Any recommendations for places to go look at?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Brownlee's Furniture in Lawrenceville. Of course, if you are looking for cheap furniture then I have no recommendations for you. The Costco suggestion is valid, but their offering is sporadic, unpredictable at times, do not deliver when buying from the local warehouse, etc., but I have bought furniture from them locally.
 
rudeguy

rudeguy

Lifer
Dec 27, 2001
47,351
14
61
sdifox said:
any Amish people around you? They still make old fashioned solid wood furnitures the old fashioned way. You go in, specify what you want, and it gets built.
Click to expand...

I'm 75% Amo

I can't cut a straight line to save my life though...
 
dabuddha

dabuddha

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
19,579
17
81
Bought our formal living room sofa/table set from Marlos
Bought our family room + futon + dining room set from Sams Club.
 
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