One of my least favorite tasks, next to purchasing a car, is buying furniture. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy decorating my house with new pieces or accessories; I just do not enjoy running around from furniture store to furniture store looking at pieces or accessories. And, my husband, who truly enjoys decorating, does not have the time to run around looking either.
Since we both work in the online industry, we wholly advocate the use of online sites and/or catalogs to purchase home furnishings, from large furniture pieces to accessories, so much so that a good amount of the past year’s purchases have been made online.
Many of our friends cannot comprehend how we can purchase furniture without feeling it; we cannot comprehend why you have to touch a piece of furniture to appreciate its workmanship. We are reasonably proficient in reading the online descriptions and being able to recognize quality furniture.
Past purchasing experience has lead us to specific companies. From their catalogs and websites to the ease in ordering to the tracking, delivery and customer service, these companies are very easy to work with. Several of these companies are under the same ownership but offer different products. Below are our recommendations:
FrontGate
From indoor furnishings to kitchen essentials, from bed and bath to outdoor living, Frontgate targets an upscale household with quality furniture and accessories. With internet exclusives and online outlet specials, it is easy to take advantage of some worthy buys.
For outdoor living, try their unsinkable pool floats. Available in various colors and prints, their floats are the type you find at upscale resorts. Durable, heat-processed vinyl coating resists the effects of chlorine, sun, and salt water; these rafts support at least 350 lbs.
We purchased several of their floats and the accompanying caddy stand before the start of summer (they are now on sale for $99.00). As we live in an extremely humid and hot climate, we have been impressed with the raft’s durability, especially since they are exposed to the elements 24/7, 365 days of the year.
Their customer support offers courteous, personalized attention. Our caddy was missing a bolt. We called on a Sunday afternoon and received courteous service that was followed up by a Customer Service Representative offering a quick resolution.
Their website is www.frontgate.com. You may request a catalog online as well.
Restoration Hardware
Restoration Hardware was founded nearly 30 years ago when their first store opened in Eureka, California. Today, they operate more than 100 store locations as well as a catalog and e-commerce site.
From bed and bath linens to rugs, from furniture to bathroom hardware, you will find high-quality merchandise throughout. When we remodeled our home, we purchased all of our bathroom hardware from Restoration Hardware. We were impressed with the higher quality and the ease of ordering.
We receive at least one catalog a week. When we were looking to buy a coffee table for our living room, we knew exactly what style we wanted. At a visit to a finer department store, we found one but it was a lot more than what we were looking to spend. We found a similar one on the website for Restoration Hardware, purchased it, and can now enjoy how it complements our other furniture.
We receive compliments on the piece all the time and when we share the fact that we purchased it online, our friends are dumbfounded. They cannot fathom buying furniture online.
Truth be told, between the above two companies and some others that we will highlight next month, in the past year, we have furnished and remodeled a home with purchases made either through a catalog, or most often than not, online.