Purchasing Furniture and Other Home Products Online
Why purchasing furniture and other home products online can become the bane of your existence!
Well this rainy April has given me time to think of a good blog topic. In talking with a few other trades people I started to hear an ongoing theme about potential clients going rogue and buying their furniture, Toto toilets, beds and you name it online only receive less than they had expected or smaller than they thought to name a few.
Your intentions: get it fast, cheap and good! You’ve scoured Wayfair, Overstock and many other websites only to get the item damaged or not to your specifications. Now you must arrange for repacking and shipping it back only to find out the merchandiser “doesn’t want it back!”
Now what? Well when you hire a seasoned Interior Designer to help you with buying your furniture, fabrics, accessories, lighting and appliances you only have to make the payment. The Interior Designer arranges for deliveries and installs. If your purchase comes in damaged your Designer takes care of the return and the replacement! If your Designer uses local vendors—EVEN BETTER! Most local vendors take care of their loyal Designers and they in turn take care of you.
Another instance, client had worked with a Designer and their local lighting vendor; but later bought these light fixtures online. Only to have some fixtures come in damaged more than once. Meaning the online vendor did not accept returns of damaged goods and the client was left 2 damaged while awaiting the final fixture.
A while ago there a story about a client that insisted on buying the top of the line Toto toilet and asked for pricing. Local vendor pricing was slightly higher and the client said “I can save by buying this Toto at Amazon.” Well after reviewing the spec on their purchase and pointing out “did you see this Toto does not come with a seat?” After this revelation, the clients smartened up and asked their Designer to buy the Toto. This saved the client money and their precious time!
Another instance, clients wanted to wallpaper their bathroom; they bought the wallpaper online only to find out when the wallpaper hanger came to install that every roll of wallpaper was a different dye-lot! Meaning none of the rolls of wallpaper matched! If they hired a seasoned Designer this again would have save the client money and their precious time!
Beware of the websites that offer you designer/trade fabrics at reduced price. This is very dangerous as they have hidden costs and the price is usually higher than your Designer would get and in turn offer you.
Time for one more story, a client wanted to buy a bed and loved the bed selections their Interior Designer presented, but later that night went online and found the bed for a lot less money, only to find out that what they had ordered was just the headboard not the whole bed! Again the time and aggravation to box it up and try to send the headboard back almost became the client’s “new career!”
If your goal is to have a well-designed home with unique and handcrafted pieces your best bet is to spend your money with a seasoned Interior Designer to create this space for you. If it was that easy to DIY then there would be no need for formally educated Interior Designers and Architects!
So why let purchasing furniture and other home products online become the bane of your existence when you can enjoy the whole design process! Hand-off headaches to your seasoned Designer while saving money and your precious time!
April showers bring May flowers, Happy Spring!
