10 Tips For Buying Online Furniture
Tips For Online Furniture Shopping
We recently bought a brand-new 5,550-square-feet house in Castle Rock (Denver suburbs) and started our furniture and decorating process from scratch.
Decorating any home is probably one of the most daunting and stressful things you can do. But here’s the thing – when we first moved in, I did everything wrong with my furniture and decor, so I’m here to share some important tips when buying furniture online and even some in-person options here in Denver.
Speaking of in-person shopping in Denver, I highly recommend checking out Havenly’s Denver-based interior designers! Getting professional input on our living room was a game-changer so be sure to check them out.
10 Tips For Buying Furniture Online:
- As no-brainer as it sounds, READ the reviews and full item description first. I bought a white and gold desk from Wayfair, and when it arrived, it was rose gold, not a true gold. All my other furniture and light fixtures were true gold so it didn’t match at all. I went back to the description, and realized every single review said it was more of a rose gold. It was still pretty, but what a waste for me. Even the 4 and 5 stars said the gold didn’t match the photo. Had I spent an extra minute or two reading that, I wouldn’t have had to waste my time. Spoiler alert: we had some good friend spray paint it black and now it’s perfect!
- Check other sites for better prices and other reviews. I’m new to online furniture shopping, but was pretty amazed how the same pieces were on many different websites. I started copy and pasting the name of a piece to see if it was in stock or cheaper elsewhere. I’d say I had 30% success here, so that’s a huge tip. This was super helpful with Overstock vs. Wayfair and vice versa.
- Take photos and videos of your furniture and packaging when it arrives. Sadly, about half of my stuff came damaged to some degree. Having photos of the dinged up packaging helped me get a refund or new item sent much quicker. I have to say that Wayfair had amazing customer service and I bought so much from them.
Guest Bedroom Goals – All Furniture Bought Online
- Keep all boxes and packaging until you are positive you love it, and that it was put together correctly. Many places do offer FREE returns, but finding a box to fit a chandelier or the packaging to keep it from breaking is difficult and time consuming. I know how eager everyone is to throw out garbage and boxes when moving, but trust me on this, please wait!
- Rugs are a nightmare. I have to say this was the worst part of furniture shopping online. For starters, I would NEVER recommend Rug Studio, which has the worst customer service imaginable. Rugs are big and bulky to begin with, so imagine trying to ship those back? I bought a rug from Rug Studio that was way more iridescent and metallic than the online photo showed (it was photoshopped and boosted exposure to make it look prettier, go figure). When it arrived, it was the WAY wrong color, so I obviously needed to return the $3k rug. Even though they offered free shipping, I had to figure out how to return it AND pay the return shipping, even though their item wasn’t at all as pictured. It literally cost me $300 to return this rug and my boyfriend and I both carrying it to UPS and get it wrapped up with product we had to buy from Home Depot. So my tip here is two fold: never shop at Rug Studio, and make absolutely sure the rug is the size, color, etc. that you want.
- Look at shipping details and the return policy. There was so much awesome furniture I wanted at High Fashion Home, but the shipping to Colorado was expensive, not to mention
their return policy was pretty bad (a restocking fee + I had to pay to ship stuff back, like a huge coffee table for instance). I didn’t end up ordering from there, which is probably a good thing because I ended up returning 60% of what I bought, so that would have cost me a fortune! - Measure and use tape! Another no-brainer, but we were ordering and buying so much so fast, I tried to eyeball stuff. I do not recommend this. I have always lived in apartments, so needless to say moving into this huge house in Denver, my furniture needed to be more “grand.” My original white and gold breakfast table was gorgeous (I miss it already!), but it was way too small for the space. Had I taken a little time to tape off and measure the size I would have seen it was too small. “Tape it off” as all the designers say. Put the tape on the floor and keep it there for a few days to make sure the coffee table isn’t too big or the dresser has plenty of room to walk around.
- Beware of platform beds, which are super cute, but it’s a much different look. We bought this affordable and adorable guest room bed from Overstock, that said it could be used with or without a boxspring, which was great because we wanted to use our boxspring. The problem is, the boxspring covers the entire bed, so we couldn’t use it. The bed is still great, but had I paid attention to that, I could have gotten a taller upholstered bed and not had this issue. Look at customer pictures and again, measure it out. If your bed + boxspring are the same height as the bed, it will cover the headboard, which makes it pointless.
- Don’t be afraid to ask – the retailer or friends. Go to social media for feedback on an item or if it will match a space. Some of your closest friends may have a good eye for this stuff and love it more than you do. Many retailers also have product specialists that can help you too. Even Wayfair has the ability to order fabric swatches, which aren’t just for the more high-end stores.
- Take advantage of sales. We knew Pottery Barn was having a huge sale, so I was patient and waited a full month to order a massive order from them. It saved us thousands of dollars. If there isn’t a sale, don’t be afraid to ask for a coupon or a free shipping code. I tried that with three different retailers, and each one of them gave me anywhere from 5-20% off, just because I asked (it’s also helpful to be a new customer somewhere).
- Asking questions also opens up more choices as there are online furniture retailers, like Cottage & Bungalow, that give you an option to personalize furniture. You can customize the size, finish, or other details as applicable, saving you the stress of getting the wrong color, returning the item, etc. Chat with C&B for more details.
their return policy was pretty bad (a restocking fee + I had to pay to ship stuff back, like a huge coffee table for instance). I didn’t end up ordering from there, which is probably a good thing because I ended up returning 60% of what I bought, so that would have cost me a fortune!Check out our Denver home tour video.
Seriously, take it from me and don’t do things the hard way when ordering online furniture.
Speaking of online shopping, click here to get my affiliate links, which I would greatly appreciate. Again, I don’t know who buys what from where, a small commission just shows up in a few weeks.
Shop our guest bedroom (pictured above):
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