What is the number one design disaster I see in most homes today? Nope, not the beer-guzzling, burping, football-watching husband taking up precious square footage in the corner, it's the OVER-SIZED FURNITURE people buy in "sets"that instantly set them up for failure. SCALE people…not only the thing we hate to step on after the holidays, but something YOU must take into consideration when purchasing furniture. A little advice from a big design snob; if the furniture store you're shopping in offers side tables and art as "gifts with purchase" WALK AWAY! Instead of buying a room filled with crappy furniture, invest in key pieces over time. Let's look at two photos of the same room above taken a year apart. On the left we have the wrong decision for that space…big, overstuffed, clunky pieces better suited for a frat house then an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment. The chairs, while arguably comfortable, make the room look tiny and cramped, where the lighter, smaller, more sleek pieces on the right fit right in. If you aren't sure about how the items will work in your home, before spending your hard earned money measure them and create templates either with newspaper or cardboard boxes, then place them around your room and observe how easy it is to walk around them, incorporate accent tables, etc. It's much easier spending a little time and effort BEFORE spending money on furniture that just doesn't work!
