You don’t want to spend your money on a beautiful new living room group, only to find when it’s delivered that it doesn’t work in your room! At Smith Village, all of our furniture consultants are trained to help you achieve the best floorplan and the best upholstery fabrics for your space. You can help by bringing along any paint colors, flooring swatches, and a quick sketch of your room with doorways, windows and measurements marked. Our sales consultants can eliminate the fear of choosing the wrong size, color or style, and can then direct you to the best choices to meet your needs and your space.They are also familiar with the best fabrics for your situation if you have pets or children. Or a husband. 😉

This is how it usually works. A sales associate will greet you upon your arrival, and depending on your preferences will either allow you to browse, or assist you in your search. If you have questions, your salesperson will be available to answer them. As your search narrows down, our associate will gather pertinent info from you, such as size of the room, what activities your family enjoys – or would like to enjoy – in the room, how much seating you need, and your design preferences.

Once you have narrowed down your selection, it’s time to start looking at fabrics. Generally, the cover you see on the piece on the floor is the way we stock it in our warehouse. These are usually your least expensive option. Sometimes there will be a select group of covers available to you at a small price increase. These are covers that the manufacturer keeps in stock, so ship time is often shorter than that of a fully custom piece. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in this group of fabrics, you enter the realm of a fully custom piece. Your consultant can guide you to what fabrics can be used on what piece; certain fabrics such as stripes, plaids or napped fabrics can only be used on certain frames. Each manufacturer has their own guidelines regarding this – your salesperson will be able to advise you.

 

Some fabrics are more costly than others, and this cost is not necessarily an indication of their durability or suitability for the furniture you are looking at.  A very inexpensive microfiber might wear extremely well, while a lighter weight fabric that doesn’t hold up as well could be very expensive. Your salesperson can help you keep your choice within a price range that is comfortable for you.  They will also be able to help you pull coordinating fabric for pillows or accent pieces.

Probably the hardest part of custom ordering is waiting for your new pieces to arrive. Your consultant will give you an approximation of how long it will take to manufacture your items. Our customer care department will call you and schedule your delivery date when your order actually arrives in our warehouse. Different manufacturers require different lead times – some ship as quickly as 3 weeks, others can take longer. Keep this in mind if you’re ordering furniture that you will need for a special event, so you can be sure it will arrive in time for your plans.

Does it seem like a lot of work? It does take some time when you have so many decisions to make, but our furniture consultants know their way around a sofa, so to speak, and they can eliminate a lot of your doubts and fears about custom ordering new upholstery. And in the end, your beautiful new room will make you forget any of the doubts you might have had.

So come on in and give us a try… All you have to lose is your old drab room!