Sam Vercher, a luxury home builder and trusted craftsman home building company out of Bullard and Tyler, Texas, has seen it all when it comes to people furnishing their custom luxury homes.
We’ve seen furnishings that work and furnishings that don’t.
There’s nothing better than watching a custom luxury home we’ve built come together with a great interior design and stylish, well-thought-out furnishings. While an interior designer can offer a lot of help in this area, it’s also possible to design and furnish your own new home.
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts for furnishing your custom home to help make bringing your home together a creative and joyful project.
Do Your Research & Don’t Rush
Trust an experienced custom home builder and take our advice: do your research ahead of time. Don’t rush the process. Try not to make rushed, impulsive purchases when it comes to home furnishings. Your custom home design should be planned so that you have a working idea of how the finished product will look. Make notes; create diagrams and drawings; lay photos out to see how the colors, patterns, light, spacing, etc., will all work together.
Planning ahead in this way will help save you money as well so that you don’t have to attempt furnishing returns if they don’t work or have to re-do paint, wallpaper, etc., because colors or patterns don’t match. Having a solid idea of how everything will come together ahead of time will make a big difference in the home design process.
Do Consider Trends & How Styles Age
While it’s always fun to research what’s trending in home-décor styles, it’s also important to remember that trends come and go. You don’t want to furnish your home along a style trend that promptly isn’t relevant next season. That can end up being very expensive!
When researching and planning your luxury home furnishings, make sure to plan long-term when it comes to styles. Focus on classics that will stand the test of time and perhaps that can be adapted to showcase trending styles. Keeping it simple allows you to integrate seasonal themes and patterns, as well as style trends.
Do Think About Your Household Needs
What are the needs of your household? This is an important question to ask as you plan your custom home’s furnishings. The furniture, style, and set-up will be determined by your home’s individual needs. Do you have children? Pets? Do you work from home? Do you need more space for whatever reason, or can you fill that space with furnishings?
Children and pets especially can determine how and with what you decorate and furnish your home, as well as the spacing and layout of rooms (If you have children and/or a big dog, you might want to make sure to add extra walking/running space around furniture and tables).
Don’t Neglect Space and Placement
Too often, people get so excited about furnishing their new luxury home that they don’t factor space into their design. Make sure to take precise measurements as you plan. Also, consider important details like doorways, trim, and placement of outlets.
If you choose specific furniture for a room, are the doorways big enough to get it into and out of the room when necessary? How much natural light do you want in the room? Is there enough walking space? Where do you need outlets? These might seem like small details, but they’ll make a big difference in day-to-day life.
Do Plan a Cohesive Style
While you don’t want to be too “matchy-matchy” when it comes to your furnishings—contrast and accents are good—it’s also important that side features, such as curtains or drapes, carpeting/rugs, and so forth, match the furnishings.
When you’re in the planning stage, don’t forget to use your imagination. After all, you’re designing and creating a space you want to be in. Fill the rooms with colors, patterns, and furnishings that feel good to you.
In this direction, also look to unconventional places to furnish your home with a unique, stylish design. Antique shops are a wonderful place to find fun, interesting, beautiful, and timelessly tasteful decorative pieces, artwork, and furniture for your luxury home.
Do Make Your Dream Home a Reality
Try not to let outside pressure (time, money, family members’ opinions) influence you. This is ultimately YOUR home and it should be exactly the way you want it. Make sure you factor in time to plan your furnishings properly. You don’t want to rush planning the furnishings of your luxury dream home!
If you’re still struggling to come up with ideas to furnish your luxury dream home, look for design concepts and detailed plans in your favorite luxury home magazines and websites. Image-based social media apps like Instagram and Pinterest are great places to get visual references for your ideas. Additionally, sometimes you can get inspiration just by looking at other people’s ideas. And if you’re still stumped, you can always contact a professional luxury home designer and get help with your design.
As you plan the furnishings for your custom luxury home, keep these ideas in mind, and don’t forget to have fun!