Buying New Bedroom Furniture: Shop Around and Negotiate

Written by Nickel - 8 Comments

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It’s been a long time coming, but my wife and I just bought a new bedroom set. We ended up going with a bedroom suite our of Broyhill’s American Era collection, and it should be delivered this afternoon. For whatever reason, our own bedroom has always been the lowest priority when it comes to furnishing our house. Here we are ten years and four kids into our marriage, and our current bedroom furniture consists of:

(1) a kind-sized bed with no head or footboard,
(2) my wife’s dresser, which we bought used for $35 about eight years ago,
(3) my dresser from when I was a kid, and
(4) a $3 garage sale nightstand.

Very eclectic. But today that comes to an end.

At this point in life, we’re not interested in cutting corners just to save a buck. Rather, we wanted to find a good deal on good furniture that will last us a long time. We ended up finding we wanted online, viewing it in a local showroom to be sure we really liked it, and then using the online store locator to find Broyhill dealers within delivery distance. We then called around to get the best price (a bit like we do when we buy a car, although not quite as intense).

To be honest, we were amazed by the wide disparity in pricing. Different stores within 10-15 miles of our house varied in price by as much as 25%. Since we were also in the market for dressers for the boys, my lovely and talented wife negotiated a discounted (below the lowest of the local prices) package deal for everything — our bedroom suite plus three additional dressers (same brand, but from a different collection). All in all we’re happy with the deal that we made, and very excited about the prospect of finally having some decent furniture in our bedroom.

Published on April 6th, 2007 - 8 Comments
Filed under: House & Home
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. Good job; we are still in the eclectic collection of furniture phase, ourselves. We don’t have a bedroom large enough for a king sized or even a queen sized bed, though.

    Comment by Blaine Moore — Apr 6th 2007 @ 12:55 pm

  2. Most all of our furniture we bought/received from family. Someday we’ll upgrade I suppose, but I’m content so far. My wife likes to look on Craigslist a lot though.

    -limeade

    Comment by limeade — Apr 6th 2007 @ 4:17 pm

  3. What did it cost overall? I have been looking for a bedroom set, but I think I have major issues with price and fitting. I had to buy a split box-spring for a queen bed to fit up the stairs to our master bedroom. I also returned 1 set we bought that didn’t fit.

    The furniture store came out and measured and said it would fit, but then it didn’t.

    Comment by Livingalmostlarge — Apr 6th 2007 @ 5:23 pm

  4. My “furniture theory” is that most people go through three “phases”:

    1. The “starving student” phase, where they just want surfaces to put stuff on and soft places to sit or sleep on. As long as the old couch doesn’t smell too bad or the bookshelf doesn’t collapse, they’re cool with it.

    2. The “Ikea” phase, where they want something that looks somewhat better and has a consistent style, but won’t/can’t cough up thousands just yet.

    3. The “Heirloom” phase, where they want good stuff that will likely be around for a long time.

    Comment by Foobarista — Apr 6th 2007 @ 8:40 pm

  5. Looks good! And that’s a nice way to get a good deal as well.

    Comment by bluntmoney — Apr 6th 2007 @ 11:39 pm

  6. It’ll probably be another 10 yrs and four (more) kids before we take this step. We’re also 10 yrs (in June) and almost four kids (due in June) into our marriage and our bedroom furniture is the same mix:
    – king size bed, no foot or head board
    – dresser from when I was a kid
    – Nice dresser my husband bought when he was a swinging single over 10 years ago.
    – two nightstands that are actually end tables that match the coffee table in the living room (whole set bought used about 8 yrs ago)
    We’ll be investing in furniture this fall as we’ll need a couple more dressers and a twin mattress/box spring. I might pass along my dresser to one of the kids and get a new one. Or they might get a couple of matching ones. Glad to hear you guys made sure to get a good deal!

    Comment by RootAnn — Apr 7th 2007 @ 5:14 pm

  7. Ten years of marriage, huh? Maybe that means another 7 years before I need matching furniture! :)

    I mean, does Ikea furniture turn to dust or something after 10 years? It’s served us well so far.

    Comment by Jonathan — Apr 8th 2007 @ 10:22 pm

  8. Update: Picked out two dressers, one twin matress/box spring set, and one additional full size mattress (no box springs) to be delivered at a later date.

    As sales person is typing things into the computer and on a whim, I ask for a discount. Lady gets on the phone and gets us an additional $55 off (which pays for delivery). How cool is that – just for ASKING!

    Comment by RootAnn — Nov 1st 2007 @ 3:42 pm

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