Even the savviest DIYers still buy furniture, art, and decor for their homes. One reason to buy is to invest. Good quality furniture, art, and timeless decor are an investment.
When I was a bachelorette and in the early years of my marriage, we bought furniture to fill a need, but never really gave longevity a thought. After a broken bed and a baggy sofa, we started to pay attention to the quality of pieces we were buying. If you have to replace an inexpensive piece every few years, in the long run it would have been more economical to buy a quality piece, even at a higher cost. The quality piece will last longer.
Of course, we were not able to change everything all at once. When we were unable to sell our townhouse during the housing crash, we decided to stay put a little longer. We used the money we might have spent on a higher mortgage to start investing in furniture. Knowing we would not stay in the townhouse forever, we bought pieces we truly loved. Some did not fit so well in the small townhouse, but now that we are in our new home we are glad we bought the larger pieces.
If you take our home tour, you can see the rather timeless pieces we have invested in. A large majority of our furniture is from Room & Board. We love the modern style and the variety. You can’t really tell we have bought most of our furniture at one store, because there is such a mix. We first bought a sectional and bed off their showroom, then we discovered the outlet. All of our pieces since then have been outlet finds…same quality, at up to half off. We also have furniture from a few other stores. Our guest bed was from Storehouse (actually the outlet). Our master bedroom case goods are from Z Gallerie.
Furniture Investment Rules
We have a few rules for furniture investments. By following these rules, we surrounded ourselves with furniture we love and will continue to love for a long time.
Rule #1 – We both must love it. No furniture comes in this house that we don’t both agree on. This was harder in the early days. My bachelorette style was modern country and my husbands was minimalist. It took a few years to discover we both liked mid-century modern with a bit of contemporary.
Rule #2 – It must fit. We did not start following this rule until we got into our current home, which is more of a forever home. Now, everything we buy must be the right size and fit with our other things. Even if we both love it, if it is too big or too small, we pass. No amount of love for a piece can make up for it being the wrong scale.
Rule #3 – No compromise. We try to buy the best quality we can afford. We often get better quality than we could otherwise afford by shopping outlets and more recently vintage furniture. If we can’t afford the piece we really want at that moment, then we save up until we can. We know we will never be happy with a second choice, so we would rather go without until we can get the piece we truly want. Shortly after our wedding, the corner of our bed broke and we propped it up on a cinder block until we found the Storehouse bed we loved at the outlet. The bed now lives in our guest room, but it has been with us for the last 8 years, through three homes. We know it will be with us for many more.
What are your rules for furniture purchases?
Check out the rest of the posts in the DIY or Buy series here.
Yes, we must love it – and if there really isn’t an available spot for it, it’s a no buy.
Oooh. I didn’t know about Room and Board outlet. I’ll have to check it out. When we moved into our condo we bought quality furniture, but it’s too big for the space. Now that we can’t move for awhile (because of the economy) I’m switching out the furniture to fit and look better. I figure that I’d rather live in a home that looks good now than wait for that bigger house in the future.