Monday, April 8, 2013

I thought furniture shopping would be fun! What gives!

So this weekend, I was actually able to convince my husband to go furniture shopping with me, because he hasn't given me any direction on what he wants, what we need right away, and how much we can spend on each room.  So we went to every place we could, Levin's, Ethan Allen, Macy's, Potomac, Arhaus, Restoration Hardware, Room Concepts and even made a 2 hour trip to Canton, OH to go to World Market - which I was EXTREMELY disappointed in their quality, the photos online are very deceiving!

What we both realized is that we love everything that is expensive!  LOL no surprise there, but what did surprise me is that my husband is all about shopping at the pricey places because he is more mindful of quality and would rather buy less now and spend more, than buy it all, spend less now and have to buy new stuff in 5 years.

We love the Maxwell sofa at RH and a few dinning sets at Ethan Allen.  I'm still going to go out to Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn as well.  We also still need to make it out to Sheely's in Ohio, it's not too far and their deliver for only $50 to our place.

We have prioritized the Morning Room as the #1 furniture purchase we need to make before we move in, since we don't currently have a dinning set (we eat on the couch!).  We have a living room set that I hate but it's functional.  I am also going to see about getting the chair-and-a-half we have reupholstered, it's very comfy and big and I like the lines but hate the fabric and it's just embedded with car fur!  I want to do it in a canvas or something with a tighter weave so the fut comes off easier.  We will buy the family room set down the road maybe 3 months when we have a better feel for how we want the room to be laid out.  I am also having a problem with the morning room set because we both love this table from RH but it seems too fancy to me, and I don't like any of RH's chairs for the morning room, they are all too fancy or just ugly for me and I am afraid to buy the table and not be able to find chairs for it!

My brain is fried over this but here are some pics of what we liked!  Also, any suggestions for where to buy quality solid wood tables for the morning room would be much appreciated!

 The Lancaster sofa from Restoration Hardware, this is the classic rolled arm, I like the Maxwell (below) better because I like the 2 over 2 rather than the 3 over 3 seat style, they are both so comfy though and beautiful!  The leather is worn and rough, which I love, because it will only get better with age!  And it's totally pet/kid friendly!
 The table below is from RH as well, I love this set with the chair, but they are too fancy for a morning room I think, what do you guys think of upholstered chairs for casual dinning??
 Below is a simply table, the chair though are too much (both in price AND style) I love them but not for the morning room.  Ethan Allen is so awesome though because everything is custom and I can get chairs in the same stain so I can go with simple wooden ones, and their quality is outstanding!
 Another table from EA, I love these trestle tables!  Again, the chairs pictured are too fancy, but maybe do 2 of them, one at eat head and just plain wooden ones for the middle??



16 comments:

  1. I love furniture shopping, but making decisions to actually buy is definitely not my strong suit. I grew up near Sheely's and much of the furniture that my family has came from there. We are planning to make a trip there soon for a new table. We bought our first table there 14 years ago. The only reason we are replacing it is that our tastes have changed, as has our house! When we bought the table, we were living in a 1915 house with oak cabinets. Now that we are in our sixth house (no, that is not a typo), we are ready for a change. I think it would definitely be worth a trip to Sheely's. The store is gigantic and full of quality furniture. Good luck with your shopping :)

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    1. Thanks for the feedback about Sheelys! I wasn't sure what to expect, I'm very unhappy with the things I saw at Levins, my Mom use to work there decades ago, when they carried high quality stuff but now, I just feel like I would be paying a lot for furniture that is mostly veneers and no dovetail construction. Hell, the bedroom set I got of craigslist for 35$ that is over 75 years old is made better than most of the stuff I saw there this weekend! I agree though with the decisions part, both me and my husband are terrible at it, i'm afraid I will hate it in a year or that I will find something I like better the next week! i really need HGTV to just come and design my house!

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  2. Wow you covered a lot of ground! I really need to get out and start looking. This weekend was spent packing and tackling the basement. I am going to Macy's this weekend with my mom. I would like go to Ethan Allen but I am sure there will be something I love that is more money than I have now, so I may skip them :-). Sheely's is still on the radar, maybe next Saturday. Have you checked out Laz-y-Boy furniture? I pass them every day going to work and I need to stop in one day. I have narrowed down the fridge to two models after reading a lot of reviews. I am going to Home Depot in Robinson Friday to talk to them about window coverings and installation. Time is flying by! If you get HGTV to come design your house can you send them down to me after?

    Your future neighbor
    Darla

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    1. I was just at La-z-boy on my lunch today! It's only 5 min. from my office, they didn't have anything there I was looking for, it's really all sofas and seating, only 3 bedroom sets and 4 dinning sets. Their prices seem reasonable and I know their quality is good, but nothing that is my style there :(

      I'm going to Crate & Barrel after work today and maybe Pottery Barn if I feel like driving to Ross Park.

      Also, Home Depot is the place for window coverings! I thought it was going to be 1000's of dollars to do out house but my parents got all of theirs done and installed by HD for $300 and they have a few more windows than we do! We are going to go there after our pre-drywall meeting, which is THIS WEEK!!! I showed my parents the house this Friday and they love it, they said it's much bigger in person than the pics, which I agree, the pics make the rooms look smaller.

      Our closing date will be May 24th :) I can't believe we are only 7 weeks away!

      Good luck furniture shopping! We plan to get out to Sheely's this upcoming Saturday. If you go before me let me know if it's worth the trip! Happy shopping!

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    2. Wow small world I only work about 5 minutes from Laz-y-Boy too! Maybe I will go tomorrow during my lunch.

      That is great news about Home Depot. I will do a happy dance if I can get away with spending $300. I have budgeted more.

      Have fun during the pre-drywall. The house felt small to me when it was framed but once the drywall went up it felt bigger.. strange. I like the Venice floor plan, it is very similar to my Florence. Our closing is only 28 days away!

      Sounds like you will get to Sheely's before me if you go this weekend. Good Luck maybe you will find something.

      Darla

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    3. lol it really is a small world! I work in RIDC Park West for a small engineering/manufacturing company, must be why we both choose the same plan to build in!

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  3. Sounds like you had fun out shopping Rachel!! You know my favorite stores are the stores you can custom make your furniture to your taste. We have purchased several pieces of furniture and wish that I had not because I just started working at ArHaus in Rockville, MD where the furniture is just amazing, the quality, workmanship etc etc is just amazing. I have been able to find everything I want and need in the store. After learning about the furniture, some items I wish I could throw in the trash it is so cheaply made like the Haverty's sectional. In the meantime, we plan to take our time and buy quality furniture regardless of our long it takes because we have a beautiful home and I want it filled with beautiful things. Amongst ArHaus being my favorite..I also love the quality of Bassett and Ethan Allen and those pieces we absolutely love. Again, because we were able to customize the furniture. Feel free to check me out in Maryland! :-)

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    1. I loved Arhaus!! We couldn't really afford anything we wanted in there though :( But we did love Ethan Allen and will probably go with them for the morning room set, and for the formal dinning, I can actually spend less since we won't use it as much, I would like to get something from RH for the formal dinning, their tables and chairs are reasonable and I love the vintage romance feel to them. Do you have any experience or knowledge about Restoration Hardware furniture? Their leather is pricey but their sofas feel amazing, I can't find anything anywhere that is as deep and comfy and beautiful as their Maxwell or Lancaster (other than replica sites online but I can't buy sight unseen!) Their seat depth is 40", that's just the seat cushion! The deepest I can find at EA is 36" seat cushion

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  4. I was just at RH this weekend looking at the 17th century monastery table too.

    All of our furniture right now is from Macy's and PB, but I think we're going to replace our dining room set soon (after a year in our house we know for sure that it's too small). I haven't shopped at Levin's in about 8 years, and when I went this weekend I was really surprised at the low quality of the furniture.

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  5. Good luck with your shopping, I can't wait to see your choices :)

    Jen
    http://buildingourabode.blogspot.com/

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  6. Great choices! (especially that familiar-looking Ethan Allen table!) We went with the upholstered chairs just for the ends and wood for the sides. **Confession---we only bought the side chairs right now, we figure we can buy the head chairs down the road. Trying to save as many pennies as possible! I convinced the hubby to go with Ethan Allen, we originally went to a bunch of "cheaper" stores since we didn't really want to spend so much, but quality beat out price. Happy shopping!

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    1. I think I'm going to need some help from a designer, or at least make some idea boards, Ethan Allen has a free design service so I think we will be purchasing our morning room set from them and I can have some help with the overall design of the house :) I also like the fact that we can come back when we are ready to purchase more (when we have the money!) the sales people there are not pushy at all, which I really liked, and our sales woman seemed very friendly and honest and she listened and really honed in on my exact style, she said she will be happy to come out to our house and help me visualize everything. We will probably end up with a bedroom set from there as well so she will get the repeat business for sure.

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  7. The best Solid Wood table you are looking for are in PotteryBarn.

    Furniture selection is definitely one of the harder parts of the home build.. seriously! Because ONE piece can define a whole area..and furthermore.. a whole genre. It definitely helped us to look at what statement (environment) we were trying to say with our stuff.

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    1. That is exactly what I am struggling with! I need to focus on the vision of what I want the whole house to look like, especially with the open floor plan, things need to flow and be cohesive, I can't do french country in the dinning room and mid century modern in the living room and rustic country in the kitchen! I think I just need to plan and not make any rush decisions.

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    2. Sounds like you are on the right path!! for great ideas.. take a look at the "Dear Lillie" blog site as well as
      "Miss Mustard Seed" great idea to be had!

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  8. Just picked up an 84" perfect RH Monastery table for $400 at their VA outlet store. They have great sales occasionally-- maybe they have an outlet near you-?? Good luck!

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