Furniture buying – measure it first

Furniture buying – measure it first

One of the major mistakes in furniture buying is not getting proper measurements done before purchase. A lot of people make these mistakes irrespective of age, experience, gender or their social and financial status. These are potentially costly errors since the financial value is large. 

When shopping for furniture ensure you have a concept in mind. Impulse buying is a bad thing, it invariable leads to remorse. Carefully plan out your requirement, run your ideas past your friends, colleagues and most importantly by your wife/husband, if you are married.

Before you visit the showrooms you need to do some homework. Get actual floor measurements of the room, the width of the corridors, doors and the staircase, the placement of the windows, etc. This is necessary so that the furniture you buy should fit into the rooms and can be easily maneuvered through the doors and corridors. 

Imagine if you are not able to take in the furniture because the door width is not sufficient to let it pass. Having bought it you may try to get it squeezed through but you will end up damaging it. Again, imagine if the height of the furniture that you have bought blocks the window as that is the only place where you can keep it. 

Very often you get smitten by glossy ads in magazines or when you visit a furniture showroom and you are determined to buy it assuming that the piece will fit in to the room where you want it. You visualize the entire scene in your mind but don’t go by this as this is prone to error. Take the actual measurements and then you will never go wrong. You not only need to measure the room size but also the size and dimensions of the furniture piece. 

Another thing that you need to consider is the logistics of carting the furniture up to your flat. The width of the staircase, the location of your apartment, especially if it is a multi storied building and you are on the higher floors and if it could be taken up in the elevator, are important factors to be considered. If you live in an independent house, you may not have the problem of logistics. 

Therefore, it is prudent to measure the room ahead of buying to see if your new furniture will fit. It is no surprise that many furniture purchases never make it into a home because the buyer neglected to measure the furniture or did not take into account corridors, doors, elevators and stairs. 

Attention to scale is another important factor for consideration. It would be a very odd looking room, if you have some furniture that is too small and some too large in it. Your furniture brings character to the room and also speaks about your personality. When you talk about sofas think about colour matching. The fabric of the sofa should not seem out of place but it should complement the colour of the walls and the curtains. 

Okay, you have considered measurement of the rooms and the furniture required. Next you need to consider the ideal space required to be provided around the furniture, which is very often ignored. The following space measurement around furniture would be ideal: 

For the Living Room

 Leave 3 ft. or more for moving aroundFloor space in front of chair or sofa for feet and legs: 1 ½ft to 2 ½ft.Foot room between sofa or chair and edge of teapoy or coffee table: 1 ½ft.

For the Dining Room 

Leave 1 ½ to 1 ¾ft of space from edge of table to the back of dining chair.Space required for getting into chairs: 2 ½ft to 3ft.Area to move around table and occupied chairs for serving: 1 ½ft to 2ft.For dining chairs with arms: add 2 inches to the measurements between chairs.

For the Bed Room 

Space between twin beds: 1 ½ft to 2 ½ft.Chest of drawers must have 3 ft free space in front.Leave 2 ½ ft space for getting in or out of bed.Space for making bed: 1 ½ ft.For around the house 

Leave enough space around the doorways so that it does not look crowded and that you do not run into it when the area is unlit.Free space from doorway to first piece of furniture: 3ft.Free space around main entrance: 4ft.Seriously, never act on impulse. A good beginning makes a good end.

Happy Investing

Source:Moneycontrol.com