When Stacy Friedman moved to her new-construction condominium in Chicago’s River North neighborhood in September, she faced the daunting task of trying to fill 1,200 square feet of living space with one piece of furniture, her bed.
Friedman, a television news producer, loves her condo in the newly built Park Place development for its hardwood floors, granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
But all that empty space at first seemed intimidating, especially considering that Friedman, a first-time buyer, had spent a year saving for her down payment and had few dollars to spend buying bedroom and living room furniture.
Up until early this year, in fact, she watched TV in her living room while sitting in a lawn chair.
Fortunately for Friedman, her real estate agent, Tom Gorman from the Gold Coast office of Baird & Warner, came to her armed not only with real estate sales experience, but also decorating knowledge he gained while working as an interior designer years ago in San Francisco.
He helped Friedman develop a plan for slowly filling her empty space, a plan that called for her to gradually add important pieces of furniture only as she saved enough money to afford them. The key? To be patient, and add one focal piece of furniture to a room at a time.
That plan is gradually coming to fruition. In February, her first major purchase arrived, a new couch for her living room. No more folding chairs for Friedman.
“When I first walked in, I saw an empty room,” Friedman said. “That was pretty much it.”
Gorman, however, saw infinite ideas. He looked at one wall and said it was begging for built-in bookshelves.
“I can’t afford everything yet, but now I have a vision,” Friedman said. “I know what I want to do. And that makes a huge difference. It’s far less intimidating.”
Friedman isn’t the only first-time buyer of new construction facing the challenge of drawing upon limited funds to furnish an empty home.
Most first-time buyers spend loads of money during the closing process. There isn’t much left over for that leather couch or antique dining room table.
But there are steps new homeowners can take to ease the intimidation factor that often comes with filling the blank spaces.
All it takes is a plan, say real estate and design experts. And that plan varies depending on how homeowners live their lives.
Homeowners facing a blank slate — and what is more blank than all those bare white walls and empty floors in a newly built house? — should sit down with pad and paper before purchasing any major pieces of furniture.
They should write down how they envision each room.
Stella Koop, an architect with the Chicago office of national architecture firm RKTL, suggests that homeowners consider the following:
What activities do they most like? Do they enjoy entertaining guests? Would they rather spend their evenings relaxing in front of the television or reading books in a comfortable easy chair? Do they need a separate playroom for their children or would they rather reserve space for a formal dining room?
The answers, Koop says, will help homeowners plan their furniture buying.
For example, some homeowners may choose to turn what was meant to be a formal dining room into a home office. Rushing off and purchasing a new dining room table and chairs, then, would rank as a low priority for them.
Instead, they could spend their money on a quality couch for their living room or a hutch for their kitchen.
Those who love entertaining friends and family would be better off spending their money on large tables with lots of chairs for guests or expansive couches that can fit friends comfortably.
Those who enjoy spending quiet time at home after a long day of work might sink their dollars into a top-notch home entertainment center complete with big-screen TV and stereo speakers.
“People should plan their houses, and their furnishings, around the way they live. They don’t have to follow the traditional house plan with a living room, formal dining room, family room and kitchen,” Koop said.
Gorman, the real estate agent who helped Friedman craft her furnishing plan, also recommends that homeowners consider how long they are going to live in a home before they buy any furniture.
If owners consider a new purchase their dream home, they’ll probably want to spend carefully and purchase the highest quality furniture to fill its rooms, Gorman said.
But if they plan to spend only six years in a home, they might not want to spend quite as much on furnishing it, he said.
“A plan is so important,” Gorman said. “Without it, the whole process can be so intimidating. If buyers are afraid of the process, the home can sit there for a year and there’ll still be no furniture in the living room. The people are too afraid to make a decision because they haven’t thought it out. I’ve seen that happen.”
Nicole Sassaman, a Rockford native who now redesigns and renovates homes in the Los Angeles area, recommends that homeowners study design magazines to find furniture they like.
She also suggests that they tour furniture and home stores to study the living room, bedroom, dining room and kitchen displays. These, she said, are great places to discover appealing furnishing ideas.
Sassaman has provided countless furnishing tips while renovating more than 30 condominiums and 20 houses in Los Angeles. She currently is tackling the renovation and redesign of a 6,000-square-foot estate that once served as the Beverly Hills hideaway of Greta Garbo.
“It is so important to find your own style,” Sassaman said. “Anyone can just go out and buy furniture. But you won’t be truly happy unless you buy furniture that appeals to your sense of style.”
Thomas Roszak, president of Evanston-based Roszak/ADC Architecture, Development and Construction, tells his clients that they shouldn’t fret if they only have enough money to purchase one good piece of furniture.
Getting that first piece is what’s important, he said. Owners who purchase a new couch for their living room, for example, can then use that piece as a room’s focal point.
The rest of the furnishings they buy for that room can play off the initial couch, he said.
“It’s OK to take your time to furnish your home,” Roszak said. “You should move slowly and enjoy the process. That way it’s not so overwhelming.”
Erik Carlson, home finishes manager with Chicago home builder Dubin Residential, counsels his clients to focus on quality over quantity when it comes to filling a new home’s empty spaces.
“I say it’s best to buy fewer items that are high quality. That’s better than rushing out and buying as much as you can to fill the spaces,” Carlson said.
Homeowners can take their time when purchasing furniture, but buying major appliances is more of a necessity.
No one wants to make do without a washer and dryer, and life without a dishwasher or microwave oven can be challenging, especially for first-time buyers with children.
Problem is, major appliances such as refrigerators and dishwashers can be costly.
Recognizing this, Ellen Highbaugh, manager of the Home Depot in Lincoln Park, recommends that homeowners create another plan, this one to help guide their appliance purchases.
For instance, homeowners with young children will want washing machines and dryers with large capacities. They might also want one of the new dishwashers that come with three racks instead of the standard two.
A 20-something bachelor who doesn’t like to cook won’t want to invest much money in a conventional oven. He might, though, prefer to spend extra on a high-quality microwave oven.
Then there are space considerations. Highbaugh and her husband are building a family room in the basement of their Chicago home. They want their laundry room, then, to take up as little space as possible.
Accordingly, they purchased a washer and dryer that stack atop each other. They still get a high-quality appliance, but it’s one that takes up as little space as possible.
Jodi Medina, owner of Modi Interiors in Grand Rapids, Mich., purchased a new home when she and her husband moved from Austin, Texas, to Michigan.
To help plan her furniture purchases, Medina considered her family’s interests and hobbies: She and her husband like to entertain guests, for example, and they also like to travel.
The challenge of filling the new house wasn’t easy, though. Medina used a trick she always shares with her clients. Before placing furniture in her rooms, she cut out huge swaths of newspaper in the size of the couches, tables and chairs she desired.
She then placed the newspaper chunks throughout the rooms to see how much space they would take up and how well they would mesh with each other.
“I sat down and made a plan,” Medina said. “That’s what you have to do, even if you do home design for a living.”
