Ep. 475: Best of Archives: Furniture Buying Tips

27:46What you like and what you don't like. Yeah, exactly. But so let's maybe start with some of the things that we have as options to choose from. So, okay, first of all, knowing your space and measuring your space and knowing the size sofa you want. super important right it seems very basic right might need to fit maybe but then also like how many cushions do you like how many pillows do you like and really kind of examining how you like to sit in your sofa and how you how you want people to sit in your sofa do you want a bunch of pillows in the back kind of like our tate sofa that has a bunch of cushions loose cushions all around the back well do you like that or is do you when you sit down are you moving those cushions out of the way yeah to make room do you get annoyed when your cushions are not fluffed and do you want to be fluffing your cushions or do you not care some people want yeah want it to look nice all the time and so it drives them nuts when the cushions are all askew oh my god you need a tight back cushion yeah a tight back sofa yeah something that doesn't have those cushions yeah I think that that was something we talked a lot about it's kind of like what's comfortable for me is different from what's comfortable for you Liz what's comfortable for Taryn like we all have what do you have Caroline what's like your main sofa so okay well this was another question we got so I it was about what do you regret and why now about 10 years ago this is what comes up okay so no no I think this is sort of when I learned this lesson 10 years ago I bought a sofa at an outlet it was a it's a big not not Ballard this before I worked at Ballard and it is a big chain known for very large furniture and at the time it it was a big splurge for me it was by far the most expensive piece of furniture I ever bought and I definitely made some mistakes it was it's way too deep for me like I'm pretty petite and I just it was too it sat too far back for me to be comfortable um it was in a linen fabric the linen you know linen stretches so it kind of gets that great like depending on your point of view it kind of stretched a little bit it has that lived in look you know and you have to you have to really like that it drove me nuts I also had it in a big window and it got a lot of sunlight, it immediately started to fade.

30:21It just always looked messy and I always hated it. And so I went into my most recent sofa purchase knowing, okay, I need to backtrack a little bit here and not buy the same thing I already bought, you know? So I got something like a little shallower. I love a bench seat for a couple of reasons. One, I feel like it looks tidier. I also love, like, I just think it's so much more comfortable to lay if you're laying, like you might when you're watching a movie because there's no there's no cushion cushion seams for your butt to fall through exactly yeah yeah it's almost like a twin bed which i love um it's a great point no it's a fantastic seat that it's yeah just that one long seat that goes all the way across it's really nice yeah and then this is another thing we'll probably have to dive into more but it has a little bit more foam and less down and so it doesn't require quite as much constant fluffing and when we were talking to sky liz and i that was one thing she suggested go into a furniture store it doesn't have to be where you end up buying but just go in somewhere and it has a bunch of options and just sit on every single thing you can find and figure out what you like yeah figure out comfortable to you And take the other person that lives in your house that has a strong opinion.

31:39Yes. If it's your partner of any sort and he's going or she is going to poo-poo on your eyes. I mean, like, you two need to discuss, like, oh, I hate. Like, you know, you always find out what the other one hates after you purchase something. And then you're, yeah. And who, if you're both like something and they hate that, who are you going to go with? But I think that when you go into the store, you'll start to realize the like, you know, okay, I like a down wrapped foam foam seat. And that is when you ask the salesperson to help you understand what it is you're sitting on. Like, do you want it to be 45 inches deep, where you're like, where, you know, if you're like six, five, yeah, you probably do.

32:24If you're five feet, no, you probably don't because your feet won't touch the floor. Or understanding what you need is a very personal choice. And that is going to determine the comfort and what you think is comfortable. Because just because someone else says on a review that it's not comfortable, well, maybe it's not comfortable for them. Yeah, right. And it could be totally different for you. yeah and you know going going into a furniture store and it's really any furniture store just to kind of get get that idea of what you like and what you don't like figure out like do you sit down and start moving the cushions around well then maybe that's not the right one for you or maybe you do like just you know personally i do start moving the pillows around and then i start cuddling on the pillows and that's how i get comfortable you know if you hate pillows you're Or if you hate pillows, you know?

33:16Yeah. You love a big arm because you like to set things on it. Or you like to rest your head actually on the arm versus on a pillow. And, you know, all of that really, again, is so many things. Another one is pets, y 'all. Because is your sofa going to go in a window? Is your dog going to want to sit on the back of the sofa and look out the window? Well, you might want to tie it back. My big dog is not getting up there. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That was my other dog. my that was my dog's favorite spot on our other couch but so then all the cushions are always like on the floor so that's when you want to type back that's a great point and i know this probably maybe this confuses people more than it's helpful but just get to know yourself be honest and get to know get to know what the variables are because yeah you know because once you start to to figure out what those variables are like and what the depth the seat depths are that you like then you can take that information and start going online and finding other styles that you like that kind of match within that that then match into your price point too yeah and then every furniture store is really going to have a lot of information online in their specs or they should and if they don't, that's not really where you want to buy your sofa.

34:42It's not a good sign. It's not, it's, you're not going to get great quality. You might get a decent price point, but you really don't know what it is that you're, that you're buying. Yeah. Yeah. Look for somewhere that is really transparent, like us just saying about, you know, like what it is, what quality products. And there were a couple of things that you want to look out for. Skies number one was kiln dried wood as the frame if it doesn't say kiln drying it's kiln dried that is so hard to say kiln dried yes it's more likely to crack and break gold standard used to always be the eight way hand tied but there's so much tech you know technology and it's just the way the springs are for those who again don't speak upholstery it's just yes the springs in the bottom of the sofa so that you have some bounce to it.

35:34And the eight-way hand-tied is just, yeah. You know, I want to say that we talked about this with Kelly. We did. In our Pick the Perfect Chair episode. If you want to go back and listen to that, that's another good one. And she talks all about, like, the pitch, the suspension, the springs, all that stuff. All the nitty-gritty. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Kelly's our upholstery merchant, and she's the expert. She knows it all. Yes. And what's the name of that episode again? It's How to Pick the Perfect Chair. Perfect. It's probably about 2020. Okay. Fall of 2020, I would say. Okay. No, I just thought. I think that's about right.

36:13I think that's about right. Look in that time period. Let me see if I can find it. So I don't know anything about springs and innards and all of that kind of stuff. So you need to listen. Yeah. So my ears were perked up when we got the opportunity to talk about this. And I thought it was really interesting that Sky was telling us that it's not as important right now because there's been so many technological advances in how the innards of the springs of the sofas are made. So I thought that was really, really cool. So for a layman like me who is going to probably focus more on my seat depth and the number of cushions, if I don't have to worry about the inner structure, I'm good with that.

37:00Yeah. Episode 159. In case y 'all need to go back. Thank you. Yes, I agree. To your point, Liz, it's like for me, it needs to be as simple as like, do I trust this brand? Can somebody help me? A sales associate. Tell me what's best fabric. tell me which sofa people are liking the most and why and that's the kind of stuff i ask just because i'm always like well what's everyone else buying like because is there and why like why are they buying this um and then back to my personal what were my personal needs how do i want to live on this sofa we bought sofas a year ago david and i did yeah two years ago now they it took a year to come in and we went and laid on a bunch and sat on a bunch and discussed all the details and far too much took far too long but the bench seat was one thing that we we were kind of like do you like this you know here's the pro and con list to it the other part though is there was this pull out sofa it like pulled out and it popped up so it became literally a queen size bed i think is what it was it once it pops up but david was like oh if we buy these i'm keeping it out i probably told you all this but like he's like no we're keeping it out all the time so we can just like have movie night all the time and i was like so first off we don't watch movies every night so where in what world are you and two i'm not keeping the pop out all the time so i want a queen's bed in the middle of our living room all the time yes essentially yes yeah and i was like yeah so let's take the whole living room space and just be be sofas literally is what it would be so i literally was like i'm gonna have to nix this now because he is i bet he is like gonna keep it out all the time so i had to take back i thought it was a great idea for like an off like one off occasion like christmas time or i don't know no i had to be like nope not happening locking this decision down we are not going with the pop-up section anyway that was one of my examples well but that that's also something to consider too because that sofa i know which one you're talking about it's this cut called the somerset it also has a much firmer seat then It's a much firmer seat.

39:05Much firmer seat than – I think it's a tight seat. It doesn't have a cushion. Like it's a tight – Yeah. It's a tight seat. I mean, it's not a removable cushion. Yeah. But it's not necessarily a sofa that you would plop down and like feel cushiony in. Yeah. Because of the pop-up bed. And I know this because my sister has it in her playroom, which is actually a great place for it. Because it becomes like the video game, pop it out, everybody chill out. So David's going to end up over there. David's going to end up over there and party up. But it's also a great place if she has extra guests. Yeah.

39:40Yeah. So, oh, but totally has its application. Yeah. It's an awesome sofa. That's an awesome sofa. But it is, but it is a lot firmer. So again, like note going back into like, are you plopping into your sofa at the end of the day and just saying, that's it, I'm done. Is this room used as a guest room? Right. Because I don't have another bedroom or anyway, do I need this as a bed? because then again what a fantastic decision that it turned into a queen bed you know right if that's a need you have yeah because you're spending thousands people so like everything we're saying you have to do your research and then you have to get the swatches and touch and feel even just the fabric too i've always lived in small spaces before moving to atlanta we lived in in a 600 square foot house it was teeny teeny and so we just yeah it had a great outdoor so that made up for everything but like so we just had a little ikea sofa and that was perfect for what it was for the time that we were there and i definitely felt like we got what we paid for with it but it didn't make the trip it didn't make the trip it would you know so wait we left transparent how much was it do you remember how much you paid for it and how long you used it okay well this was a good a good while ago oh you know what i think i even got it off of i got it off of craigslist so you know i mean even better i mean it's like 50 it was it was seriously it was seriously like 150 200 bucks i was like great throw it in here i recovered a few times got a slip cover it was great so then when i moved to atlanta i purchased my first real sofa and that's been about nine years ago now and I'm ready for a new one.

41:27And so I'm totally thinking about all of these different things. Do you say that you're ready for a new one because it doesn't fit your lifestyle or is it just a crappy sofa or is it just want to change? No, it's a, it's a decent sofa. I like the, the mid-century mod vibe of it. It's for my family room. And I really want to have a sectional because of the layout of our room, I would really like to be able to sit next to my husband and watch a movie. That's fair.

42:01Because right now we've got like, you know, a small apartment sofa and this regular size 86 inch long sofa. So no, absolutely. You have moved recently too, which changed your layout, which might've changed your need of your sofas. Totally changed our entire vibe of everything. Yeah, I feel like that's also something to consider. We've talked about like the eight-way hand typing, the gold standard. That's if you're going to keep this for forever and you want to keep it for 50 years. That's a great point. Yeah. But if you're going to move probably every five to seven years and when you move into a new space, you're more than likely going to want to – it's going to have different needs.

42:39So that's something to consider. I mean, you don't necessarily need it to last 20 years. No, that's true. Okay. Okay. Speaking of sofas lasting that long. Okay. Remember we had a Baldwin sectional sofa in the creative department and it was there for just about 20 years. And I've got to tell you, that was the most comfortable sofa. I love that sofa. Oh my God. We would have meetings and no one would ever leave. Yeah. Yeah. That was a sinker. That was like a - That was a sinker. But I mean, I was so amazed that that it lasted for that long and was that good see okay i it was it was comfortable but i always felt like it was too cushy to me like oh that's the thing you almost you almost like couldn't get out yeah and i always felt like it was overstuffed with pillows so it was very soft it did have a lot but i just i always remember feeling like i'm a little uncomfortable having a work me getting in here like it didn't give off work vibes it did not you're right it did not give out work work vibes it was definitely a kick it was definitely you know kick off your shoes and let's have a casual creative meeting but but the seat it was great that's our point like you have to figure out what is comfortable for you you know yeah clearly i like something a little firmer oh my gosh i remember trying out one at uh restoration hardware that was literally like the deepest most pillowist like it i think they call it the cloud or something y 'all probably listening no i was like if i needed a like nap like a if i had a dreamy nap room this would be it like but if i watched a movie in this i would never stay awake like hands down done it was like a pillow or like a like they said a cloud well i was telling caroline this morning that we we have a new sofa that's coming out in May by Suzanne Kassler.

44:33And it is so amazing. It's so low. It's so deep. And I was telling Caroline that I sat down in it and I immediately, my eyes started to close. Like it was an instant sleeper. It was an instant sleeper. But it's so super comfy. You don't put that in your like living room. You put that in your like family TV room. Yeah. Like it's not where you put your grandparents. No, they'll never get out. Yeah. yeah well and then i mean there's so many again to your point it's like do i do something tufted well is that more formal are you sitting it on every day will you are you eating snacks because if you're eating snacks on that sofa you do not want tufting just saying what happens what happens crumbs oh they're like crumbs catchers yeah oh in the in the seat of it i was thinking in the back yes you are oh well i mean like an ottoman same for an ottoman like your ottoman in your film in your main in like your comfy TV room where all of your kids are going to eat goldfish no you don't want nothing I was gonna say this is such a comical view or like because Caroline and I are so deep in 80 like very young children listen goldfish don't go away my teenager is still still chomping on the goldfish still deep in the goldfish all right that's fair that's I mean let's be honest adults have as many snacks and make as many crumbs right as kids so you know okay we just get to blame it on them yes exactly perfect so that's but that's a great point to like start thinking about the type of fabric you you would want on your sofa and i feel like we talk a lot about performance do we want to get into like talking a little bit about the difference between the performances or well i think we should i think we should talk about fabric because here's my theory on fabrics especially for something like a sofa, I think that people do not spend enough time worrying and fixating on the fabric.

46:31I feel like the fabric is going to determine the longevity of your sofa more so than the cushions and the quality. Because if you get a fabric that's not really going to work for your lifestyle, then it's going to look bad soon enough to where it's not even worth having a really good quality sofa because you're going to have to recover you know what i'm saying like yeah it's going to age it faster than the actual inside yeah and definitely like thinking about like the linen the linen that you had on your sofa and like how that got like saggy knees you know like you'd wear tights when you were a kid and like your knees would just sag out like that's oh that's so awful well and you know linen is feeling just talking about that feeling that makes me gross it wears a lot faster too so if it's you know arms get a hole in it the other thing too is like i said it was in a sunny window and so it was just sort of a charcoal gray sofa but in spots it looked brown because it had gotten so like sun bleached but that will happen with like well but not with some umbrella i mean correct yes not with the performance fabrics but any yeah yeah true I mean it will but but no going into it you know one thing that I that I wish I knew about my sofa before I bought it the one that I'd like to kick to the curb is the number of of rubs because because the fabric pills so it's it's like a basket weave yeah it and I wish that I would have known what like what the rub content is of the fabric and the higher the rub content the more it's going to hold its structure and not spill on you yes and or rub through or whatever right right here's what I tell my girlfriends order a yard of the fabric I don't know not every retailer does this I know you can at Ballard anything that we upholster our furniture in you can order a yard of that so order one yard and wrap it around your chair cushion on your sofa that you're living on every day wrap it around your dog's favorite spot in the sun so that or wrap it around your freaking dog bed that works too and like what is your but what is your tire behind your car no but you know what is your dog hair going to look like on it yeah spill some coffee on it or whatever your favorite drink is and your kids apple juice or orange juice or milk can you get it out live with it lay on it put it on put it like just rub it on your face like figure out what you know test drive it thoroughly before you order i think that's because such a great idea yeah because it's like i said if if you don't if you're not happy with the fabric and you cheap out on the fabric or make the wrong decision, then no matter how great a quality the actual sofa is, you're going to want to get rid of it or recover it.

49:38And yes, recovering it is always an option, but it's still going to be two grand to recover once you order the fabric and pay for the labor. I mean, it's not cheap. It's not something you want to make a mistake on. So splurge on the fabric. I love that idea too because, okay, So I have swatches all over my house as I like try to figure out what fabric to put on a sofa and what what colors to paint the walls. And do I really want grass cloth wallpaper and all of those things? So they're all over there. I know you. They're all over my house. So we offer swatches on all of our fabrics and they're about three by three inches or four by four inches, which is awesome.

50:20But getting a full yard of the fabric, if you're able to do that, will really help you see what the repeat is. And to really understand, do you want that pattern or that color to that extent in your house? Like, I feel like that's... Yeah. Yeah. So I think that's where I'm going next. Well, I'm not saying to order a yard of 10 different fabrics. I'm saying get your 10 swatches that are 3x3. Feel like, okay, I'm almost positive this is what I want. Then order one yard. of that. Yeah. But in the scheme of things like one yard of fabric versus, you know, thousands of dollars to get a sofa that then you're questioning for sure.

51:01Yeah. It's yeah. No, that's great. Yeah. That's what I did when I ordered our sectional. I, I, um, I spilled my coffee on it, spilled my, ran it through. I did a load of laundry, put it in the laundry, use some Dawn soap, see if I can get stuff out. I mean, really don't leave that stuff to chance. You know, you don't want to find out once you've already spilled that it's not going to come out because it's too late. You just don't enjoy life if you're stressing about it every time somebody sits on it or gets near it or jumps up on it. So but to the other end, like if you know that not a lot of folks are going to be sitting on it or you're putting it in more a more decorative space or your formal living room, then maybe you do go with a more special non -performance fabric.

51:49Yeah. Oh, yes, absolutely. But I do feel like those great color fabrics, those are perfect for a occasional chair, ottomans, pillows, drapes, like, yeah. A bench, a bench or extra seating that you can pull around. And yeah, I think that's great. A great chair that's in the corner of the living room that doesn't get sit on every day. But in talking about like occasional chairs where, you know, someone might not be sitting very often. I've been noticing when I have people in my house because I'm starting to have people in my house every now and again. And, you know, testing out the layout of my of my house.

52:33I'm watching really closely where people sit and where they want to sit and where they're gravitating toward. And then I'm also kind of taking note, like, why are they sitting there? Like, we had someone over the other day who sat in a very structured side chair, leaving me to sit on kind of the comfy sofa. But it was almost like you didn't want to sit on the sofa. Why? Like, why? Why didn't you want to sit on that sofa? Like, I don't know. smell funny did you just work out i don't know was there a cat i mean i'm not a cat person there's always a cat there's always a cat well i think that sometimes has to do with psychology and not how comfortable you're sometimes i do think it comes down to how comfortable and inviting is your room you know right someone feels like they come in and they plop down on your sofa and slide their shoes off then you it's success you know but isn't that person like it was one of the first times you yeah hung out with him so maybe he just was feeling a little like okay i'm not gonna take the best seat in the house i'm gonna be polite but it makes me question like does my layout work does that chair work like what's yeah where does your sister come one of your sisters sit when they come over honestly we have such a different flight pattern and i'm i and i definitely mean flight pattern like we run from room to room to room so we okay all right all right there you go very sick but it's always standing in the kitchen no but i do think that's a great lesson like just observing your guests and seeing who is where do people gravitate towards in terms of seeds um and then trying to figure out like why is that is it because it looks extra soft because of the location you know whatever yeah i mean in our in our old place people used to gravitate towards sitting on the floor and it totally weirded me out and i have no idea why i'm a floor sitter yeah no my whole family yeah we're all floor sitters Like we, there will be empty couches and we'll just all be sitting on the floor.

54:33It's weird. I don't know. Why? Why do you pick this? Okay. I don't know. I'm just comfortable sitting on the floor, especially if it's like a real comfy rug. And I don't know. Okay. So then. Especially now with kids, I do. I like really sit on the floor a lot. Okay. So then do you get floor pillows? No. No. You're just. This is probably why I love my memory foam rug pads so much that I talk about every episode. this could be why yeah yeah it's a good call coming out no i feel like i wear too many dresses for a lot of floor sitting if that makes sense it's fair i wear a lot of dresses so i feel like i'm usually on eight don't take offense if i come to your house and i sit on the floor it's not because your furniture is uncomfortable hey no go for it i'm gonna totally rethink my entire layout but you know go sit yeah yeah she might hint you need the memory foam uh rug pad but like no i'm sure that I do.

55:28No, but it's really interesting to kind of think about that though. And, and think about what kind of additional seating you might need. Like, yeah, that's true. Because that, because that is something that I'm thinking about. And I ended up going out and getting a bench, like a little bench that I can move around. So then I moved it closer to the sofa so that it becomes a little bit more intimate. So I guess that's the, I guess that's another tip for buying furniture is like figuring out what how you want to make your guests comfortable and how you want to guide conversation within your house through seating yeah I also find too when when we're entertaining I like to have a little bench like a something backless or a small chair because you know if I'm hosting then I'm usually like kind of getting up and like flitting around and so I want something that's like easy to pop in and out of and I can kind of come to from any direction so i always used to say like like make all my guests sit in like the real furniture and then i would just kind of sit on a little stool and then because you know i'd be going to the kitchen or like doing whatever and so that was something i always just like to have around handy that's a good one speaking of entertaining should we talk about oh yeah one thing that we did not speak to and someone specifically asked about is lead times so guys this is not something that we really want to chat about because it is a sore subject for everyone at Ballard right now and anyone in the furniture industry.

56:57Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Unfortunately, lead times are long. So that just is what it is. So don't, don't wait to make, to, don't wait to order. Yeah. Don't wait to order. They're not going to get better for a little while. Things are so backlogged. Things are so backlogged. But also wait. Also wait in the sense of not wait to order, but commit like don't make the wrong choice because it'll get delivered immediately. You know what I'm saying? Like wait for the right thing, even if it's going to take a little longer versus picking something that's not really what you want because you'll have it sooner.

57:35That is like the fastest way to be unsatisfied. Yeah. And then even if once you place the order, it's going to time goes so quickly. I mean, we're already through two years of a pandemic. Yeah. That time went so quickly. Delivery time on a sofa is just going to be such a sweet surprise when it arrives. Yeah. It's Christmas. I just love these silver, the silver linings, the way you guys are painting it. I will say, no, you, there's nothing you can do. Get in like we, everybody is in the same need. We all need it. So yes, there's going to be a long lead time and somebody is hand making that. So yes, it's going to take that person some time.

58:17So my service took 11 months and I am so, I was even more grateful when they came. so yeah to your point it was just like thank you beautiful sofa i'm so glad and i love you i love you yeah and i love you yeah but don't let the lead time discourage you from picking what you really really need and want that's a good one okay now this so when we were talking about lead times with sky and our little sidebar conversation this i thought was really funny because i was like okay that's great lead times place the order what do you do in the meantime if you don't have a sofa and her on the floor sit on the floor no but her her response was so funny she was just like get an air sofa from amazon and just yeah go for it i was like wow oh that just sounds so crazy but i guess make do yeah and and it's all gonna be okay and just just think how fabulous it's gonna be when it finally arrives i do feel like we haven't given quite enough lip service to measuring.

59:21So just people measure, measure again, have your spouse measure, and then have your best friend measure. Like measure four times. Yeah. You measure. And then we've said this too. You literally measure spots where you need something. You put it in your phone. You literally give yourself a note. That way when you're at a random antique store or at a random store and you see something you love, like you make sure it fits. Do not just buy it because that is how you waste the money. So definitely like being proactive to say, hey, I need a new dresser in this room. What would fit well? And carrying this measurements around with you, you'll be grateful.

59:59You'll be like, oh, this looks great. Will this work? Let me look at my dimensions. And a tape measure. A lot of places have them, but I have one of those little ones and I love having it in my purse. I'll measure anything. Use a room planner tool or some graph paper, whatever you need to do, draw it out, come up with a layout. That's really the first thing that you should do before we talked to Sky. We talked about this with Sky too. That's really the first thing you should do before you even decide what size sofa you need. What else, you know, how many people do you want to sit in your room?

1:00:28Do you want, like, what are your traffic patterns? Come up with the actual layout of your room first and then figure out what sizes you need. Our room planner tool is great. You can Google it or go to our blog to find it. We'll also put a link in our show notes or you can use some graph paper. there are also lots of other room planner tools out there but whatever you got to do to measure and lay out your room that's what you should really do first man that's where i'm struggling to be honest with you guys right now because i'm building a home and everything i'm talking about is how i want to live in the new space and it's really hard i think i've planned it for how i want traffic to flow it's being realistic with who i am and like how i live as well as what i already own and what fits here, but I will say just across the board, everything I'm deciding, I'm like, well, I would like to live said this way.

1:01:20Like they're like, well, here's the pantry design. And I'm like, I've never had a pantry. Please tell me more. What am I lacking? Where do I, where do you put things? Tell me more. So anyway, as you said that you made me think of that. So I understand guys, but I did pull out the planners and again, just to measure where I wanted before we picked out the sofas. So I have a plan. We'll see if it works is my why I said that. What about dining and kitchen kind of stuff? Like what about dining chairs, tables? What do we need to know before I buy those? I think it all comes down to wipeability in my personal opinion.

1:02:00Like how wipeable do you want it to be? You know, like being realistic i mean goes back to that being realistic to your lifestyle is it a breakfast room where you're eating every single day is it a formal living or a formal dining room i will say for our dining room i don't i don't have a formal and informal one dining room and so i knew it would be where we had like every single dinner homework's happening crayons markers all that stuff so i wanted it to be as cleanable as humanly possible but i also love to have to entertain i love to have dinner parties I didn't want a wood chair or I wanted something really comfortable too because I want to have like a long lingering dinner party kind of thing so I did just a chair but then I put a wipeable leather on it so you did it okay yes that's kind of my thought there like I do you want to see yeah so that I could easily like if this fabric gets messed up I'm going to go by a few more yards and I'm going to rewrap it.

1:03:02But I put in a fabric I liked and I it's not a performance. It's just a pretty fabric. But I knew going in that like this will last until you're disgusting and then I will get new last couple years and then you'll. Yeah, that was. Yeah. But I went in knowing like that. I do like a slip seat on a on a dining chair. That's what I have, too. And I like being able to to change a color or change a vibe. yeah if you're that kind of person who likes a little like i like the flex it up the flex that i can do yeah for sure but i do love the look and upholstered for as well so that's a um a good point and and i will say there are there are lots of ways to get to have things be cleanable you know like leather is one into the spectrum so it's like a metal seat or something would that you can just spray off but then you know a sumbrella or something is a great option too i mean that takes a little bit more i mean for mine like i can literally just spray some all-purpose cleaner and just wipe it with a paper towel you can't do that with a sunbrella cushion but a toothbrush and some dawn you can pretty much get anything out so you know what i hate is my mother-in-law has um rush seats on her dining chairs and those little babies will squish some avocado deep in that rush oh yeah not a good yeah that's worth the life phase right now where I'm like that rush seed is not ideal.

1:04:28Gorgeous, but like can't. We're just not adult enough around here. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think anything gets smushed avocado out too. Like. Yeah, that's a hard one. That's a tough one. Yeah. Gross. And it's not just smushed avocado. It's like smushed avocado with like everything else that was on the plate. Like, you know, and like drool. It's, you know what I mean? It's like. Life is beautiful and we are clean people. um what about tables do y 'all want to note i mean for me it's more of like do you need it to extend are you having do you again are you like caroline where it's going to need to be the end all table for everything every event so super durable and extendable or is do you have multiple and and then how many people are seating do you like a round so that you can be more open with conversation yeah because i know karen karen who is on the podcast she like had switched out for a 60 inch round and she loved it just because it opened up conversation for her family where just spatially a rectangle is the only thing that will work in our space and six chairs right now is our dining table yeah i feel like you again it's like knowing yourself and really paying attention to your needs i am like not a coaster person i don't know if it's laziness or what so i know that like I can't have a nice wood table.

1:05:51I'll just have rings all over it. So know thyself. So you have a marble top table, I think, right? Yes. Well, it's actually quartz. Okay. So it is indestructible. And I mean, so far, I've used a magic eraser and gotten all manner of art supplies off of it. Yeah, I've been beyond thrilled with it. I will say we have a really cool product that we didn't sell when I bought my marble table or my quartz table and it is called Le Monde and it has a porcelain top and it is also virtually indestructible you can put a hot casserole dish on it kind of same idea as the quartz it's essentially a countertop material it's rectangular has a real pretty kind of faux marble pattern to it glossy little gray finish actually there's a walnut too anyway that's a great table did not exist when I bought mine and it was not quite the right size for what I needed, but I probably would have done that if had it, you know, yeah, that's really pretty.

1:06:50It is really pretty. And I, I love things that do double duty or have those extra features. So that's just being able to like put a hot dish right on there and not have to worry about a trivet or, you know, damaging the surface at all. That's pretty awesome. Yeah. Yeah. We do have still a bunch of questions for Instagram that I kind of felt like maybe we can just run through some of them. Yeah. One of the questions, cause we already kind of spoke to what one, some, one person asked, what are the right questions to ask a sales associate? I feel like we kind of read that a little bit. You ask them everything.

1:07:23Yeah. They're, they're really there to partner with you versus like trying to sell, just sell you something. And if you're getting a bad vibe from somebody, go talk to somebody else, but yeah, you know, they're the ones that are going to help you grab samples and check to see depths and dimensions and additional colors that something might come in fabrics their job is to know the stuff guys so yes everything yeah anything you're thinking of they're going to give you their opinion even again like hey what's what is everyone buying and why like let's do it yeah ask everything you want yeah y 'all liz spends an outrageous amount of time putting together materials for training our store employees so they have lots of training and that I mean like like you said that's their job um and ours do not make a commission I mean we can't speak to any other other stores but yeah yeah they're not um they're gonna get paid whether you buy it or not so you know but I do feel like they're they're great resources when you are trying to figure around that thing, like we spoke to where like, do you want a bench seat?

1:08:32Do you want a three cushion, two cushion? Do you like down wrapped foam? Do you want pure down? Do you want just foam? You know, all of those things, like they're going to be able to guide you. Well, and once you start the conversation with someone in, in a showroom like that, have them take you around to all the other sofas that might be a little bit different or, you know something similar and rather than you kind of wandering around the store aimlessly i mean yeah make them your tour guide yeah take a notepad because because we'll do it welcome to ballad take me around show me the sense oh my god if anybody runs into me in the atlanta store i I will totally give you a tour.

1:09:18Oh, I will talk your ear off. I love I. Yeah, I actually end up going up to people, especially I have lots of reasons why things look in our shape the way they are. So I have some good stories, guys. So find me. Well, I do. OK, one thing we did talk about is here is just the reality of the situation. Most large, well-known furniture brands have the same quality, even maybe use the same manufacturers, same vendors. So you're probably going to get a pretty consistent quality in that big box kind of store. What each brand does differently is what you kind of have to figure out. So if you've decided that you need, you want a tight back, you know, Charles of London roll arm with two cushions, then you can kind of go shop around and figure out exactly which one you want and which one, you know, looks right and has meets all those criteria and is in your budget and offers and offers the fabric that you want.

1:10:26That I think. That's the biggest. That's honestly going to be. Probably the biggest different. Well, shape and fabric will be different. Yeah. Yeah, like if you like the way a tight back two cushion seat sits, then you're probably going to like that across the board, you know, versus so then you can have some confidence shopping online, having not sat in it. So and again, if you are shopping online, just making sure that you read all the all the specs and you kind of take the take notes of what you like and what you don't like. and sometimes by figuring out what you don't like is even more important than what you like because then it just crosses those things right off the list.

1:11:08Yeah yeah you can just skip right over them yeah okay here's one that I really liked how to select furniture that makes a space feel collected and not showroomy my thought on this comes down to legs and arms and skirts my kind of thought is you want to put furniture pieces together in a room that have a variety but all are maybe similar so for example maybe you want stuff to be more clean lined you know you can do square arm and an arm you know that maybe that's an exposed leg and then a skirt so I feel like when you get into that showroom me feel is when it all matches and you have something like across the board where you know you've got the chair version of the sofa and it's and they all have the skirt and they all have yeah yeah and then you get the coffee table that has the matching side tables and so now you have everything is part of a suite versus um just a singular item so just mix up your chair your your chair leg and your and your arms a little bit like have a so have something armless have something with a square arm have a turn leg have a skirt kind of bring a couple different shapes and that's to me like the kind of the easiest way to do that yes and like we've said every time bring in something living something that sparkles and something that you know makes you there's texture in there these are all the things that help and then definitely don't go into a store and say i would like this yeah whole room packaged up let's go so yeah and getting something old that's what it was i couldn't think of something yeah yeah yeah yeah something glittery something old something living all helps to make a room not feel like you just walked into a showroom yeah um remember ashley whitaker said she thinks every room needs something grimy wasn't that what the word she's grimy or yeah like you know a real chippy paint finish or kind of a something that just feel like maybe it's woven that's kind of You need some patina.

1:13:16Something with patina. There you go. Yeah. Another great question was wood on furniture. Do all of the woods in your room need to match? And I'm going to say no. No. That goes back to the showroom thing. Yeah. Here's my thought on it. I kind of chose light woods in our living room. And so everything is kind of a light wood. They're not all matching. I mean, there's some are slightly warmer, some are slightly grayer, some are slightly lighter, some are slightly darker, but they're all kind of like a lighter finish. It's not all like mahogany. And then I do have like a random dark wood in there.

1:13:54But I feel like it's something that you worry a lot about when you're shopping, but it's not going to make a huge difference when you're living in your room. Do you all agree? I don't know. That's my thought on it. I've never walked into someone's living room and been like well their woods don't match this room looks terrible no but you know what i have walked into rooms in graceland and i've been like you know what this is really way too matchy you know so okay i mean like so having matching woods can make things feel dated that's true like they can all be dark or all be light or be a mix but they don't need to be but you can tell when it's exactly the same yeah you know they say that I'm on the levels too.

1:14:36Like you, you don't need every single metal to match. And we've said that too. So. Right. Right. Right. Where to splurge and where to save? I feel like everyone would have a different answer for this, but I do feel like upholstery is kind of your, your. Upholstery is the splurge. Yeah. I would say upholstery and then pick like one or two other things. No, I feel like you have to splurge on upholstery or you don't have to, but you should splurge on upholstery. Whatever splurge means within your budget, that can mean a variety of things because that is what you're sitting on day in and day out. That is, you do not want that to be uncomfortable because there's no chance.

1:15:09If you have an uncomfortable sofa, you will never be comfortable in that room ever. Right. But I feel like it is nice to kind of pick maybe one or two other things to splurge on, whether that's a great piece of art or an amazing rug. It doesn't have to be across the board, but just pick one or two special things that you are super excited about and you love. And that also can serve as your jumping off point for the rest of the room. You know, if it's a great rug and you work all the colors around it or a great painting and you work all the colors around that, you know. I think we need to talk about budget for just a hot second and take consideration like, are you going into a blank space?

1:15:49And if you're going into a blank space, make sure that you have a budget set aside for that room. One of the tricks that Sky was telling us about in our sidebar conversation was about, okay, well, line item, all of the things that you're going to need. So you're going to need a sofa, you're going to need a coffee table, you're going to need maybe two accent chairs, and a console. So if those are the things you need, put a range of what you're comfortable spending on each one of those things, and then tally it up. And see if, I mean, it's going to be a big number at the bottom. But see if you're comfortable with that big number.

1:16:28And if you're not, like, go make adjustments here and there. And then the other thing is that you don't need to get the whole room all together at the same time. So really kind of figuring out where your budget is, what pieces you want to start with, and then keep moving from there. Yeah. And, I mean, you know, window treatments, rugs, the rug pad, accessories, paint, artwork, lighting, you know. So make, yeah, like don't just consider your big furniture pieces and like pick, write down every single thing that you're going to need. The list will make it more tangible and less overwhelming. And then you can start to develop a game plan from there too.

1:17:10Yeah. So then you've got your game plan, you've got your measurements, you know, you can go out and find pieces here and there. This is what I've always done for a room. make your layout, figure out, you know, have one inspiration piece. For example, my living room, it was the rug. Usually it's kind of the rug is your, my inspiration. And then just have that rug, like every single time you want to make a purchase for your room, think, okay, does this match back to my inspiration piece or like my focal point? Um, like do the colors match? Does the vibe match? Is it going to fit? And so you can just have that thing as your touchstone for every choice going forward so that you don't get off track and you don't make an oops purchase that you then regret because you've had this game plan from the get-go.

1:17:59You've had a plan that you're working towards. Okay. Here's something else about rugs is that, and Caroline, you and I've talked about this before, is that getting a rug is a big, getting a large, like nine by 12, that's a huge investment, right? So if you're not certain about it, see if there's a two by three available in that same style and go ahead and get that smaller version of it. I've done that in my own house and gotten a two by three. And I'm so glad I did because the color is different than what I thought it was going to be online. And it totally clashed with our media console. So I ended up not going with it, but it worked great by my front door.

1:18:40So, and that was a small investment for me to just kind of make a no decision on. Yeah. Yeah. And I get like, you know, even if you have to return it and like pay$20 and return shipping, I know how I am one of those people that's like, well, I have to pay$3 in shipping. I guess I'm not going to get it, but it's going to be worth it if you don't. Yeah. If you're in your store, but yeah, I love the two by three idea. I think that's so smart. And again, you can do - It's much easier to return a two by three than it is a nine by 12. Does it clean? Like there's your thing again. Is it going to clean up?

1:19:16Yeah. So I think that's so smart. Okay. What do you do when you love a piece, but you don't have a place for it? You get rid of something? Yeah. I mean, there's really no other choice. I think that's just Marie Conduit, right? Yeah. Yeah, if you truly, truly love something, then you will then you need to get it. And you just get rid of something else or you have a whole room around it. Like if you've changed your whole direction, and that's like love, then you change the whole direction of your room and redecorate or okay, I've got a story. Okay. Okay. Tell us your question. No. So So when I first started on the podcast, I think I talked about like, you know, the big blue whale in my in my dining room, I bought a Nolan bench, which is a curved bench that goes around our 60 inch dining table.

1:20:09And it was so, it felt so big in, in our dining room. There was definitely space, but it felt technically it fit, but it was, it was snug. And I've got to tell you, like having this bench has totally transformed the way our guests feel the way that I feel about having my morning coffee. Like it's just fantastic. It makes me feel like I'm going to a cafe in my own dining room. It's awesome. So I had to figure out what wasn't working in that room. And what wasn't working was this Queen Anne console that is a beautiful antique from my parents. And I had it in my dining room because they had it in their dining room and it was fantastic.

1:20:52But I had to move it out. So I moved it out and I moved some narrower book. They're not bookcases. They're just kind of cabinets. cabinets um but they're narrower cabinets that i put together to make a longer console and they're not they're shallower they're not as deep and now i can move around this piece that i love and i can move the piece as i need to and it makes the whole room yeah yeah so yeah i think keep the pieces you love and move things around yeah yeah I mean I feel so many times we've had had sort of that like if it's a if it's a one-of-a-kind thing especially you have to get it you know assuming you're not like you know wiping out your kid's college fund or you know selling a kidney like you didn't get it.

1:21:45Don't do that. Yeah. Don't, don't. I've definitely. Because at the end of the day, it's furniture. Okay. Well, so this was, this was like, it's so good. You told that story, Liz, because someone asked, I've purchased things that technically fit, but they look off when I get them home, how to know when it'll look right and not just fit right. Okay. Do what Liz did, which is maybe you need to shift some other things around to really make it work. One thing that I like to do and y 'all out of the three of us, I am like not a drawer. Liz and Taryn, yes, they can do a beautiful sketch for you. That is not me.

1:22:20So you do not need great artistic skills to do this. But I'll just do like, think in shapes. And I'll just look at a wall as like a flat surface and just draw what I'm putting in the room. And I feel like that does that can really help you understand what you're going to see when you look into the room, you know, like stand in, you know, kind of picture yourself in where you're going to be looking at the room most often. And just and I did this for our dining room, you know, I drew a little pedestal table, did six chairs with a round back, I drew kind of my chandelier, and just kind of get a feel for the shapes.

1:23:00Because I do sometimes feel like, even if something technically fits, if you're not considering, you know, what angle you're looking at it from, or what's it in front of or what's next to it, then you can make some mistakes in terms of whether it works versus whether it fits. The other thing is to like tape things off. Yes. You know, before we moved in, I mean, honestly, there was so much stuff in our house from the previous owner that I didn't even know if I could fit a sofa in my living room because I couldn't see past. There were two to three spinning wheels in every room. It was fantastic.

1:23:43That's wild. Yeah, it was wild. But so when I finally got the space empty, I was like, okay, well, let me grab some cardboard and some tape. And I started taping things off. And I grabbed some folding chairs and put them around and just kind of tried to figure out that way. But yeah, painter's tape can be your friend. Yeah. and then consider ceiling height um just because as i am now entering a place with new ceiling heights it has changed a lot of things as well so just being totally knowing that your eye needs to move around a room so if everything's low and your ceilings are high it's going to feel dwarfed or if you have a very low ceiling and you've picked very tall pieces again it's just gonna it's gonna feel off so um being recognizing that the amount of light the amount of noise all that will help you just, you know, to think through a purchase versus just being like, I need to buy curtains.

1:24:40I need to buy sofa. Like, yeah. And I think that height thing is something really important to consider too about furniture and sofas. So for example, I, um, our, our, our house is pretty low ceilings at like eight feet. And I was going to put like, for my layout to work, I was going to have to put the sofa in front of a window. And I was considering our Mathis sofa, which both of y 'all and i know taryn has a mathis sofa and i know liz wants the mathis sofa but and it's a gorgeous sofa it is i mean that is actually eight-way hand type but um no it is it is i'm so fancy i just liked its bench seat see yeah well but but here's the thing about it it has a really high back compared to a lot of other ones and so you know kind of trying to picture that sofa in a window it's gonna block light coming in and it just I felt like it would make the it would it would not work as well as a and so I ended up getting the Hartwell sofa which has a much lower back and it's still like your normal 18 inch seat height but it just it scaled better for the location and I think that's something you know that's really important to consider too like are you going to be looking over it is are you are you putting it catty corner to like, is it floating in the middle of the room?

1:26:02Those are all things to consider. That's kind of why I say like, try to draw it out and figure out or use your measuring tape, use your painter's tape. Pay attention to all the measurements. I need to think about, about the height, the back height. That's, that's a good one. Yeah. I mean, pay attention when you're looking at designers photos too, like what tricks are they doing to bring your eye up and down? And that's part of what you need to put into your room. Like if something doesn't feel right like it's not tall enough maybe it is a plant stand or like a big column with a plant on it and that's what designers are doing is bringing that elevation of up down and your eye moving so um it might not be the fact that the sofa is just off it could be that you haven't added in the other stuff you haven't put a good size lamp next to it you haven't so that's again scoot stuff around your house scoot things you have see how they feel if you don't feel right try to figure out why like answer that question for yourself like why isn't this working and then that will help you to figure out even if it's not the right color lamp then you can go buy the right size lamp that's the right color yeah and and i mean scale is like the number one mistake i think people probably make and and even designers make this mistake we've had designers on the show say they they do this too but there are tricks that you can do to to kind of fix something if if your side table is a little bit too small, get a really big lamp or a really big piece of art.

1:27:26And you can kind of counterbalance the scale in different ways. You know, it's one thing that I did when I did one of my rooms is I took color swatches around with me everywhere I went because I knew that I was going to be, well, because I knew that I was going to be shopping like, okay, I'm at home goods. Like, am I going to find like a random vase that's going to tie into the room and so i carried these these pantone swatches around with me but if you don't have pantone swatches like their fabric swatches your rug swatch even okay there are your hoarder bag of things right there there are apps take pictures like oh yeah i have your color palette and take your color palette with you everywhere because you never know when that random piece is going to find you.

1:28:18Yeah. I kept it in my car console, my glove box. Ooh, that's a good one. Just one wallpaper swatch, one fabric swatch, or like two, probably like three or four fabric swatches and just leave it in your car. Oh, good. Now I'm going to have swatches in my car too. You only did keep the good swatches in your car. Okay. The one I sew on. Gotcha. All right. We have a few more questions and then we'll wrap up. I just thought these were such good questions we had to answer them so um i already answered it but i'm gonna let y 'all to answer a furniture purchase each host regrets and wise mine was my sofa my old sofa that i had to get rid of um just didn't think it through i don't know that i have regrets necessarily like i think i did have regrets on that big curved bench for a hot minute until i until i was able to move things around.

1:29:12I have made some more oddball purchases, I think, on upholstery when it comes to benches and seating. I'll find something at an outlet or find something, you know, this is just so quirky and I love it. And I bring it home and I'm like, well, that doesn't go with anything. So I feel like I feel like those kind of purchase, I try to keep to small objects that I can either keep on moving or or pass on to somebody else yeah yeah that's smart that's too good of an answer mine i regret most and you all know this is these darn leather sofas that have followed me from college wait they're more there's more than one oh sorry you didn't know there was a matching club seat with it you didn't know there was too big leather there was a club seat no i just i knew there was the sofa we've talked about the sofa i didn't know there was a matching chair yeah they're still with me they hit like they were my brother-in-law's i've told you this and his bachelor pad before being with my sister he was just getting rid of them when david moved into an apartment david took them i thought that's where they would die and they still are here with me and are they going to the new house are they going to the new house at least maybe to the oh david doesn't listen oh never mind never mind david doesn't listen no no they are not making the trip.

1:30:33David still thinks the basement needs them. And I'm like, David, the middle of the leather cushion, like the middle one is literally ripped from the backing. Like there's stuffing, like you can see stuffing now. Like, can we let this die? That's my biggest regret. I should have never, ever connected them and be like, we'll take the, David will take this. Never let it in the house. So it's not a purchase per se, but like something I let in the house. So anyone listening, if you hate it now, you will always hate it. Don't let it in the house. That's okay. Yeah. yeah don't let it in the house is is yeah that's true i feel like we're all probably guilty of having those things that like whether it's an outfit you know something in your closet or something's right to you and you're like it's perfectly functional but i like just pattern but yeah yeah it's gonna keep you from buying something that you really love because you just are keeping it around and it's yeah right up space right other things i regret are like a set of four dishes where you're like at the time it seemed real cute and then you're like i don't need just four of these dishes and you're just random and and i just need you out of my life or like a cheap lamp that's another but those are all smaller things where i'm like why do i buy these cheap lamps they look terrible you can tell they're cheap i should have just gotten what i wanted the first time and not yeah yeah now i need to buy twice of same caliber yeah i feel like that is a good one you know that is kind of like everyone's we learned buying something twice twice that you could have just bought.

1:32:01But we all have to do that to learn our lessons. So each of us out there listening has done this and been like, why did I, why I should have, no, I shouldn't have settled. Get exactly what you want, even if it requires saving up and being patient. Yeah. Even if it's at a great price on Facebook marketplace, or it's a hand-me-down piece, really think about whether Yeah. Okay. Well, here's another one. It's sort of the flip side. What each host's favorite piece of furniture in her home and why? Oh, that's easy for me. My favorite, favorite, favorite piece of furniture is a vintage card catalog. I love it.

1:32:44Okay. So I'm, I'm just a huge book collector and love everything about libraries. And I have a card catalog from an old university that my mom found and got for me and it's fantastic and I actually use it for storing batteries and storing like 3m hooks and all of like I used to have it labeled when I was in my 20s and had like quirky things in it and I would just like label like you know like how do you know where the fun or animals are now I've had it for so long that I just know I keep them you know battery short okay honestly i kind of just my hand just goes to a drawer and i'm like okay yeah that's the there's another one that has all like sunglasses and things like that and so because it's right by our front door it became totally utilitarian during the pandemic because we have drawers full of masks and so as you're walking out the door yes grab grab what you see i'm picturing like a hundred teeny tiny little drawers and then you need a battery and you're like i have to open like all hundred drawers to find no and i have it organized small batteries in one drawer okay bigger batteries than other ones i oh i definitely have a system yeah yeah that's awesome and honestly i don't keep it labeled now mostly because sometimes it's just fun to open the drawers and see what you got yeah that's pretty fun choose your own adventure i used to keep i used to keep like little plastic animals in it in my 20s and like all these like funny goofy things and um because when you need 3d glasses you open this drawer you have a drawer for that i have a drawer for that yeah i can answer what mine is currently probably is i finally just got again the bed i wanted a king bed and a fully upholstered i didn't i just did it and i'm so happy i just every time i sleep in it i'm so happy that i just did it and it wasn't fun purchasing, I will say I use it every night and I'm wildly happy.

1:34:51Taryn, I think we have the same bed. Oh, do we? I think we do. We got to start shopping somewhere else. But the thing is, is that I think about that bed all the time. It is so pretty. It is so pretty. Here's one thing that I do fully support after living with one is the fully appulsion rails because I find a bed skirt to be so flipping annoying it never looks right it gets dusty one side is hanging lower than the other side then it gets wrinkled and it just it's anytime you change the sheets it all gets askew i just it's horrible so i love the neatness that an upholstered bed rail provides and i could never a little place for your foot too i like it so yeah this is a hard one well yeah i could be i I have some sentimental pieces, but they won't.

1:35:45Yeah. I mean, I feel like in terms of pure practicality, it's probably my quartz table just because, I mean, we eat three meals a day at it. Every, you know, Will paints all of his paintings there. We do art projects. Like, it just. Oh, my gosh. I'm so impressed. A workhorse in our house. I didn't know he wielded his art there, too. That's why I said it like that. I tried to set him up in the basement, but the light upstairs is just really pretty. And so he's like, yeah, this is better. So and it just functions exactly how we need. So it was it felt very scary to splurge on that. But yeah, no regrets at all.

1:36:29OK, here's here's our last question. What do you know now about furniture that you did not know before working at Ballard? everything well taron does everything yeah so i feel like you're i went to i went to school to learn a lot about furniture and then i've just learned a lot of practical like i don't know like what materials go well on a you know just when you're using it all the time right like in school it was like design the coolest you know that was more of like the open-minded thinking and being you know working here you're like well what's durable what's gonna what's gonna sell what are people gonna buy but then like what's a really expensive and you know even I I because of what I do for a living know how to make something more expensive versus not right like think and you guys know this the more drawers there are guess what drawers cost more because drawers are hard and there's more material and there's more labor like so yes something with more drawers is going to cost you more money.

1:37:26And so I feel like it has helped me to be very realistic about prices and understanding why and what you're getting. So I just think I'm more understanding. I really am so impressed with the functionality that you and your team put into all of the pieces that you design. Because I don't know if our listeners know this, but like 90 % of everything that we offer is designed by in-house yeah yeah by Taryn and her team and they're so everything is so thoughtful and I that's something that I'm that I'm super impressed by for me thank you it's just a plug for Taryn my PR team's doing so well no I mean it is true I mean that's the part that I I love about my job is we really are like okay so this is your nightstand so what are you putting in your nightstand what did you you know like I was just doing a side table today and my boss and I were talking and she's like, well, what if we put glass in the front of this drawer?

1:38:23And I'm like, this is your side table. Whatever's in that drawer, you're hiding. And we're having those conversations. We're not, you know, you're like, well, because we're thinking about the function and, you know, how it looks. So it's definitely a two-way street. And then, okay, so if we add another drawer, is it going to get too expensive that she's going to look at it and not see the value? There's like things like that, that, you know, you want to, are we going to have tell a story of why, you know, or she pled charging something here. Is there going to be cords here? So yes, we definitely are always trying to think of, is this going to be hard for her to open?

1:38:54Is she going to? Yeah. So we're always thinking about it. No, I think you're right. Liz about Taryn, it's probably obvious for you because you're the one designing it. But I think coming in to Ballard, you're like, oh, wow, that so much thought and care is put into every single product. It's, it's actually kind of wild. So yeah. And I think we all know I was buying off Craigslist. So, yeah, I was buying Ikea off Craigslist at one point in my life. So, you know what? We've all been buying off Craigslist at some point in our life. Yeah, right. Facebook's marketplace. Yes. Man. But I've seen the artist and the manufacturers working and you're and you you get like watching them cut and, you know, and put together wood and and sew together things and and tuft, you know, rugs.

1:39:41You're like, well, yes, this should cost money. I've seen the person making it, which gives you value too, which again, gives me a totally different perspective because I worked at Ballard. So yeah. Okay. Here's something that maybe not everyone is going to agree with, but I do feel like I've learned, especially since doing the podcast and just making a lot of furniture purchases, some that have stuck around and some that haven't. But just because something is attractive doesn't mean it's going to work in your space. So kind of going back to that first conversation, you're not buying something in a vacuum.

1:40:16You have to actually put it in your room and it has to go with what else you have and it has to work in the space that you have. So just because it's attractive on the showroom floor or in a picture or it was in, looks great in someone's house on Instagram that you saw does not mean that it's going to work for you and in your house. and even it's not it may not even look good in your house not because it's not an attractive piece but because it just doesn't work with what you already have and the space that you have and so that is something you should consider now you could probably make anything work if that's your jumping off point and if you really truly love it that much you can work your room amount around it but yeah you're not shopping in a vacuum like you consider what you have and the space that you're you're shopping for um so take your measurements take your colors make a budget take your samples keep them in your glove box and be realistic about how you live yeah and your needs we probably could have just done that said that and they would have been fine they could go out those are our big tips go into the world i think i just saw this meme that i'm gonna share because it made me laugh and i'm sure all of you who are designing homes get this they're like i wish they'd have a price tag attached to some of these spaces, you know, like, so when you like saw a beautiful room, you'd be like, oh, so to do all of this was okay.

1:41:41You know what I mean? Because sometimes we're like, wow, this is just beautiful. I can make it happen. You know? So being realistic is very important. Yeah. Yeah. Well, but also be patient, like do it over time, you know, like it does not have to happen overnight and really it probably shouldn't so start with your upholstery that you need you know start with a rug and then you're gonna add all those little layers in later so okay hopefully we've helped people yeah thanks everybody for listening to all of us yeah if you made it to the end shopping thanks for sticking it out um you know and if you find yourself in atlanta give me a call i'll meet you at the store and give you a tour oh man we would you might not make it out of there in a timely fashion but we should offer that just like a podcast come drink with us we'll we'll talk we'll talk through every little vignette here i'd attend yeah i mean i feel like it's the go sit on go sit on a lot of stuff that's kind of like start there go sit on a lot of stuff yeah all righty please let us know if you found this episode helpful we hope you have if you have more questions you can email podcast to ballarddesigns.net for sure and we will answer um we also it's so funny we got an email from someone i'm blanking was it just two days ago kathy callie i want to say it started with a c but she emailed us literally two days ago and was like i need help i need tips for for buying furniture.

1:43:17So we're like, you are just, you read our minds. So we do try to answer your questions as best we can. So send them in. And that's our show. You can find all of the show notes on our blog, howtodecorate.com slash podcast. To send in a decorating dilemma, email your questions to podcast at Ballarddesigns.net so we can help you with your space. And of course, be sure to follow us on social media at Ballard Designs. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode. And please leave us a review. We'd love to hear your feedback. Until next time, happy decorating!