The 5 Furniture Shopping Mistakes Designers Want You to Stop Making

It’s safe to say that shopping for furniture online can sometimes be overwhelming — especially if you’re looking for a large investment piece. I recently found myself looking for new seating for my apartment, so I began surfing the web for the best sofas I could find. After many days spent reading through reviews and product descriptions, I still wasn’t ready to commit to a couch. I desperately wanted to get this right the first time — returning an item as large as a couch would be almost impossible for me.  

So finally, I turned to my designer friends for advice. I wanted to know the answer to the following question: Was I missing something here? According to the experts, shopping for furniture online is most successful when you avoid certain pitfalls. A few glaring red flags can also help you tell which pieces to avoid. No matter where you’re shopping or what for, these tips will certainly save you time and money. 

According to the pros, shoppers often focus on whether a piece technically fits in a room without considering its overall scale. “A sofa may fit within the measurements of a living room, but an extra-deep seat, oversized arms, or a high back can make the room feel smaller and disrupt its overall flow,” notes Alicia Rivett, a real estate agent at The Agency Beverly Hills. “Before ordering, I recommend comparing every dimension, including height and depth, to a piece you already own so you can better visualize how the size and scale will actually feel in your space.” 

Another common mistake people make when shopping online is forgetting to consider how something will actually make it into the home. “A piece may fit perfectly in the room, but you also have to account for doorways, hallways, stairwells, elevators, and any tight turns along the delivery path,” says Ariene Bethea, founder and creative director of Dressing Rooms Interiors Studio. “I always recommend measuring the entire route from the entrance of the home to where the piece will ultimately live.”

When shopping for an upholstered piece, designers say you should always request fabric samples first. “I would never commit to an upholstered piece without getting a fabric sample first,” says designer Windsor Dalton. “Colors can look completely different depending on your screen and your home’s lighting, and photos tell you almost nothing about a fabric’s actual hand, texture, or feeling.” 

Luckily, most retailers offer free fabric swatches for their upholstered items — especially big-ticket ones. If you can’t visit a store to snag samples IRL, it always pays to place an order for them — even if you have to pay for shipping or wait a week for the package. Ultimately, this will save you time and money down the line.

Even if you carefully read product descriptions before ordering furniture online, you might miss a few red flags — particularly in the materials section. One of the most common and glaring red flag is the term “manufactured wood,” says designer at Ethan Charles. “I would avoid [manufactured wood] for pieces you expect to keep for a long time.

Instead, Charles recommends looking for solid wood wherever possible for added durability. If your budget doesn’t allow for this, that’s OK. But just know what you’re getting into with an MDF or composite wood piece. It likely won’t have quite as long of a lifespan. And if you can find a sofa with a solid wood frame, that’s always preferable for longevity’s sake, too.    

This is one mistake I’ve made myself, plenty of times. If you’re purchasing a large item that needs to be assembled, check out the instructions first to ensure that you’re able to build it — or make sure you have the budget to hire help if not. “It can be overwhelming to fall in love with a beautiful dresser or cabinet online, only to have a dozen flat-pack boxes sitting on your doorstep with more screws and hardware than you can count,” says Libby Fehsenfeld, a home staging consultant at Tralala Interiors.

If the assembly instructions aren’t available in the product description, Fehsenfeld recommends searching out reviews or videos of the product online to find out what’s involved. “To avoid the overwhelm, [be sure to] read reviews to get insight into others’ experience assembling the furniture,” Fehsenfeld says. When in doubt, “consider hiring a handyperson to help with the assembly,” she adds. 

Last but certainly not least, several of the experts I spoke to stressed how important return policy research is before ordering online — especially for larger items. You definitely don’t want to be stuck paying extra to return a bulky and heavy piece of furniture. Even if they accept returns, some companies have policies that require customers to split the cost of shipping items back — or they only offer partial refunds on certain categories of merchandise. Some items may be totally non-returnable.  

“Verify before you buy,” says designer Lindsey Hanna. “Read return policies carefully. Some vendors charge a restocking fee and return shipping fees if the item doesn’t work out,” the designer adds.