When purchasing furniture items, take your time and don’t rush in to it. It is a big commitment after all! Even though I am known for bargain buying and DIY home decorating, I strongly believe in spending good money on well made furniture items when it comes to pieces like sofas, beds, dining tables and occasional furniture. Why? Because they are going to get used. A lot! If you buy cheaply made pieces, don’t expect the life expectancy to be very long. You are better off to save your pennies and buy a well made piece rather than purchase a very low priced item which doesn’t even last out the year. This doesn’t at all mean that you need to spend a fortune. If you take the time and do the research, you can pick up some great pieces at affordable prices and even find some great sale or clearance items which are perfect for your interior. Today I’m going to share some tips with you on making sensible and affordable furniture purchases to help you save money, how to buy items that will stay in style, and how to keep your home looking amazing for years to come with these carefully selected items. I’ve teamed up with Warehouse Furniture Clearance who are Brisbane’s largest furniture clearance house to show you how well priced, well made, on trend furniture pieces can be found and how to use them within your home.

First, a little about Warehouse Furniture Clearance to give some background on the company. Hidden in a 5000sq meter warehouse, WFC specialise in end of line, deleted ranges and clearance furniture items from some of Australia’s largest retail groups. Public events are held 6 times yearly on selected weekends. A huge advantage of what they offer is that there is no waiting for your items, you can take it straight home or have it delivered as what you see in the warehouse is what you get to take home. Each event is a new treasure hunt with newly sourced items available at hugely discounted prices! WFC specialise in Bedroom Furniture, Dining Room Furniture, Lounge Room Furniture and Outdoor Furniture. Because they are a clearance house, the stock changes constantly so to keep up to date with the latest stock on offer visit their Facebook and Instagram pages or join their mailing list. All furniture is from Australia’s leading importers and suppliers to the largest retail stores in Australia. The reason for the lower prices is because items are overstocked, End of Line, Deleted Ranges or Samples pieces. Currently, freight prices are not viable for sending items from Brisbane across Australia but it is something that the company are currently looking into. http://www.warehousefc.com.au

Trends. They suck us in and make us spend money. They are fun and I LOVE them! But they do often change and soon enough you find yourself becoming bored with your interior as a new trend has caught your eye. Sure, if you have the money you can simply start again. Out with the old trend, in with the new. But it’s not practical and it’s money down the drain. So how can you stay on top of trends whilst keeping the majority of your existing items? My advice is to keep your furniture pieces and change the cheaper items like homewares and soft furnishing pieces. If you buy the right furniture to begin with, you’ll be amazed with how changing a few items to compliment them can give your interior a whole new look. It may be temping to buy an on trend furniture item. For example, if you are a lover of the 2017 Pantone colour of the year greenery and want to add some of the tone into your interior, don’t rush out and buy a green chair. Unless it’s something you are 100% committed to and it is perfect for your interior, opt for a more neutral option. This isn’t every decorators opinion, but my advice is to buy neutral furniture. Grey, beige, white, black. Keep your base simple and add in your trends and colours in with items like cushions and throw blankets. Buy a nice green cushion or two to pop on your armchair to add the green in. Then, when you discover the next trend, you can simply purchase another cushion instead of purchasing a whole new occasional chair. I feel exactly the same when it comes to building and renovating an area like a kitchen or bathroom. Keep the finishes simple and add the colour in with decor pieces. Neutral finishes and tones just don’t date like colour does. How many red kitchens are there from the early 2000’s which people now regret installing? Picking and purchasing neutral can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Followers of my social media pages know that I love affordable homewares. Whether they be unique, handmade pieces from small businesses or mass produced, on trend items from large retailers. I am a sucker for home decor! And especially affordable ones! In regards to the mass produced items, a lot of people make the comment that the items are cheaply made and do have faults or do not last. Of course they don’t! They are cheaply made so that they can be cheaply sold. Does this put me off buying them? No. But it does make my wary of my choices. If it’s an item that will simply sit on a shelf and look pretty but not be used, then it doesn’t matter that it’s fragile. But if it’s an item that would be used a lot or placed in a high traffic area, then I probably won’t purchase it as chances are it will break. You get what you pay for. There’s no point complaining that a cheap item you purchased broke only a few weeks after obtaining it. You need to spend more to get more. As I mentioned before, save your dollars and buy the better product if it’s quality you seek. My Warehouse Furniture Clearance ‘Brewster’ occasional chair is structurally well made with a gorgeous quality fabric and is large enough for even my over 6ft husband to sit on. It’s a neutral piece which can be dressed up to suit our current interior situation and I know is something that will last in our home for many years to come. Because it’s a properly made furniture piece. Not a $50 bargain buy which is likely to be an awkward smaller size, doesn’t assemble properly and the stitching starts to come undone after a few uses. Like I said, I’m not against these cheaper purchases as they are great for certain budgets, but when buying these items you need to consider functionality and getting the most out of both your money and the life of the furniture piece. It can be disappointing when that life is only a few months long.

So basically as a budget aware decorator, my advice is to spend the money and buy the properly made furniture pieces made by the proper furniture makers. Spend your hard earned dollars here and then save money by buying cheaper home decor pieces to dress your new furniture pieces and create your on trend, dream interior. Do the research. There are places within Australia such as Warehouse Furniture Clearance that offer the perfect pieces at discounted prices. If you invest in well made, neutral pieces, they are guaranteed to last you years and grow with you, your style and your home.

Zoe – THE DIY DECORATOR