New Furniture

At this very moment I am wiping down my Emeco navy chairs purchased from craigslist for a song. Buyer didn't know what they had, priced at $400+ new EACH we got EIGHT with a Pottery Barn table for $350 total. I put the table in our guest house and bought a new slab table from Crate and Barrel and have exactly the dining set we wanted but really couldn't justify the price.

Our furnishings and artwork are almost all previously used, repurposed hand me downs, craigs list or thrift store finds or art saved from the dump that has turned out to be worth many times what we paid. It's amazing what you find when really look at what others may consider junk. The end result is a a very cool home interior that is one of a kind and exactly reflects our style.

I would advise you do not go out and buy everything new all at once. Couches, beds and any fabric pieces are best bought new and I would start there. I'd rather live with a slightly empty house for a while and collect things than have a "instant" interior that is cookie cutter.

I don't have advice on particular stores in your area......
but I LOVE finding used wood furniture treasures!!! Definetly go "new" with couches, mattresses etc. But things like tables, dressers and such can be real steals when used and even better if they are old and made with beautiful wood.
I check out local thrift stores and have had tons of luck with Craigslist here. Garage sales are awesome too!
It's not hard to stip off old paint or refinish!

Don't fall into the pressure to get your house spot on furnished as soon as you move in. There are a lot of expenses that go into building a house as you already know. There will also be several unexpected expenses.

Buy quality pieces as you go and don't use credit. There is nothing wrong with taking your good old time to furnish your house nicely. Don't fall prey to the no interest scams, etc. They just suck you in and then you are deeper in debt.

I am not familiar with your area but we have bought good pieces from:

Weirs in Dallas and Plano. We found our daughter's cherry bedframe at Weirs. It was priced at $2500 for this huge piece of beautiful furniture, top quality and we paid $400 because it was "too big" for most bedrooms. It was perfect for her room.

We have custom sofa and loveseat from Leather Sofa Company and I highly recomend them... you make the pieces to your specifications. Expensive, yes but you get what you pay for.

We have a custom breakfast dining 84x84 and custom dining set 84x84 (HUGE tables) solid wood hand made from Amish Furniture Company. This is guaranteed for life. If something happens, they will come fix it. If you need it refinished for any reason (say you build another house and another stain would look better, then you pay the $150 to ship it back to the person who made it and it gets restained and sent back to you)

13 yrs ago when we built our current home, we got a very nice and very reasonable Natuzzi leather set for everyday from Dilliards. I never thought to look there and we happened to see a picture in the advertisement. This set still looks great 13 yrs later.

When you buy a cheap piece, it might look nice for a year or so then you are back to square 1. We spend the money upfront on quality and then there is no need for replacement due to wear/tear, falling apart, etc.

Direct Buy is a warehouse which is super high pressure and I understand the prices are not that great when you factor in membership, etc.

Just beware. You can find great things on Craigslist due to divorces, people moving, etc. Craigslist is about the only place you would be able to get "nice things" for cheap because people want to deal.

Dallas is full of great shopping.

Enjoy your new home!!

Re-Sale Stores, Estate Sales and Craigslist. It is unbelievable what you can find at reasonable prices.

Costco has great furniture, strong and lasts, and really good warranties!

We've found some pieces at a consignment store on Beltline Road in Addison one block east fo the Tollway. There is another new consignment store on the George Bush in Plano, east of 75, in a shopping center on the south side - perhaps with that haute Texas restaurant. I would like to add that when we went to The Dump, it was really just another furniture store. Speaking of, most of our furnishings were purchased at Freed's.

There is a place in FW called "no place like home" they are excellent. We bought our sectional there with and ottomon and it was $250 less than it was at The Dump (by the way, the dump is just that - not a good deal for most of the stuff they sell - that is my humble opinion based on my experiences there)
Google no place like home and fort worth.
What it is is you go in and look at catalogs. Some samples are out. They sales staff will help you if you can tell them what you have in mind, then they'll give you the prices and you can choose to order the items or not.
It is not in-stock, so there is a four to eight week waiting period dependingo on how custom the item, but I loved the experience, great customer service and great price. We are getting ready to move and ready for some upgrades - I'll be going back to NPLH.
Good luck!

I have yet to go, but I know a lot of people who swear by "The Dump". Apparently, they have great prices. And I have seen what people are getting, and they do get some great pieces. I have been told that it's a place you have to visit often. One week you go in and they will have NOTHING that interests you. The next week you'll want everything you see. And they seem to carry all kinds of tastes and styles from what my friends are buying. I think they have somewhat odd business hours if I remember correctly, so double check them if you decide to stop by. And carefully check the merchandise for damage, I think some of what they sell is slightly damaged things from other stores.

I've heard great things about Direct Buy. If you are OK with used, try Craigslist. You can find some great hardly used stuff. Home goods is awesome. And don't forget Costco. My daughter's furniture came from there. It's awesome!! And beautiful and tough!

Go to the Salvation Army store in Mansfield (right next to Tom Thumb). I was in there last week - they have a LOT of furniture - great prices! They have my exact dining room set - solid oak with leaf and 6 chairs....ALL for only $90.00 and it's in GREAT shape....my set cost me several hundred - SEVERAL HUNDRED - and I had to refinish the table. I saw a lot of living room sets, bedroom sets, stereo sets/cabinets....

Craigs list is good. But you need to be good at eclectic mix and match style. You need to have some vision for the overall feel if you are going to buy piecemeal. Sets are hard to come by on CL. Its also easy to buy the wrong things because you have to snatch good finds up right away or you lose them. With big purchases, we are better off to sit on it until until we've worked out all the details, then purchase. Wether you shop CL or stores, ideally you should have a pretty good idea what you want before you you even consider purchasing. Draw up a furniture plan, then shop for those pieces. ( I cannot tell you how many times I was hired as an interior designer to help arrange people's brand new furniture purchases that they had bought without measuring or drawing up a plan. ) Unfortunately space planning after the fact rarely ends well.
I find myself in your same shoes and its hard even for me. I've gotten some on C.L, some at Pottery Barn, some at costco, but mostly one of a kind stores. I've invested in my upholstered goods usually making them custom. Then I rob Petter to pay Paul by refurbishing my case goods from C.L.
Unfortunately inexpensive brands are usually cheaply made and poorly styled: Ikea, Living spaces, Ashely.
I couldn't have said it better than Kari F's last paragraph.

Bobs discount furniture if available in Texas.