The dining room is one of the most family-oriented rooms of the home. Whether it is used for a late-night pizza party or a huge holiday dinner, the dining room brings everyone together. The furniture and décor should be inviting as well as functional. Here are some suggestions for buying dining room furniture.

Step1

Consider the family. If your family has small children or pets that are still being trained not to chew things, don’t invest in an expensive dining room set at the time. Look for furniture that is appropriate for the age and needs of your family. Buy a less expensive, more durable table that will withstand spills and broken dishes now, and buy the more high-end furniture in a few years when the kids are older.

Step2

Plan ahead for special occasions. Your dining room will be used for regular family dinners the majority of the time it is in use, but for special occasions, holidays and parties there will be more people gathered around the table so plan ahead for this when buying your dining room furniture. Look for dining room tables that have removable leaves or wings that can lengthen or expand the surface area of the table to accommodate more diners.

Step3

Get plenty of seating. Purchase the number of chairs that your immediate family will use when having dinner. Then consider the number of extended family members likely to be invited to holiday functions and special occasions and plan seating for them as well. Buy a dining room set with an adequate number of chairs for everyone, or buy enough for your everyday use and purchase less expensive extra chairs to be stored when not in use.

Step4

Find a place for storage. Dishes, glassware, placemats, napkins and other dining room necessities must be stored somewhere when not in use on the table so consider this when purchasing your dining room furniture. Look for dining room tables that feature built-in drawers that can be used to store place settings and silverware or invest in a small corner hutch for storage to keep your dining room stylish and uncluttered.

Step5

Inquire about warranties. Many furniture companies have warranty coverage that will repair any scratches or damage done to your furniture. Since your dining room furniture will likely see a lot of daily wear and tear, it’s worth your time to find out about repair options when buying your dining room furniture.

Step 1:

Think about how you plan to utilize your new dining room set. Decide if you need it for everyday use or just for entertaining and special occasions.

Step 2:

Decide how your dining table

will fit into your life. If you will use your table for dinner parties, then decide how many people need to be seated and served. Also, if many children will be dining at your table, then consider buying a table made of very sturdy material.

Step 3:

Measure your space. Furniture in the stores looks a lot smaller than when you get it home and sometimes just eyeballing a space can get you into a lot of trouble. When measuring, leave at least three feet from the edge of the table to the wall, for each chair to be pulled out.

Step 4:

Look at the surrounding décor to decide what kind of table will fit in without buying all new furniture. If you have dark wood in the adjoining rooms, you may want to buy the same type of wood for your dining room. Glass tables fit in with most decors, but keep it modern or traditional, according to your current style.

Step 5:

Figure out if you will use a tablecloth or if you will want to show off the top of your new dining room table. Get a table with a good finish if you do not use tablecloths or placemats, particularly if you have children or if you do a lot of entertaining

Buying bedroom furniture? Here are some ideas for choosing a bed for a contemporary bedroom. Contemporary Bedroom Furniture: Planning a Bed Don’t let your bed be an afterthought. Your bed will be the most prominent object in your room, so it has to go with your bedroom’s theme, color-wise, size-wise, and style-wise. A huge bed in a small room will likely look out of place, as would a four-post bed in a room with sleek modern furnishings.

Bed Sizes

The most popular bed sizes are king, queen, twin and the increasingly popular California king. A California king is narrow and long, rather than the traditional king bed’s square shape. Just make sure you have the exact dimensions of your bed before you go mattress shopping, since bed manufacturers sometimes don’t follow the standard bed sizes exactly.

Bed Styles

Don’t confuse bed sizes with bed styles. Bed styles refer to the headboard and footboard. The basis of any bed is still the mattress and frame, which only vary outwardly in terms of the sizes listed above.

• Daybed. Daybeds are twin beds. What makes them special is that they can double as couches if you position them against a wall. Being compact and versatile, daybeds are great for small spaces.
• Platform. Platform beds are elegantly simple, fitting in with just about any style of decor.
• Sleigh bed. Sleigh beds have curved headboards and foot boards that look like, well…a sleigh. There are simpler and more modern sleigh bed designs, so you can get one even if you are going for a more modern-looking room.
• Four post bed. You know this bed already: it’s the one with a post sticking up out of each corner. The posts can support a canopy, but the canopy is optional.
• Pencil post bed. Pencil post beds are like four-post beds, only the posts are tall and tapered like…well, pencils. Harking back to their heyday in the 1700s, pencil-post beds fit a room with colonial furnishings especially well.

Bedroom furniture