So you want a bit of workspace that doesn’t remind you of work?  A comfortable, efficient spot where you can focus for an hour or two at a time that won’t require sacrificing personal style? Not a problem when you visit the store with the best furniture Chicago has to offer.

When it comes to the home office, the newest trend is to keep your space from looking like a home office. Your work space should transition smoothly into the rest of your home while serving your work and organizational needs. Chicago Illinois furniture retailers also want to provide you with seating to fit your home office needs.

Because you spend much of your work time in one chair and may not use the proper posture during that time, an ergonomically correct chair is a must. This can help prevent or eliminate back and neck problems and even headaches.

While shopping for the best furniture Chicago retailers offer, consider a piece like an executive secretary, which unlike a desk, can be closed up to hide all your work when you don’t want to think about it anymore. It also is a beautiful, decorative piece which hides its function inside and won’t take up as much room as the traditional desk. This is a good option if you plan to designate one corner or portion of a room as your work area rather than an entire room.

Chicago Illinois furniture dealers have many ideas and plans to offer for your home office. The most important thing is to make it work with your lifestyle and interior space. If you have pets or small children, keep safety in mind as well. Use cord minders to prevent tangling or shocking and keep important work and sharp office tools put away safely in a designated spot. A desk or secretary with a lock is a good investment.

We’ve downsized a lot since the Big 80s – cars, hair and many other things have been minimized. In the last decade furniture has begun to follow that trend as well. With the baby boomers retiring to smaller quarters, young professionals gravitating to smaller urban apartments and some of us just trying to save money by downsizing out homes, the need for slimmer furniture is at its peak.

Chicago, Illinois furniture retailers have noted and met this demand for smaller profiles in chairs and shorter sofas. Small-scale furnishings may not be in the majority but they certainly have their place in the decorating market.

Manufacturers and designers don’t limit their selections to seating; tables, beds and other functional pieces are being scaled down to fit into consumers’ homes. Your Chicago furniture dealer will likely have a slimmer version of what you now own if you need to save on space. Just don’t expect the price to be scaled down as well. Most pieces run about the same cost-wise as their larger siblings.

Rooms are getting smaller as well. The high ceilings and open spaces – such as the “great room” – so popular in the last decade are slowly giving way to smaller “purposed” rooms. Media rooms, offices, even crafting or scrapbooking rooms are showing up in today’s homes. Chicago, Illinois furniture buyers are looking for smaller pieces to be in synch with their smaller spaces.

So for those who have noticed their floor plans being a bit crowded, visit the designers at your custom furniture store in Chicago, Walter E. Smithe, for assistance finding pieces to perfect scale for your lifestyle. Whether you need to swap out the high-backed dining chairs for something lower or trade your eight-foot sofa for one a half foot shorter, they have the resources and ideas to make your floor plan work.

With many of us on tight budgets in this economic climate, major redecorating may seem beyond our means. Some professional designers offered tips on how we can spruce up with a few small changes and give our homes a spring makeover.

Framing or reframing favorite photos or artwork in coordinating frames can lend a gallery look to your home and be a focal point in a room. Your Chicago Illinois furniture store staff can offer ideas on making your decorating dollar stretch further as well.

If you want to accent current pieces such as a dining room set Chicago decorators can help you find the perfect table accents or echo the color of wood in your wall décor. Condensing your wall hangings mainly to one wall can provide a nice backdrop for a gorgeous piece of furniture.

If you’re feeling brave and in the do-it-yourself mode try changing out the backsplash in your kitchen. Rather than outdated tile or a bare wall, update the tile with bright colors or a mosaic look or try copper or stainless steel. In a bathroom setting leather is even an interesting choice.

While you’re in the bathroom with the tools out, consider changing the vanity or sink. This change could be a bit more expensive but can really alter the look of the room. A vessel sink which sits on top of a washstand or dresser is sharp. Even a funky new faucet will add interest to a bathroom with the blahs. Chicago Illinois furniture dealers have storage pieces and chairs designed for the bathroom. A nice option if you have the space.

If you like the look of your room, but just want a subtle change you might shop for new light fixtures or a chandelier. Lighting can be a design or focal point all its own. Think about combining styles or just going with something over-the-top with colors or textures that enhance the room. Customized shades or a wrap of material around a chandelier can achieve this effect.

In the bedroom try spicing up the headboard. If you have a wooden one drape something colorful over it like beads. If you don’t even have a headboard consider creating one from decorator panels found at discount stores, or staple some textured fabric over plywood and foam in a whimsical shape. Your imagination is the limit!

Although I keep a basket of cozy blankets next to my couch to snuggle into while I watch movies or take a cat nap on a winter afternoon, I have never really thought about using them as accent pieces or to bring pattern or texture into my decor. When it comes to full service furniture retailers Chicago has the best and the staff can point you toward the best choices in accent pieces.

One Manhattan designer recommends just that – reaching for a blanket not to cozy up, but to ramp up the color or pattern in a room. Brad Ford also explains that a blanket is an easy piece to change for seasons or a room makeover than a piece of furniture or a wall color. Your Chicago Illinois furniture dealer offers design services which can help you choose such accent pieces.

Ford describes his style as “warm”, “soulful” and “earthy”, and preferring an organic look, blankets fit right into his plans. Chicago contemporary furniture buyers will appreciate how a blanket can be the finishing touch to their new room décor or just jazz up a room that has become a bit tired.

Reversible blankets with patterns which differ on both sides offer versatility in decorating, says Ford. Blankets are the perfect accent piece because they can be used anywhere to change the mood of a room. He likes to just drape them over the arm of a sofa or even a headboard or footboard in the bedroom. Chicago contemporary furniture owners can use this idea to warm up a room that is sleekly designed.

Blankets – whether designer, department store or heirloom – can be an affordable way to make a visual impact. I have used an antique quilt as a wall hanging, but never thought to go the more casual route of a bright textile that could do double duty as décor and a snuggly. When shopping Chicago Illinois furniture retailers, think about how muted furniture pieces or monochromatic sets can be spiced up with a simple textile.

In perusing furniture retailers Chicago, consider pieces that could be accentuated with an heirloom textile you already own or what color of casual cotton throw you could purchase to add some punch to a certain piece of furniture.

Are you ready to dispel the winter blahs with a new look for one of the rooms in your home, or even a total home makeover? When visiting your Chicago Illinois furniture retailer keep these tips in mind to help you do it affordably and enjoyably.

Set a realistic budget. Most of us are strapped for cash these days and researching some price points and paring down to what will really make a difference in your room’s new look can save you much frustration.

Make a list of what you need and a few things you want. Prioritize your list and save room in the budget for at least one fun item. When considering these items, write down how they will be used and measure your space to be sure the items will fit the way you envision them. Your Chicago furniture dealer will be happy to help you design your space.

Know how, and how much, your furniture will be used. Frequency and type of use should dictate fabrics and finishes. If you have young children and pets you must consider safe, durable finishes and perhaps stain-proof, smudge-proof items as well. This consideration should extend to the frames, fillings and supports in a piece of furniture. Chicago Illinois furniture buyers want to be savvy in selecting the perfect pieces. A sturdier piece may have a higher price tag, but it also may last two or three times as long, saving you money in the long run.

Look for sales. Plan your shopping in advance and wait for sales if possible. Comparison shopping is also a must and sometimes retailers will match a competitor’s price, which might help you buy locally. Check out department stores as well as furniture stores and specialty stores. Chicago furniture dealers have great bargains and may have big sales as new spring pieces are arriving.

Know your seller. Ask friends or co-workers  where they have shopped and what experiences they had. You are more likely to have a good experience when you are referred by someone you know. Retailers also like to hear that you have been referred to their store. Also check out credit terms, payment options and find out about delivery times and charges, and warranty and return policies.

Read the label. The label must clearly state where the furniture was made, what exposed woods are used, and other materials information. If the label states Chicago leather couch, the couch would have to be locally made and the exposed materials all of leather.

So this might come as a no-brainer to some, but to others the possibilities are endless.  How do I arrange my living room?  Homeowners are becoming more style saavy with the growing popularity of home design networks like HGTV and “Complete Home Makeover” shows and are finding more and more ways to fix the feng shui of your family room.  There are an endless number of ways to arrange your living space to meet the needs and comfort of you (and your family).  We thought who better to help you out than one of the top furniture dealers Chicago has to offer.

More detailed than what you need, but this is a good sketch.

So where do I start?  Well as silly as it may seem, the best way to make sure you’re arranging the room the way you’re imagining it is to grab an old-fashioned pad of paper and pencil (it doesn’t actually have to be old-fashioned, we just use that term because no one uses paper and pencil these days…)  Start out with a rough sketch of the room making sure to take into account doorway access (if the door opens in or out) as well as any other obstructions (fireplace, staircases, light switches, etc.)  You can make your sketch as detailed or as bare as you want, it’s basically just meant to give you an idea of the space to visualize the different elements and how they could fit in the room.  However the more detailed the sketch, the better off you will be when you actually start moving the elements around, so its a good idea to take some time with this.

Next, select a focal point to the room.  Whether it’s a fireplace or a 50″ big screen TV (if you’re not the talking type.)  Once this is selected, make sure that all of the elements open up to the focal point.  This may seem easy but it’s important to make sure the room flows well together (and that you don’t have a bookshelf sitting out the middle of the room because you forgot to give it a place.)  Also, it may seem logical to arrange of the elements in a rectangular shape because that’s naturally the way the room wants to form, but keep in mind that it is generally a good idea to move elements around the room in such a way where you aren’t always creating right angles.  Keeping the couch at an angle is a great way to add some depth to the room while still keeping it open and retaining the space.

Test out some different sketches and see what works best.  The main thing to keep in mind is that you should arrange the room however you feel most comfortable.  Something might look great on TV, but might not be something you want to live with on a day-to-day basis.

Of course, the most important part in making the room your own is getting the right furniture.  Make sure you look online at your Chicago Furniture Dealer to get the furniture set that works best for your space.

The dining room. It’s where you want to spend mealtime, except it’s not organized. It’s where you want to entertain guests, except you never knew how to decorate it.

The dining room can and should be the most important room of your house, but so many people ignore its design or are ashamed of out-of-date furniture. Or if you’re like me, you have a spouse that wants to use it as an open-air filing cabinet.

With all that said there are several things to keep in mind when you embark upon purchasing new dining room furniture.

First, form a good idea of how you are going utilize your dining room. Will you and your entire family eat there every night? Will you only use it for entertaining? Or do you have no intentions of using it beyond the rare holiday bash? It’s important to know how many people your table must accomodate, and that leads directly to my next point.

When looking for a dining room set Chicago shoppers should identify the correct shape for their needs. Round, oval, square…well you know the shapes. All have their upsides and downsides. If you have a massive dining room and decide to fill it with a long rectangular table, but only have three people in your family, you may end up yelling across the table to be heard. You need to balance the needs of your space with the needs of your family and friends. Round tables often work nicely with oddly-shaped rooms and rooms with rounded windows and are great for conversation, while square or rectangular tables work best in modern, clean-cut rooms and offer the most seating for the space.

It’s always important to keep your budget in mind as well. For dining room sets, Chicago furniture stores offer a huge variety of materials and designs that bring a wide range of prices. It’s easy to become tantalized by the flashiest dining room sets, and you should have a maximum figure in mind that you’re willing to pay before seeing some of the high-end products. You can always get a dining room set that is both functional and fashionable no matter what your budget. But remember that function should come first. You’ll remember the good times you’ve had in your dining room long after the table and chairs are gone.

Finally, be aware of the materials you want to have. The most common dining room sets are made of wood, but you can find plenty of other materials should your home require it. Wood sets blend well with any design, but rattan, iron, steel and many other have their places, depending upon a particular home’s aesthetic.

Like most furniture purchases, a dining room set  you purchase from Chicago furniture retailers will be a long-term investment. So spend the time to research your needs and all of your options. And stop by to view the best furniture Chicago has to offer at any of our Walter E. Smithe showrooms.