Oh Boy – I could write a whole book on this subject!

But in the interest of time, here are a few very important points that could save you a lot of time and energy…

No, I’m not a professional designer.

And I don’t subscribe to “House & Garden.”

I’m just a guy who has been through the “furnishing” phase a few times in his own life, and a few hundred with his clients, and I think I have a few pearls of wisdom that could really help the first or second-time house or condo buyer.

We all have our own styles, but we also have our own personalities.  I’m a very obsessive-compulsive, methodical yet sometimes impulsive guy, and the process of furnishing my own condo isn’t exactly a blue-print to follow.  But perhaps one or two of these bullet points might help you when the time comes.

Don’t Do It All At Once

This is probably the best advice I can give, and something I tell all of my first-time condo-buyers.

Many people feel as if they have to plan out every square inch of their home before they move in, and somehow purchase, store, and move all of their new belongings within the first day or two of possession.  It’s absolutely ludicrous to put that kind of undue pressure on yourself, and it takes some of the fun out of it.

If you want to get your TV, couch, and bed – great.  If you’re taking a couple of items from your old condo, or your mom’s basement – perfect.  But you can’t have every single piece of furniture, kitchen utensil, framed artwork, and lampshade moved into your new home right off the hop.

I always tell my clients, “It gives you something to look forward to for the second or third weekend after you move in!  Go out and forage for that ‘perfect’ end table!  Waste an hour of company time each day by browsing online showrooms looking for the type of bedside lamp that you want!”  That’s the fun of moving in!

If it’s your very first house or condo, then I definitely recommend leaving a few purchases for once you’ve moved in.  Consider these weekend “excursions” a right of passage.

Pick Your Colours Before Your Furnishings

Consider this a “theme” if you will, but I think you should decide on your basic colours before you start shopping for your wares.

If you figure you’re going to have a cream/beige/brown theme in your living/dining rooms, then you’ll likely choose your couch, chairs, dining set, and other furnishings accordingly.

If you’re going with the hip “bluey-greys,” then you might end up going in a different direction.

It also gives you a good place to start, as many young people have no idea where to put their initial focus.  Think of this as a point in the right direction!  Pick your wall colours, and then you’ll know what to buy from there.  It all flows from the start – the colours.

Guys – TV.  Girls – Couch.

The very first thing every guy purchases for his first condo is a flat-screen television.

Most girls buy their couch, and/or dining room table.

I don’t expect this to change, nor do I recommend bucking the trend.  Do whatever makes you happy, and quite often, it’s buying that very first “new thing” for your new condo.  I had never owned a wall-mounted, flat-screen television before I bought my first condo, so shopping for that beautiful 42-inch Maxent from Costco was a great day in my young life!

Some Furnishings Are “Disposable”

Not everything you buy is going to stay with you for the rest of your life.

I mulled over options for my coffee table at my very first condo but went with a very inexpensive $69 jobber from IKEA because I knew that as a young man, I would eat every single meal at this table, and as a young man, I would have my feet on this every night (as well as my buddies).

I was urged to “have a little class” and buy a $500-600 coffee table that was “nice,” but I knew that I would trash that table, and trash it, I did.

That table was the best $69 I ever spent, and it was a drop in the bucket.

In my new condo, I purchased a beautiful $900 coffee table because I no longer eat there, and because, well, I’m in a different phase in life.  What can I say?

But my very first coffee was essentially “disposable” as I knew it would never come with me to my new place, whenever that would be.

Many items are just like this – they serve their purpose, and you junk them.  So it behooves you to try and identify these furnishings and try to save some money!

Some Items Are Forever

For your first house or condo, you’ll likely want to splurge on one piece, be it a mirror, hall table, or light fixture.

Just know that you’re going to move around a lot in your life, and if you’re going to spend big, big money on something, you should make sure it’s versatile enough to fit in a house or condo, big property or small, and absorb the changes in style/fashion.

If you find the “perfect” hall table but it costs more than your entire dining room table and chairs, just know that you’d better use that piece of furniture everywhere you go!

Don’t Buy Everything From ONE Place

If you got a fantastic bedside table from EQ3, that’s great!  But it doesn’t mean you have to purchase everything else from there as well.

Many of my first-time buyers tell me that they bought 80% of their furnishings from one store, and I feel like they did so only because it was easy, and they happened to be there.

You can walk into virtually any store and find something that you like, but you want to LOVE everything that you own.

Some places are better for couches, and some are better for tables.  Know that there’s a difference, and that furnishing your condo or home is going to be hard work, and you’ll thank yourself down the road.

Hire A Professional

Hiring an interior designer or colour coordinator can be money well-spent if you have absolutely no clue what you’re doing – and many of us don’t!

Your house or condo is your largest asset, and painting the bathroom black and bringing in your great grandmother’s furniture is not going to help increase the value of the property!

It might be beneficial to spend some money on a professional eye, whether it’s $75 per hour for a color coordinator to pick paint colours and couch colours, or $3,000 for an interior designer to come and pick out your furnishings.  You could certainly spend a lot more!  But it’s not necessary for your first condo, and a little money can go a long way if you really, truly consider your home to be an asset.

Don’t Buy A Black Leather Ruffled Couch From Leon’s

As I said at the top of this post – we all spend money in different ways, and on different things, and it seems that girls usually have a far keener eye for a couch.

For the guys out there, all I can say is please avoid going to Leon’s and buying the 3-person couch and 2-person loveseat for $999 or whatever they cost these days.  They’re awful, ugly, out of style, and so cliché.

Go to a wholesaler and pick something different.  I don’t care what it is – so long as it’s not a black leather ruffled couch, or two.

Replace Your Light Fixtures

Fresh paint and new light fixtures are the two best returns on your money, in my opinion.

If you’re the first owner of a condo (ie. a new development), or you’ve bought from somebody who didn’t do anything with the unit once the developer handed them the keys, then spend some money on new light fixtures.

You just know a developer-fixture when you see one.  They’re usually cheap, round, frosted-glass, and they cost about eight bucks.

Light fixtures aren’t technically “furnishings” but they can have just as much of an impact, or more, than a couch or a dining room table.  You might spend a couple hundred dollars replacing all the fixtures in your 1-bedroom condo, or maybe a few thousand in your 3-bedroom house.  This is money well-spent!

Combine Personal Touch With Current Styles

It’s your home and you’ve been waiting your whole life to finally sink your teeth into a decorating project that you could call your own.  You must find the fine line between furnishing the home with things that you like, and items that are in style.

Remember that your home is an asset, and you have to keep up the value.

I suppose if you were dead-set against buying furnishings that are ‘in’ just for the sake of doing so, you could always hire a Realtor like me, who is going to tell you to move out everything you own and pay to stage the property, when it comes time to sell…