Purchasing New Furniture
Buying furniture made simple
Staying within your budget
What to look for when you buy new furniture
Furniture that's useful and appropriate

Making Changes
Changing your rooms can be a good thing
Re-arranging furniture
Common mistakes when arranging furniture

Making a Plan
Tie everything together
Putting it all together
Plan rooms to be multipurpose
Beware of "overcrowding"

Space Saving Ideas
Wall units for storage and much more
Decorating the corners of a room

Defining Your Style
If rooms could talk
Make all your rooms livable
Patterns can add beauty and interest to any room
Eclectic decorating

Misc. Decorating Ideas
Windows and furniture
Three elements to create more beauty in a room
Some thoughts about decorating
Chair selections are virtually unlimited

Purchasing New Furniture

Buying furniture made simple

• Of all the thing you buy during your lifetime you’ll probably keep your furniture for the longest period of time! You’ll keep your furniture a lot longer than your car, your clothes and probably the home you live in. The sofa you buy now could be used in a den or basement when you move to a newer home. The dining table you use now can become a party table or kitchen set if you move to a larger home. As you go through life your situations change, and your furniture can be adapted for many uses as the years go by.

• Most people go through a lot anxiety when they buy new furniture. Next to buying a new home, furniture is one of the most important purchases you will make in your lifetime. Unlike clothing that can be hidden in a closet, furniture is there for everyone to see and you expect it to last for many years. Make sure you get the help of an experienced decorator or designer from a reputable store. Then you’ll be sure you’re buying the right furniture and accessories you want to fit your lifestyle and make your home a comfortable and beautiful place to spend time with family and friends.

• When you buy new furniture you have to decide whether you’re going to get what you like best or whether you’re concerned about the latest style or what your friends will think of your new furniture. Typically, people bring a friend along to help make a buying decision. But, in many cases you’ll end up buying something your friend likes. The final choice should be yours. Furniture is a long lasting investment and you’re going to keep it for a long time and live with it every day. So, make sure you like it even if a friend tries to change your mind.

• Get your money's worth in good upholstery by considering it as a long-term investment. The most important parts of a sofa or chair purchases are hidden. The real value is in the construction of the frame, the type of springs used, the filling materials and the type of workmanship used to put it together.

• Keeping everyone happy is also a concern. Taste and imagination can compensate for spending a lot of money. That means you can improve a room even on a limited budget. Are you buying furniture for your children? Then make sure you bring them along when you shop. If they can pick out the styles and colors they like, they’ll take more pride and get more enjoyment out of their rooms.
  When you buy new chairs make sure every member of your family has a chair that they find comfortable. Finally, make sure that your dining area is as comfortable and pleasant as you can make it. The most important time of the day is when a family gets together for meals.

Staying within your budget

Wouldn’t it be great to walk into a furniture store with unlimited funds and buy everything you want all at the same time? The truth is, most people can’t buy everything they want at one time. So how you get everything you want for your home to make it as beautiful and comfortable as you can and still stay within your budget? It can be done if you follow a plan and get help from an experienced designer who can guide you through all the decisions you have to make in terms of your lifestyle and tastes. That way you can create a realistic budget to get everything you want for your home, just the way you like it. Once your plan is developed, you can select one piece, one room or one area at a time as your budget allows.

What to look for when you buy new furniture

1. Does the store have friendly employees and do they treat their customers well?

2. Does the store have the selection of furniture you like?

3. Does the store have a good reputation for service after the sale?

4. Does the store offer professional decorating services?

5. Does the store have a reputation for being honest with their customers?

6. Are the prices in line with the value they offer?

7. Can you browse without being pressured? How helpful is the sales staff?

8. Can they give you great value and stay within your budget?

Furniture that's useful and appropriate

Make sure that the furniture you buy is appropriate in more than one room — and useable in more than one way. That's an especially helpful idea today for many reasons. It's one way for you to get more for your money, and it's practical for those who have increasingly smaller rooms, apartments and homes. There are many furniture pieces you'll find that serve multiple purposes, such as sofa sleepers, tables that double as desks, tables that double as servers, etc.

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Changing your rooms can be a good thing

If you never change a room, you start to get very tired of its design. That doesn’t mean that you have to go out and buy new furniture every year. Of course, the longer you wait to change a room the greater the chance that you’ll start to dislike being in that room. Start with the small things — add a few new accessories, rearrange the wall art, or move the furniture around to give the room a fresh new look. Try adding a new color to the room or changing the lighting and you'll be surprised at how different the room will feel.

Re-arranging furniture

No matter how beautiful your furniture is, you risk losing some interest in it if it stays the same and is in the same place year after year. And your room loses some vitality in the eyes of friends and family who see it often. Added to that is the prospect that hardly anybody is ever completely satisfied with all the furniture collected over the years and therefore the idea for change is productive in two ways: First, feel free to move things around — even if it's just a small change. The change can bring some new "life" to your life. Second, consider something new here or there — from a new accessory to a new piece of furniture, it doesn't have to be big. Items like ottomans and sofa tables are affordable and can make a big difference. Even some small changes like moving plants and lamps can bring some new decorating interest to your rooms.

Common mistakes when arranging furniture

• Avoid a "scattered" look. If several pieces can be grouped to appear as a unit, keep them together.

• Avoid the "roller-coaster" look which occurs when all the pieces in a room are of vastly different heights. A room looks better if some chairs, for example, and some tables and lamps are of similar heights.

• Make sure conversation areas are not easily interrupted by people walking through. The solution is to turn furniture in such a way to avoid that if possible. Furniture should be arranged to direct traffic in a room. The way you place furniture gives people lanes to take. Shifting one or two pieces can re-direct traffic flow. By turning a sofa at right angles to a wall you can create two separate activity areas.

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Making a Plan

Whether you are furnishing one room or a whole house, most home owners are overwhelmed on how to pull it all together. There are many elements that go into well-planned rooms — everything from furniture pieces to accessories to fabric to lighting to colors and so on, and there are many things to consider such as getting the best possible beauty and convenience from your rooms while staying within a budget. It doesn't have to be overwhelming if you get the right advice. If you get the help of a qualified decorator or designer they can help you with space planning, color selection, lighting, paint colors, furniture selection and much more. You should come up with a plan to make the process as simple as possible. The end result will be a beautiful and comfortable home without feeling overwhelmed.

Tie everything together

• A chair that sits in a corner by itself is not very appealing. Dress it up with a table and lamp next to the chair or a nice piece of art work or decorative accessories.

• Most homes could use a simple serving cart. It can serve many purposes or used as a great place to showcase decorative accessories.

• If you plan on replacing your carpet you should decide whether the carpet should be a solid color or have a pattern. Solid colored carpet will give your rooms a feeling of spaciousness. A patterned carpet adds more excitement to a bland room.

• Add some life and variety to your home by changing your accessories with each season. Use certain accessories in the fall and winter and then change them again in the spring and summer.

Plan rooms to be multipurpose

Over the last 20 years, the concept of multipurpose rooms has become very popular. Rooms are planned as "living centers" that let you fit more living into the same space. The only limitations to a room is your way of life and your imagination. While the combination living-dining area is nothing new, the same room may be made more usable by making it a living-dining-office-music area — or any of many combinations — with the proper use of the space you have, and with the proper selection of furniture.
The multipurpose bedroom is no longer an indulgence or a privilege enjoyed by people with space to spare. A bedroom retreat, with the right planning in a reasonable area, could contain a sitting, snack, office or sewing area, all according to your particular needs and interests.

Beware of "overcrowding"

When you plan a room, make sure that you don’t get carried away and make it unnecessarily overcrowded. Make sure that every piece in the room can stand on its own and give it plenty of room so that you can enjoy its beauty. Most of all, you don’t want a cluttered room that makes your family and friends feel crowded and difficult to move around and enjoy each other’s company.

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Wall units for storage and much more

• The new wall units on the market today can add beauty and convenience to any room in your home. Wall units are available with open shelves and also have combinations with drawers, doors and drop lid units you can use as a desk or serving area. You’ll be surprised by the amount of storage you can add to a room without using up a lot of space.

• Plus, a wall unit can be used to showcase your prized possessions, books, bowls, vases, china, accessories and much more. And they can brighten up a room when used to compliment your décor. The choice of styles, sizes and materials is fantastic.
  The top of many wall units make a great place to display plants and accessories, too.

Decorating the corners of a room

The hardest place to decorate rooms is in the corners. The problem is that most people don’t know how to take advantage of the corners of a room.
Here are some ideas:

• Arrange two sofas or love seats meeting a table in a corner.

• Use a corner cabinet with storage space underneath and a lamp, plants or accessories on the top.

• Use a tall corner cabinet with shelves above which can be used to showcase your prized possessions or to store books, dishes and more.

• Use bench which can be used for extra seating space when you have company.

• Add a beautiful table to the corner of a room to hold flowers or a lamp.

• Fill a corner with wall accessories or artwork to add more interest to the room.

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If rooms could talk

Every room in your home should have a mood or personality of its own. If you select the right furniture you can create the look you want for a room. You can make any room more dramatic or romantic. You can make it more cheerful or more comfortable. Best of all, you can create different feelings in in any part of your home. Your living room could have one look while the family room could have another, the bedroom another, etc. With proper planning you can make each room distinctive and add new beauty to the total look of your home. Problem is, how do you really go about achieving this? When planning your room, remember the scale of the furniture, patterns, colors and the accessories that will be used to complement your furniture.

Make all your rooms livable

• Your living room gets most of the attention when you are decorating, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of your rooms should be ignored. Pay attention to your other rooms and you'll have a more livable home.

• Don’t forget to take advantage of natural light to emphasize the beauty of your home, and then supplement it with the artificial light you need so that you’ll have adequate lighting any time of day or night.

• Using pictures, the right type of furniture, and eliminating non-essential items are good ways to maximize the space in your rooms.
  If you are a collector, these items will have more importance and create more interest in a room if you arrange them in a grouping rather than placing them in different parts of the room.

Patterns can add beauty and interest to any room

A pattern should be compatible to other pieces in the room yet should add some contrast. To make the pattern compatible, be sure it shares a common color with other pieces in a room. If you use more than one pattern, sharing a common color makes them more compatible with the solid colors in the room and keeps the colors from fighting with each other. Patterns are a great way to bring more interest to a room and gives the room more contrast. Add contrast to your plain colors stripes or plaids or floral or geometric patterns. Then you can mix them properly with your solid-colored furniture.

Eclectic decorating

This style is a mixture of many parts. You simply mix the best of styles, designs and influences from many different periods. Your primary goal is to create rooms that have both comfort and detail. You can create rooms that are both personal and livable. Eclectic decorating has been a trend for many years. The main reason for its popularity is that people can use pieces they like while still maintaining the total look of the room. For many years now, the trend in American decorating has been increased mixing and matching of furniture. This has been a healthy trend because it's enabled people to use individual pieces they like while still being concerned with the total look of the whole.

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Windows and furniture

Most homeowners don’t use their furniture in front of their windows even though it can be the perfect place to take advantage of natural light, enjoy outdoor views, and even add beauty to your decorating scheme.
Here are some ideas:

• Put your favorite chair next to a window for reading or just relaxing at the end of a hard day.

• Use a spot by a window for a desk or game table.

• A small table and chairs next to a window is a great place to put snacks or drinks for light entertaining.

• In your bedroom you can use space in front of a window for a reading chair and table, a make-up table or a bench where you can talk on the phone and look out of the window to enjoy nature’s beauty.

Three elements to create more beauty in a room

Combine a table, a mirror and an accessory to make any room more attractive and beautiful. Combine these elements together on an empty wall, in a corner, in a hallway, or any area of your home that needs some added beauty.

Some thoughts about decorating

Brightening up book shelves by placing flowers or other decorative things on your shelves at intervals between groups of books.
Making rooms "dramatic" or exciting by using burst of color somewhere in the room, or try a piece of furniture that does not match the rest of the room, but actually accents or highlights the room.

Chair selections are virtually unlimited

It’s amazing how many chairs there are to choose from. You can choose from small, easy-to-move, occasional chairs to big, oversized chairs — and everything in between. Then you can choose from a variety of chairs from side chairs to swivel chairs to desk chairs, bedroom chairs, reclining chairs, high back chairs, low back chairs and the list goes on and on. Then to complicate things even more, there are all kinds of designs, styles, shapes, finishes and fabrics. That means that your selection of chairs is the most unlimited part of decorating and at the same time it is the most complicated part of decorating. The best part is, chairs give you a great opportunity to get the look and comfort you want for any room in your home.

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Designing your home is fun but it can also be challenging. From suggestions on purchasing accessories to completely redesigning your home, Kacey's Design Consultants can help you create your dream home. Call your nearest Kacey Fine Furniture Store now to arrange your Complimentary Design Consultation and your home will be transformed in no time at all.

Our 'In-Home' Design Consulting process is so in-depth and we are so confident in the results you will achieve by utilizing it that we offer the Kacey Fine Furniture Satisfaction Guarantee.

If you're not totally sure of the look or style that will best complement your home, our qualified designers are happy to come to the rescue. They will work with you to develop a plan to fit your tastes and lifestyle. You may even want a Kacey designer to visit your home after you visit one of our showrooms. The best part is that this service comes to you FREE of charge with any furniture purchase.

Utilizing the In-Home Design Consulting process lets Kacey Fine Furniture assume the responsibility for the results, and helps ensure that your investment is secure.

If your furniture doesn't meet all of your expectations resulting from the In-Home Design Consulting process, we'll:

• Offer re-selection.
• Replace specific pieces and/or re-design the space.
• Provide a refund if you are unsatisfied and do not wish to proceed with re-designing the space.

To arrange your Complimentary Design Consultation visit your nearest showroom today, contact us, or complete our online consultation request.

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