An empty room to me is a blank canvas. The potential is overwhelming at times and it’s hard to keep to the creative juices from overflowing. For others an empty room can be a vast mystery. So overwhelmed by the prospect of having to decorate it, the urge to play it safe can be too much. One of the biggest areas for beginner blunders is furniture selection. Most times it’s too easy to walk into a furniture store, see a vignette and say “l’ll take it” Ask yourself though, when was the last time you saw a similar vignette showcased in , oh, Elle Décor or Traditional Home? Never, am I right? Most furniture stores understand a new homeowner’s sense of being overwhelmed and their desire for a quick solution. They build on that emotion and offer a “what you see is what you get” model with five piece sets stylized for you and ready for purchase. While this approach seems to make furniture selection super simple, it also rather cookie cutter. The object is for you buy the whole set including the accessories , the lighting and the side tables. The problem with that is it’s all very matchy matchy. It’s what I call a room in a box. And boy is that boring! The decorator’s trick is to source pieces in similar scale with similar lines and coordinate them with color and accents. The club chair shouldn’t be made of the same fabric as the couch or come from the same line at the store. You want to source your furniture from a variety of places. This creates more interest and gives your home a more personally stylized room. Avoid the temptation of buying a room in a box and realize it may take a bit of time to complete a room to your liking. Start by focusing on the big pieces first. Invest in good pieces that will hold up under years of use. You may not have a lot of money to spend, but buy the best quality you can afford. This goes for the couch and chairs. Personally, I like to opt for a solid color couch that I can accessorize with other patterns and colors. Either I would pick chairs in a complimentary color or in a pattern, I intended to use in the room. Next, I would scour flea markets or consignment shops looking for a coffee table and accent tables. They also do not have to be from the same line and in most cases they won’t be. Finding older pieces rounds out your furniture selection, making your room more a reflection of your personality. The tables need to be the same height for balance but not necessarily the same the shape. You could have a skinny rectangular table paired with a wider round table at the other end of the couch or elsewhere in the room. Placement is equally important. It ought to be welcoming and cozy. A common mistake is to push all of the furniture against the walls. This approach appears sterile, uninviting and stifles interaction. Create conversation areas by pulling the couch out away from the wall, or set up a seating arrangement around a coffee table in the middle of a room. Furniture selection is just one element. Next week I’ll tackle lighting and art work.