by Angela Blair

Created on: October 09, 2009

Buying living room furniture on a budget is a real challenge as it's usually the first room one sees upon entering the home. It sets a style, a mood and creates expectation as to the other rooms in the house.

Planning is the real key to furnishing a living room on a budget and the most obvious place to start is where are you in your life? Are you single, married, have a family, etc.? Once you've established where you are in relation to the decorating experience it's much easier to go forward economically.

If you don't have a den or family room and are buying furnishings for the whole house consider budgeting your living room furniture first. That's where you'll relax, entertain and spend a great deal of your waking hours. It's also the room where your guests will spend the most time whether one person or a party. You basically have a blank page so measure your room and draw it on a pad of paper to scale.

If you're incorporating some pieces you already have into your living room you can place them after you decide on the major pieces of furniture you'll buy. If you're furnishing the whole room sketch in furniture pieces to see if they'll fit your space or cut pieces of furniture, to scale, out of paper and move them around on your plan until you get an arrangement you like.

Next, consider your life style. Are you a formal or informal person? Do you like modern, traditional, contemporary, oriental, etc.? Are the floors wood, laminate, tile or carpet? Do you plan to use area rugs? What style/color are the window coverings? Are you a minimalist or do you like a warm, library feeling in a room? What are your favorite colors? How much time do you have to dust, sweep and clean a room? Will there be children in the room? Does the room have to be multi-functional (as in a sofa with a pull out bed for guests)?

Once you've got your room on paper and a working idea of furniture pieces and space you're nearly ready to shop. Nearly? How high are your ceilings? Very low ceilings with big/tall furniture is disquieting. If the ceilings are very tall/vaulted then small, low furniture will absolutely disappear.

Now, you're ready to shop. It nearly goes without saying that the sofa/couch is usually the major investment in a living room (we're not including electronics here). Buy your sofa first and then find complimentary chairs, ottomans, tables and lamps.

Thrift stores have some amazing buys on sofas. Consignment shops are another good source and there's a wealth of internet

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