There are pros and cons to physically seeing your furniture before you commit. It’s a bigger buy after all. We’re not talking about trying a new meal. If you’re going to buy furniture, you want to get it right first time. Read on to see the reasons for and against seeing your items up front.
Yes: Items can not fit the room
This is definitely the most important problem, and it has a simple solution. We’ve all seen the tabloid stories of the mother that thought she was buying a treehouse and it turned out it was a bird house, or even more apt, someone who thought they were buying a dining table set only to see that it was made for Barbie’s dream house. To be fair, Barbie has great style.
But there are more relatable problems. Sofas that are too big to fit through the hallway, light fixtures that you hit your head off when you stand, chests of drawers that you have to build inside the room because it won’t fit through the door.
Sure, we looked at the measurements in the product details. Of course, we did. Right?
No: There are too many beautiful items online
There are more and more online-focused furniture brands coming out of the woodwork. And it makes sense from a business perspective. It takes a lot to keep the lights on in a warehouse big enough to comfortably display furniture. This means that if you want to find the latest and greatest interior fashion trends, you’re going to have to look online. Brands like Wayfair, Made and Urban Outfitters are mainly online, so if you want to see them, you’re going to have to head to their few and far between showrooms, like Made, who have one in London and Yorkshire, or take the site’s word for it. Search furniture stores near me to see who might have a showroom nearby.
Yes: It could get the creative juices flowing
To make a comparison, if you feel like painting, but are in a bit of a rut, you go to a gallery. If you are suffering from writer’s block you start to read. If you want to indulge in what you could do with your home, you should go to a showroom.
A lot of showrooms will offer context to your furniture pieces, like Ikea, which features little individual rooms of many different styles so that you can see the furniture in context. You can also gain ideas not only for your furniture, like what colour scheme or style to go with. If you know you want to do something with your home but you’re not sure what, you’re bound to find ideas here.
No: It’ll save a lot of time
Since the invention of the internet, and definitely since the rise of Amazon, there has been a general acceptance of the fact that you are paying a little more for less hassle. Whether you’re looking for an obscurely shaped light bulb or an entire dining set, you’re paying for someone to deliver it to your home rather than spending petrol and energy going door to door.
If you’re someone who prefers to let their creative juices flow onto a Pinterest board, rather than by walking around showrooms, you might want to go with online shopping, just to take the stress out of it all.
