Beautiful furnishings complete your vision of a finished home. If you have been working with an interior designer, or architect, your familiar with the process of defining your personal style. Nowhere is that more important than in your choice of and selection of furnishings, the most visible and functional contributors to your home interior. How can you learn more about what you like without leaving your home for Sunday trips to model homes, refine your sense of style by looking at design magazines the showcase beautiful interiors in many styles, and they show you how to use these styles in a room Setting. Also it is a great way to view different patterns on furniture such as plaids or mini-prints and what you might like for your new furnishings. Some advice for visiting models make sure they are in the same price range as your home or higher as model are really not designed for the consumer to live in that room with the furniture it is more like a temporary fix for design. Why you ask well the drapes don't close there are no blinds or sheers and the furniture is very inexpensive and it is the fabric that attracts you. Remember the furniture coming from China is made with Ramun wood, which is not Kiln dried like it is in the United States or Italy or Spain. So the wood is weak and many people complain about the family sitting on a chair and a leg breaking. This also is true with metal furniture because the gage of the metal is very thin. So while visiting model homes, lofts, or condominiums, or developed communities, get ideas write them down and talk to your interior designer about the look you want and maybe take some pictures. Designer showcase houses have the best high-end furnishings as those are given on loan for the duration of the show; I suggest them out of all the places above. By visiting these different settings you should get a real idea of what furniture arrangements you like in a home environment. As you browse through these endless possibilities, keep these thoughts in mind:



1.Do you have priorities? Write a list of “must haves” and then “want to have” then make a list about what you are “dreaming about”

2.Do you want your furnishings to blend in with the elevation of the architecture of your entrance outside? This is always a good starting point.

3.Colors are very important do you have a color scheme established through the furniture you are keeping if not look at the room and decide how the sun effects the room or maybe it doesn't. Do you want warm or cool colors in the space?

4.Do your kitchen cabinets denote a style or period of furniture you might want to have flow through the furniture pieces you buy?

5.Make sure you measure your doorways can your new furnishings get through the doorway or maybe a patio door and a very important tip can it goes up the stairs.

6.As you are in your final stages of purchasing make sure the pieces you pick reflect your taste, don't be influenced too strongly by what looks good in the showroom. Showrooms have very high ceilings and are not applicable to the scale of the room in your home.

7.Choose pieces that you know will be with you along time and spend more on those as they will be focal point pieces and there are other small budget items like pillow and lamps you can buy now and upgrade latter. Unless you are doing contemporary schemes use crystal lamps so they can be moved around the house even to a bedroom. Rugs are more difficult if you are buying expensive Orientals, the reason why is once you pick the colors in the rug it is hard to change so you have two choices pick one with light colors such as cream and light golds or go deep burgundy, greens, and dark gold. Usually if you go the second choice you are a client that will always like burgundy color schemes.

8.Last is the piece comfortable? Before you buy, sit on the chair, recline on the sofa, and pull up a chair up to the table.

BY Juli Johnson OF DEH INTERIORS