Buying Furniture Online - Budgets, Lead Times and Pre-Orders.

Trust me, I get it.  Delays on furniture at the moment are so frustrating.  Lead times say 4 - 6 weeks and are then pushed out to more like 12 weeks, it really is hard to get excited about your new pieces when delays keep happening.

This may all seem frustrating, but it is impacting everyone.  COVID, flooding, freight rail damage, ports being over booked, containers being pushed back for docking by the Ports and more.  So what can we do to mitigate this? Not much really, except try to plan early and look for Australian made items,  but these items are also experiencing delays and prices are increasing due to the crazy domino effect!

 My advice, plan early and be patient.  Furniture is an emotional purchase anyway and really requires research and time. Most items are on pre-order, but this means you should definitely place a pre-order so that you don't miss out on the stock coming in the next shipment, otherwise you will need to wait until the next shipment months later, especially if the item you are after is super popular and sells out prior to the shipment arriving!   If you are building a new home, select and purchase your furniture early.  Even if you need to store it somewhere, this will lead to less disappointment on move in day.

Another solution, find places that have items in stock now!  Some suppliers have been lucky enough to have stock come in and they have ordered more than normal to try and mitigate the lead time issues.  A little tricky to find, but always achievable.   Get in touch with us regarding our FREE Furniture finder service as we understand the stock levels for all of our suppliers, even those not on our site so we can provide estimated lead times or find options that are in stock, they may not be exactly what you are looking for, but an alternative that is in stock now.

Buying furniture is an emotional purchase, as furniture can be an investment for pieces that last a lifetime!

Top Tips When Buying Furniture Online.

1. Set A Budget & Timeframe.

Deciding on a budget is the first step, before looking for your furniture, and is super important as this will guide your choices. It will dictate how many pieces to purchase and help prioritise the pieces you need most. I would also highly recommend quality over quantity. You want to buy pieces that will last a long time. Also don't forget to add in a little extra for freight and delivery fees.  When looking at your budget you may as well also look at the timeframes that you need your pieces.  Most places have availabilities readily available or have a pre-order option, so knowing when you need everything by (or at least prioritised) allows you to manage delivery timings at the time of purchase.

2. Double Check Measurements & Size.

Take time to measure your spaces to ensure your furniture will fit. Think about the positioning and walkways, and how you will move around the room. Measure doorways and stairways to make sure pieces will fit when delivered. Also check heights on tables and seat heights for chairs, this may sound normal practise, but if you are buying individual pieces table heights and chair heights do differ, as do bench heights and stools!  Rugs is another piece that you need to ensure you get the size right.  Do you want all your furniture to fit on the rug, just off the rug?  Also pendant lights.  If going over a table, do a cut out of the diameter of the pendant options and make sure it will be suffice for your lighting over the table. 

3. Determine Your Style.

Start a Pinterest board.  Go through home interiors and start pinning what rooms you like, soon enough a style and colours will start to be apparent. Think about practicality and what and who will be using the pieces of furniture.  This will help guide with colours and materials too!  If you are really wanting your space to last a lifetime I would highly recommend using an interior designer or stylist to help pull your space together.  Pinterest is great as it will become your own little inspiration app and you can share this with your stylist so they can see your preferences!  Also, using a stylist means they will take the time to find the pieces for you too, and gives you back time to enjoy the idea of styling a new home.

4. Trust Where You Are Buying Furniture Online.

This is important.  As you are unable to touch and feel furniture pieces online, it is important that you trust the website/brand you are buying from.  Get in touch with them if you have questions and this will ensure any nervousness around purchasing an item should be put to rest as you speak with a customer representative - whether it is via phone, email or instant chat.  Also check for reviews, this also helps to provide confidence that people have liked what they have purchased.  Customer service is important, even for online.  You shouldn't feel like you can't contact someone as ask as many questions as you want as this is part of furniture buying process.  I know for us, we have spoken and met most of our suppliers and are confident in the products we promote and sell.  We ensure that if anything goes wrong it is easy for both us and our customers to sort out and issues that may arise!

Just remember if it gets all too hard, get in touch with us as we love to help.  Our Furniture Finder Service is complimentary as we have a list of suppliers we can access to try and help find your perfect pieces for your home.

We can then help manage the lead times, and any delays that may occur.

I hope this has helped as you start to plan for new pieces of furniture and homewares for your home.

Enjoy Jayne x