I am asked this question far too often and honestly it is difficult to know exactly until we have the space completely designed but it is important to plan and understand what your investment will be. This will help us set comfortable expectations so we can work well together right from the start!
Everyone has a different desire and comfort level for their investment. One thing I know is often our dream has a larger price tag than we would like.
There are many factors that go into planning for your next home, construction project, or renovation project and probably the most important one to determine first is your budget! When people come to me they are usually looking for a truly finished look to their home which means we do need a healthy furnishings budget. For many furnishing a home can be overwhelming which is why you’ve landed here.
I have created this handy little budget planner to help you understand just how much it really costs to get that magazine worthy looking home that truly reflects you and your family. There is a link at the bottom of the page, but first, I’d like to walk you through it.
Let’s start with a living room because they tend to be one of the most expensive rooms to furnish. They are often larger, have more areas to style (those beautiful mantles and bookcases) and since it is your main living space it is often where visitors spend the their time so having the space truly reflect you and your family’s personality and story is important! This is also a space to invest in durable furniture and fabrics since it is typically used so often by so many.
Start by going to a popular retailers web site like Restoration Hardware and add every item you would need to fully complete a living room into your cart. Don’t worry about whether or not they go together just take the first thing you see. Once you have finished this exercise is the number what you expected? Is it higher or lower? Does it seem reasonable?
Use the following square footage calculation to help you get to your number. Remember sometimes this doesn’t work out perfectly, smaller rooms can often need just as much as a larger room! Also, level of customization, quantity of pieces, etc. can greatly impact this number. If you are: Renovating & Designing use $250 per square foot; Full Furnishing Design (meaning you are starting with an empty room!) use $150 per square foot; or Partial Furnishing Design (you have some items to include in the overall design) use $100 per square (yes, these prices have gone up over the last year!)
To help you begin to prioritize your needs I have broken furnishing investments into three different categories: Good, Better, Best. These numbers are based on the averages of our past clients and we have determined the quality level by multiple factors including materials used, build quality, style, accessibility, durability, comfort level, customization of the product, and so much more.
Living Rooms are composed of so many products (sofa, loveseat, ottomans, lighting, area rug, end tables, coffee table, window treatments, etc) that it’s difficult to understand the cost. However, we all can agree and understand that couches can range from $2,500 to upwards of $7,000 (and more — really, I have purchased a $20,000 couch for a client before). When you put this into perspective of the entire room, the costs add up.
I’ve gone ahead and listed all of the Good, Better, Best for each product that composes a Living Room design to share with you for budgeting purposes. You will see there is a fourth column that you can use for yourself to help create your own customized budget.
You’ll note from the guide that living room budgeting is as follows:
- Good can cost $23,000+
- Better can cost $45,000+
- Best can cost $72,000+
The above pricing does not include tax, shipping, receiving or any other applicable fees. When working with a Designer, you can expect to see higher shipping costs as we order straight from the manufacturer which require freight shipping (more on that later) to a receiver that will handle receiving, quality control for damages, assembly and installing in your home.
I hope this budgeting guide has helped you understand the costs of furnishing your Living Room. As a reminder, the full budgeting guide for an entire home is below!
Below you will find the link to our budget planner for every room in your home. Remember, this is just some good educated guessing to help get you started.
