If purchasing that dream home seemed like a daunting task, facing empty room upon empty room can also be overwhelming. Considerations in solving that problem include where to look for furniture and appliances, the overall budget, payment methods, delivery, the look and feel of each room, placement, and color coordination.

Helping hands
An increasing number of furniture and home decoration stores offer a service whereby the client meets with an in-house interior designer and discusses the 'look' they want, and the budget. While all the sales staff at the up-market Roche Bobois are interior designers who can come up with room plans within the clients' budget, other stores like Farra, Obegi Better Home Galerie Vanlian, and City Furniture also have architects who can visit your home and come up with room plans. Aishti Home has a separate office for this use, and Sleep Comfort has six or seven interior designers. This service is usually free when the client buys the furniture from the store. Some, like Farra Design Center, are looking into charging a nominal $50-$100, which would be knocked off the price of the furniture. Getting a free design service from one store and buying from another is not appreciated!

Other services
Most furniture stores offer free delivery anywhere in the country, and some even overseas, like Aishti Home. For those that do charge a fee, like City Furniture, which charges $50-$75 depending on the destination, it is usually not a major budget consideration. Stores are also increasingly flexible when it comes to custom ordering. In addition to being able to choose fabrics and colors, it is also possible in many cases to make slight changes or made-to-measure pieces. Roche Bobois, Galerie Vanlian, and others have their own factories. Obviously custom-made furniture involves extra expenses and longer delivery times. Tripod Home Design has ready-made furniture that is modular. For example, a cabinet can go from being a single-door unit to a 6-door unit by adding units.

Deciding on the look and feel
If foregoing the services of an interior designer or architect for a more personal feel, before randomly choosing furniture and decorative pieces that simply appeal, first decide on the overall look or feeling of a room. Regardless of the actual size of a room, there are many techniques available to create a sense of either spaciousness or coziness.

Making a room 'light and airy'

• Lighting: To create a feeling of largeness in a room, eliminate shadows. They tslice a room into smaller spaces. Work on lighting the room with a soft, even light. Avoid ceiling lights as they tend to make the ceiling feel lower. Diffused, ambient lighting will tend to enlarge the room.
• Color use: Soft colors and monochromatic color schemes, such as cream, beige, gray or pastels on walls and floors to make them recede. The ceiling should always be the lightest color in the room.
  
• Textures: Smoother surfaces tend to reflect more light and make the room feel larger. Avoid heavy textured flooring. Choose tile over patterned or textured carpeting. Reflective and shiny surfaces such as mirror and chrome are effective.
  
• Patterns: Limit the use of patterns. The idea is not to stop the eye as it travels across the room.
  
• Furniture selection and placement: Furniture in a room defines the space. Keep the largest pieces against the walls and choose colors that are similar to the walls and floors. Select pieces that stand off the floor on legs and are made of materials that reflect or let light through. Avoid overcrowding.

Making a room cozy and warm

• Lighting: Lighting from the ceiling will seem to lower it. A reading lamp or down-shaded lamp will cast light only in its relative vicinity. Use incandescent lamps for a warmer glow.
  
• Color: Choose strong colors for walls and floor. They will seem closer to one another.
  
• Textures: Heavy, soft textures add warmth such as faux fur or hand knitted throws on a sofa, plush pile carpeting, and draperies. Use rougher textures for the hard elements in the room.
  
• Patterns: The use of pattern can also lend a sense of coziness. Oriental rugs and printed wallpaper, patterned upholstery fabrics - used alone or in combinations.
  
• Furniture: Choose dark finishes and fabrics to create a sense that the piece is larger than it is. Place pieces away from the wall.
  

Where to start
The choice of colors and the placement of furniture are not random acts, there are certain basic rules of thumb that can help with both.

Room arrangements

• Place largest pieces first. In furnishing any room the major piece for the primary activity of the room must be considered first - the sofa in the living room, the bed in the bedroom, the desk in the office. This piece in most cases should face the focal point of the room - a view window, fireplace, or, as is often the case, the television.
  
• Next place those pieces relating to the main piece. The arrangement must make the activity comfortable and convenient as well as flatter the furniture. Think about the use of the room.
  
• Add accent pieces for secondary activities. Creating an area for a secondary use adds function to a room. A reading corner in a bedroom or a game area in a family room can be created with minimum space. Place a desk under a window to make maximum use of light and view.
  
• Place furniture where it looks best. Consider the light in the room. A dark cabinet may disappear in a dimly lit alcove. Bright pieces may seem garish under a picture window. Break up the horizontal lines of the room by mixing in taller items.
  
• Be aware of traffic patterns You can direct the flow of traffic through a room with the placement of your furniture. Leave a minimum of 75cm for walkways and avoid flowing traffic through a conversational grouping if possible.

Color palettes

The choices may seem daunting but the following is one simple method for creating a room with a 'pulled together' look.

• Pick a pattern. Almost every room has a pattern in it somewhere. It might be in a picture, a rug, the bedspread or on an upholstered piece of furniture. It is much easier to start with the pattern, than to try to find a pattern to fit into a given color scheme later on. From the colors in your pattern, we will create the palette for the room.
  
• Choose three colors. From within the pattern select three colors; a light color, a medium tone, and a darker color. These three colors will form the foundation of the color scheme.
  
• Use the light color as the background. Color walls and floor with a soft version of the light color. It is pleasing to the eye to have your floor color a bit darker than the walls and ceiling as this helps to ground the room.
  
• Put the medium tone on the largest pieces. Window coverings and large furniture pieces will take the mid-tone color.
  
• Add the darker color as an accent. Now sprinkle in the darker color on the accessories and small furniture pieces.

Ready or custom made

The line between ready and custom-made furniture is blurring as more and more large-scale furniture stores are capable of making custom-ordered changes to pieces - such as fabric, color, even size.
When purchasing ready-made pieces of a set from a store that needs to order the furniture from a supplier, ask if additional pieces can be ordered in the future. Most stores will usually be able to help with add-ons if the order is placed within two years. After that you run the risk of the supplier halting production of a particular series. Gallery factories can make customized pieces or even copy expensive items from a brochure. If deciding to go the custom-made route - for a piece or for a whole room - here are some hints for choosing the fabric for upholstering furniture. Tightly woven fabrics tend to wear the best. Generally, fabrics that have their pattern woven in will wear better than printed fabrics. The way the fabric reacts to sunlight and its durability is important.

Natural Fibers

• Prized for their soft feel and versatility, natural fibers remain popular for upholstering furniture.
• Cotton is durable, takes color well, is soft and pliable, and blends well with other fibers. But, continuous exposure to direct sunlight will cause cotton fiber to disintegrate and in damp conditions, it may tend to mildew.
  
• Linen is one of the most durable fibers available. It has a tendency to resist color and is often found in its natural coloration. Linen reflects heat somewhat better than cotton, but will disintegrate in intense sunlight.
  
• Wool is naturally springy and extremely durable. It tends to take color softly and has good resistance to abrasion. It also has a natural stain resistance.
  
• Silk, the most beautiful, yet fragile of all fabrics. is soft and lustrous. Strong light will tend to discolor and disintegrate the fiber. Difficult to clean, the fibers will tend to mildew in damp conditions.
  
• Rayon/Acetate can be woven to emulate silk or linen and is reasonably colorfast and abrasion resistant. However, it will still tend to rot under long exposure to direct sunlight.

Synthetic Fibers
Often blended with natural fibers in an effort to achieve the best properties of each.

• Polyester takes vibrant colors well, is strong and easy to clean, and stands up well under direct sunlight. Flame and abrasion resistant.
• Olefin is strong, with natural stain resistant properties. It is a bulky fiber that does not hold up well to direct sunlight. Often it is used to create heavy textured causal fabrics.
• Nylon is the strongest and most dirt resistant fiber. Used often in commercial applications where it will take a beating. Its only drawback is its sensitivity to sunlight.

Payment options
Once the furniture and all the decorative items, their colors, and placement have been decided, there is the bill. Paying cash - which gives the best chance of bargaining on price - usually has three options: the whole sum up front; 50 percent on ordering and 50 percent on delivery; or in three equal installments. Many stores realize the burden that buying furniture can place on a family, and have come up with various payment plans. Credit Libanais has made deals with several stores (including BHV, City Furniture, Aishti Home, Sleep Comfort, Vanlian, and more) under which customers can get credit through the bank directly for up to 36 months, with a special low interest rate of about eight percent. Some stores, like City Furniture, Galerie Vanlian, and Tripod have their own credit plans that usually entail a deposit of about 20 percent, with the balance due from 18-48 months. Some of the larger stores issue their own credit cards. Roche Bobois is launching the Inner Circle card, which comes out at the beginning of 2002. Holders can get credit up to $25,000 to be paid within a maximum of three years with no down-payment and no interest - the only hitch is that no discounts are allowable. Aishti Home has its own Master Card through Fransabank, where holders can also pay on an installment basis. Even if a store says at first that it does not have a payment plan, or if the plan doesn't suit you, do not walk out. Most furniture stores are willing to haggle and come up with an installment plan that suits both them and the client.