How to Make Buying Furniture for Your Home Stress-Free

Furnishing your home is meant to be an exciting time. However, the process of picking out pieces, canvassing prices, and ultimately handling logistics can be somewhat daunting. In many cases, this is a manifestation of a shopper’s anxiety, as PsychCentral explains here. Shopper’s anxiety happens when a person feels sensory overload on top of the unpredictability of making snap decisions. In some cases, this leads people to make rash shopping decisions that they—and their wallets—will come to regret later on. In fact, a study on CNBC notes that up to 25% of Americans regret stress-based purchases. Considering that your home is where you’re meant to be the most comfortable, the furniture you buy must bring you joy, not stress. As such, here are a few ways to make furniture shopping less stressful and more enjoyable.

Check designer collections

While the furniture you choose must echo your personal style, it doesn’t hurt to turn to experts for guidance and inspiration as a starting point. Fortunately, many top interior designers today have collaborated with leading furniture retailers to release their own collections. Living Spaces recently launched two collections with Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brent, and Joanna Gaines. When you view the Cal King bedroom sets on Living Spaces, you can see how the products are crafted to capture the designers’ signature styles so you can take a piece of that home. The Porto California King model from Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent offers plenty of storage space in a classic, coastal-inspired style. This could be the perfect centerpiece for buying the rest of your furniture around if you are making some new Bedroom Renovations. Opting for pieces from one collection eliminates the guesswork of deciding whether a piece of furniture suits your style or theme since these come from designer-curated lines from the get-go.

Make a mood board

You may think you have a good idea of what furniture you want, but come the day of shopping, it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the vast amount of options out there. It also doesn’t help that store collaterals are specifically designed to convince you that a particular item is “perfect” for you, even if it’s not really a good fit. To prevent this from happening, make yourself a mood board. This will help crystallize what you want to find in your home furniture, guiding you on what to look for. Even if you’re not too artsy, checking out sites like Pinterest makes it easy to create your own collage with just a few clicks. On sister apps like Shuffles, you can even share these mood boards, which may help if you want to get others’ opinions or advice. Creating a mood board will also serve as a reminder for more niche details you may be looking for. For instance, instead of just jotting down something vague like “botanicals with geometric silhouettes,” you can just add an image of Kenneth Cobonpue’s Bloom accent chair. If you show this to a sales associate, it also helps them serve you better as they know what you’re looking for.

Aim for family instead of just functionality

One thing that many people worry about when investing in furniture is whether or not it’s actually going to be useful. This is why most people choose to prioritize big-ticket essentials like appliances, couches, and beds before anything else. Now, while this line of thinking tracks, that doesn’t mean you should be too utilitarian. The home is your safe space where you and your loved ones will make memories. Thus, when choosing furniture, try to picture your family using it. For example, while an IKEA sectional sofa like the ÄPPLARYD may be more cost-effective and streamlined in shape, it may not hold up to a growing family’s daily wear and tear. In the long run, keeping the reality of your family’s needs will help you sieve through the options you may have so you can find the best one for you.