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Last week we looked at low budget options for furnishing a 250sf living room. When you shop at Target and Ikea, you can expect to pay around $13/sf. Today we will look at all of the amazing retail options. I designed and priced these rooms based on Pottery Barn. But this range includes Crate and Barrel, Room and Board, West Elm, Ballard Designs and many more. (Restoration Hardware is in a different category, see my comments below!)
Here is our floor plan:
Living Room Floor Plan
And here are the furniture boards
Furniture Budget: Medium
And what does this all cost?
For this price you get a few more design choices, and furniture that is slightly higher quality. Some retailers offer furniture made in the USA which means there are better regulations governing what goes into the insides of your sofas. But do not count on this as a quick fix. Some of the pieces are available for delivery within 2 weeks, but more often we are seeing the 8 week lead times of custom furniture. The total works out to $52/sf. For a 3,000sf house that means $156,000!
Do you need a designer for this? Probably. $13,000 is a lot of money to spend to make a mistake. There are so many choices out there; where do you start? If you want it all to come together and make sense, then you might want to look at designers who will give you a plan. For a flat fee they can deal with scale, color, texture, pattern, lighting, and general function. They can give new life to your existing furniture by bringing in complimentary pieces. Check out my Design Map service which gives you a map to a better room, but puts all the purchasing in your hands. You can purchase when you are ready (and maybe take advantage of sales.)
Finally, my thoughts on Restoration Hardware. They have hired top craftsman and designers to put together their collection. And they have positioned themselves at the high end of retail furniture (not a bargain.) For example a simple sofa from PB is $1,500-2,000. A similar sofa from RH is $4,000. (Custom sofas can be $4,000 – $12,000.) They are walking that middle ground and doing an excellent job.
Next time: Why is custom different? The high end budget.