Furniture budgets
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Anonymous
| We are redoing a few areas in our ~1.8m home. Cost of renovations is around 300k all in. We are also redecorating with new furniture and rugs. Are there any ballparks for what we should spend to furnish a room in a house at this price range. What I’ve seen so far seems really high, higher than I expected, between 25k to 30k per room. These are not appliances, just furniture and accessories. |
Anonymous
| These things will not bring you happiness. |
Anonymous
| What you should spend? How about what you can spend? Do you have to buy everything at once, or can you space it out a bit over time? |
Anonymous
| IMO because furniture does not convey with a house/add value, the value of the home and the furnishings are not really related. My house is only worth $750k but I like to fill it with nice furniture. With that said, unless you are working through a designer who only specifies custom pieces or are including expensive art, I am not sure how you are getting up to $25-30k/room. We shop mainly at Design within Reach/Room & Board/CB2 and none of our rooms cost anywhere near $25k. |
Anonymous
| Does that # include any drapery/wi dow treatments? Those prices are always high. Depends on what you like and how much furniture you need. $1.8m could be a tiny bethesda house where its a couch, end table, 8x10 rug and a side chair for a living room. Or a giant mansion elsewhere where you need a lot more. Dining rooms are pricey because a chair can be $80 or $400 and you need 8 chairs. Plus any sideboards etc. |
Anonymous
| Well what’s your decorating budget? I would start there, and find a way to buy pieces that keep you under your max. If your total decor budget is $20k, then do 2 rugs for $1000 each, 2 sofas for $4k each, curtains for 5k, side/coffee tables $4000 total, plants/vases/art $3000…oops I went over budget. You get the drift…start from the top.. |
Anonymous
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That number seems really high but when I look around my living room I can see how you get there: $5k for a rug, $4k for sofas (x2), armchairs (2k each), coffee table ($500?), end tables, lamps , ceiling chandelier/fixture, window treatments, art...
I have some nice pieces but bought them over time so it doesn't feel as extravagant. But also: my room doesn't look like a professional did it, so there's that. I think you have to look at the breakdown and see if you think it's reasonable for you. I have spent enough time breaking down elderly relatives' homes to know that in the end furniture retains no value, looks dated, and nobody will want it: so do it with that in mind. |
Anonymous
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There is no “should” here. Unlike renovations, decorating has basically no return, it’s just spending. So this is like “how much should you spend on an outfit,” there are no wrong answers and huge variation.
In general for a living room with standard elements, under $10k you’ll have to get creative. $10-20k is doable with stock items and modest materials. $25k+ you can start to look at custom upholstery, window treatments, and a nicer rug. When you start to add art, nicer furniture etc the sky’s the limit but I think $50k is about average for a nicely done house. |
Anonymous
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It’s what you prefer. I know people that have an $8mil house and 90% of the furniture is off the floor at Costco stuff.
We have a beach house with much nicer furniture than our house in the DMV. Use is also a determining factor along with expected lifespan. |
Anonymous
Just curious: why do you say this? I feel better spending $ on decor than on fashion etc because I am creating the atmosphere in which our life happens, that shapes our kids’ aesthetic taste, etc. I do go to friends’ Costco furnished houses and wonder if we are wasting money but I don’t think I would want to live that way. Once you get a room to really come together it is a daily source of pleasure and satisfaction — for me, anyhow. For my family too I hope! |
Anonymous
Nah! I love going to people's nicely furnished homes and seeing their decor but I don't think they get all that much joy out of them after the newness wears off. I don't, anyway. You get used to your surroundings very fast and then you just find things to criticize. Hedonic adaptation. There are always things you wish were different/better/newer. |
Anonymous
Our main house costs over $12 million, but we buy furniture at Ikea. Beach House and mountain house both have nicerfurniture than our main house. In reality we like function over cost.... |
Anonymous
| I’m redecorating now and as an example one room requires four chairs at 2500 each, plus I think 1500 for fabric for those chairs. So $11,500 just on the chairs. These are nice chairs but there are also far nicer options. |
Anonymous
This is highly personal. The process and result of decorating my home brings me much joy. Some people may not care about these things, but the way my home feels, flows, functions and looks very much impacts my happiness. |
Anonymous
Pp here — me too! Its true that I always do feel like there is more to be done but for the most part I love the things I picked. This may also be the difference between people who buy a bunch of new stuff all at once and people who collect over many years. |