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Calling Home Furnishing Guru's! Online Sources?

MsP

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
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To make a rather complicated story short, my SO is needing to furnish a home for some of his clients. They have nothing at this point and it's a massive home... like 4,500 sqft and then a full basement recreation room. This will likely be a continual thing with other clients so he wants to buy relative quality and I'm at a loss of where to look. Seems all the local places are just junk particle board.

I'm a big sucker for real wood and considering that he's looking at purchasing two dining sets(one needing to seat at least 10), 5 bedroom sets, coffee tables, two home office sets, etc... just lots of "core" wood items, I was thinking that going online and having one truck shipment might be a feasible idea.

Anyone have any sources? Ever ordered online?

The thing is, neither of us are living there so it's not really to our own style but rather just good, respectable, stylish yet neutral furniture.

Does that make any sense?
 
You might want to contact a company at High Point in North Carolina. I hear good things about FurnitureLand South. I have not approached them because I'm quite a distance away and do not buy items by the truckload.

I'll keep thinking...
 
We recently went from townhome to a house 2X as large, so being a fulltime career mom, I've had to shop a lot online. One of the websites that I have been VERY tempted to order from is called www.studentmarket.com

They have furniture in all styles, and for every room in the house. There is also a great search engine, and you can search by how much seating you want, what color wood, what style etc....

The reason why I haven't ordered from them, and our house is only half filled is because my husband doesn't like the idea of ordering something he hasn't seen, and touched The only furniture that I've been able to order online with his approval is a patio set from Cost Plus.
 
jaysonsmom|1310702552|2969404 said:
We recently went from townhome to a house 2X as large, so being a fulltime career mom, I've had to shop a lot online. One of the websites that I have been VERY tempted to order from is called www.studentmarket.com

They have furniture in all styles, and for every room in the house. There is also a great search engine, and you can search by how much seating you want, what color wood, what style etc....

The reason why I haven't ordered from them, and our house is only half filled is because my husband doesn't like the idea of ordering something he hasn't seen, and touched The only furniture that I've been able to order online with his approval is a patio set from Cost Plus.

ooo... good suggestion! I wouldn't have ever ventured on to a site with that name but they seem to have a ton of options.

thanks!
 
Room and Board will deliver a houseful of furniture for one flat rate (which is quite low), and their furniture is lovely: http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/stay_connected/customer_service/delivery.ftl Sounds like both a dream and a nightmare to buy all of that furniture at once!! Good Luck!

ETA: Just saw they have "inspiration galleries" for each room. That might help you visualize each room as you're picking pieces.

Very curious -- may I ask what your SO does? It doesn't sound like he's a designer, so just wondering!
 
Loves Vintage|1310727967|2969519 said:
Room and Board will deliver a houseful of furniture for one flat rate (which is quite low), and their furniture is lovely: http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/stay_connected/customer_service/delivery.ftl Sounds like both a dream and a nightmare to buy all of that furniture at once!! Good Luck!

ETA: Just saw they have "inspiration galleries" for each room. That might help you visualize each room as you're picking pieces.

Very curious -- may I ask what your SO does? It doesn't sound like he's a designer, so just wondering!

EXCELLENT suggestion! I might call them and ask if they have any unwritten rules on the flat fees. They do emphasize that it is per trip... ie if something is out of stock or delayed, your delivery either waits or you get charged two delivery fees.

And trust me, at this point, it's more of a nightmare. We're trying to just piece things together roomgroup by roomgroup. We looked into renting furniture but it's obscenely expensive for a home that large and for the duration he's thinking.

SO is not anywhere near a designer. haha. He's a business owner and these "clients" are consultants he's hiring and part of it is housing them.
 
Living in NC, I have an incredible selection of furniture outlets with fabulous deals. If he doesn't care about the cost, he can order from a website. But if he does care about the cost, he should make a trip for a couple of days to Hickory Furniture Mart (or Furnitureland South, which I have not been to). I know at Hickory Furniture Mart you can pay an interior designer by the hour to take you around the mall and select furniture. Pictures of all the rooms in the house as well as floor plans would be helpful. You can generally get about 50% off of retail prices and even less for discontinued or sample items. I have bought almost all solid wood furniture for my new house and most of it was less than 50% off. I got a retail $4500 secretary for about $900 including tax, for example! The furniture mall has trucking companies that deliver all the furniture purchased. The trip expense would be more than covered when buying at such a discount. I'd just never pay anything close to retail prices because you don't have to if you know where to shop. The two outlets I like best are about 15 minutes from the Hickory Furniture Mart and there are many other outlets because there are so many furniture manufacturers in the western NC area. But if someone wanted to furnish a house in a couple of days, hiring the designer by the hour would be the best bet. It is possible they would do it without him coming and just take pictures for his approval. You'd just end up with better quality for the money doing it this way, although I understand the ease of just ordering everything from a website since it is not for your personal home.

http://www.hickoryfurniture.com/

http://www.designingwomenofnc.com/ (the designers who have an office in the Furniture Mart)
 
What about Direct Buy?

I don't know anything about this place really, but I hear it advertised all the time on TV...and apparently, you can buy furniture at wholesale prices. I think you need to buy a membership, but maybe if the price savings warranted it, he could roll that in to what he charges for the service...
 
I second the Room & Board option. We bought most of our furniture there when we moved into our new house. They are very professional and the delivery people are fantastic. One of our items broke a few months after we had bought it...but it wasn't from use. I called them and they replaced it for free! Their style is more contemporary so it's not for everyone, but they have enough of the basics. Seems like you need the furniture soon, but if you can wait until December, they have a store-wide sale.
 
Anyone purchased furniture from Costco Online?

Experiences?
 
I haven't purchased from Costco online....have you checked out www.csnstores.com.. There seems to be a wide selection for multiple rooms that can come in one delivery. I haven't purchased from them, however, so can't share any experiences. But I use that site a ton for research and price comparisions.
 
If I had the time, I would go to antique malls and pick out stuff. I've never had to do this so I have no idea.

Getting a designer sounds like a really good idea if you are pressed on time and want things to look unified/professional.
Even with the discounts, buying solid wood furniture will NOT be cheap.

I guess I'm not understanding who is paying for all this. Is the company footing the bill with no budget, or is the client (who may like solid wood and quality furnishing but may freak when they see the cost for furnishing a 4500 sq feet house).
 
If you don't want to invest in all the furniture that may become quickly outdated you can hiring a staging company. I guess I am confused what your DH's business is.
 
Room and Board is having a summer sale now, in case you're still looking, Miss Prudential!
 
Another vote for quality and service from Room and Board, we've been 100% happy with all of our pieces from them. Plus it sounds like what you are looking for in terms of solid wood/ quality not to mention American made.
 
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