The heavy lifting is over. You already have the primary furnishings that you want. The next step would be to find the right occasionals that correspond with the primary pieces like your sofa, bed, or chair. Here are 4 tips to think about when you’re looking for occasional furniture.
Keep proportion in mind
Proportion by definition is the size of one object compared to the size of another. In this case, we’re looking at the size of your primary furniture compared to the size of your occasionals. The size of your sofa compared to the size of your end tables.
If you want to dive deeper into this, we have a great post that will give you a better understanding of proportion and scale that you can read here.
Basically, you don’t want occasionals that are too bulky or too small. What you want is occasionals that are proportional to your primary pieces in the same way that your primary pieces are proportional to the room itself. For example; if you have a smaller sized living room and your sofa/loveseat are smaller to fit that space, you will want a cocktail table and end tables that fit into the equation. Large end tables would over power the upholstery in this scenario.
Think about the quality you want your occasionals to have
A couple of questions you can ask yourself when it comes to quality are:
How much will I use my occasionals on a daily basis?
What type of material suits my use?
What kind of price range am I trying to stay in?
How long do I want these occasional pieces to last?
The quality that you need your occasionals to be really depends on how you answer those three questions.
What type of features would you like your occasionals to have?
This is an area where it comes down to personal preference. A good place to start is to think about what you’ll be using your occasional pieces for.
Do you want your cocktail table to have drawers so you never lose your tv remote?
Do you want your nightstands to have USB ports so you can charge your phone over night?
Should your dresser have a hidden jewelry drawer?
Do you want unique pieces that make a statement?
Look for occasionals that coordinate with the style of the room and furniture
The style of the room has already been set in place. Finding occasionals that match a specific room should be fairly simple. All you are doing is reacting to that room. If you have a living room that has a contemporary sectional and a paper thin tv on the wall, then you’ll want a cocktail / end table that is also more modern. If your king size bed has a traditional ornate look, you’ll want traditional night stands alongside it. Sleek black nightstands probably wouldn’t be a good choice to put next to your traditional bed.
If you want to learn more about style specific styles, check out our post 4 design styles that fit your personality.
Time for action
These tips should help you find the occasional tables you actually want and will correspond with your primary pieces. We have a number of designers at our store that can help if you have any questions or simply just want another opinion. Give us a call or stop into our store!