18 Biggest Furniture Buying Mistakes

Summary

Dear Alice | Interior Design

Episode: 18 Biggest Furniture Buying Mistakes
Date: July 16, 2026
Hosts: Jessica Bennett (Jess), Suzanne Hall (Lane), Sam (Alice Lane Design Team)

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Episode Overview

In this lively and opinionated episode, the Dear Alice team dives deep into their 18 Biggest Furniture Buying Mistakes after 20+ years designing high-end interiors and developing their own furniture line. Through insider knowledge, personal pet peeves, and many moments of friendly banter, Jessica, Suzanne, and Sam break down the most common errors they see when people furnish their homes—and offer tangible guidance to help listeners shop smarter and avoid costly missteps.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Incorrect Side Table and Console Heights

• Mistake: Placing side tables or consoles that are too tall compared to the furniture they're paired with.
• Guidance: Table height should be slightly lower or in line with arm height, never higher. The same applies to sofa tables behind sofas.
• Quote:
  • “The table height should not be proud of the arm height. This is true for sofas as well.” (Alice, 01:42)
  • “If you have a console that is being a rainbow above the back of your sofa, that's too tall.” (Alice, 02:01)
• Timestamps: 01:12–04:29

2. Bar Stools vs. Counter Stools Confusion

• Mistake: Mixing up bar stools and counter stools, or buying for the wrong counter height.
• Guidance: Most kitchen counters are counter height (36"). Bar stools (for 42" height) are rare in homes. Always measure and buy the correct stool height.
• Quote:
  • “Most everybody listening needs a counter stool, not a bar stool.” (Alice, 05:30)
  • “If you go to 38... you're gonna have to custom make a bar stool, because these are standards.” (Sam, 05:53)
• Timestamps: 04:31–07:06

3. Cocktail Ottomans—Visual & Functional Issues

• Mistake: Using cocktail ottomans that are too tall (often 18–20”+) or too bulky for the room.
• Guidance: Prefer cocktail tables for visual structure and utility; oversized ottomans bring in too much softness and lack definition.
• Quote:
  • “Everything is just so, so soft…this room doesn’t have any cheekbones.” (Alice, 07:47)
  • “When you see a cocktail ottoman…it’s too much upholstery. The room looks chubby.” (Sam, 08:21)
• Timestamps: 07:07–09:22

4. Oversized “Chair and a Half” & Overstuffed Furniture

• Mistake: Buying extra-wide “chair and a half” seats or overstuffed sofas/chairs that overwhelm a space and lack refinement.
• Guidance: These pieces are visually heavy and can unbalance a room. Avoid unless you’re sure of the scale and look.
• Quote:
  • “It looks obese in a room. It’s too much of a good thing.” (Alice, 09:48)
  • “Overstuffed furniture…is a cheap manufacturer that’s using plywood…the room looks chubby.” (Sam, 10:44, 11:15)
• Timestamps: 09:23–12:41

5. Modular Sectionals (Except True Design Classics)

• Mistake: Buying modular sectionals made of many unconnected pieces (“loose teeth” effect).
• Guidance: Opt for a one-piece deck for visual continuity and stability.
• Quote:
  • “It’s just all these individual players that are doing their own thing, and it’s messy.” (Alice, 13:54)
• Timestamps: 13:13–14:41

6. High Back Sofas & Headboards

• Mistake: Sofas or headboards that are excessively tall or wide.
• Guidance: Avoid sofa backs around 36”+ and headboards that reach toward the ceiling; balance is more appealing.
• Quote:
  • “I hate that too. It looks menopausal…It looks like someone’s grandparents furniture.” (Alice, 14:51)
  • “Do not let anybody trick you into that. No, don’t do it.” (Alice, 16:12)
• Timestamps: 14:48–16:48

7. Vinyl (“Vegan”) Leather & Low-Quality Synthetics

• Mistake: Buying vinyl/leather substitutes prone to rapid wear and uncomfortable in daily use.
• Guidance: Go for fabric or genuine high-quality materials; if necessary, research superior vegan options.
• Quote:
  • “Vinyl leather is even worse, the way it ages…it starts peeling off…and I feel like I’m in a 1950s diner.” (Lane, 17:19)
• Timestamps: 16:56–18:10

8. Buying Complete Furniture Sets

• Mistake: Purchasing entire matching sets (e.g., coffee table, side tables) for a “done” look.
• Guidance: Curate pieces thoughtfully; only some elements (e.g., nightstands or pairs of chairs) work in twos.
• Quote:
  • “If you were trying to tell the world you were void of character and have no discernment—get the set!” (Sam, 18:13)
• Timestamps: 18:10–19:31

9. Animal Print Rugs & Power-Loomed Rugs

• Mistake: Purchasing cheap, power-loomed, poly-based, or inauthentic animal print rugs.
• Guidance: Invest in hand-knotted wool rugs for durability and authenticity; power-loomed are “throwaway rugs.”
• Quote:
  • “The power loom drug is a throwaway rug…if you’re into disposable furniture, go out and get one.” (Sam, 21:10)
• Timestamps: 19:34–21:23

10. Sectional Math Errors

• Mistake: Misordering sectional pieces (right/left arms, incorrect configuration, overfilling the room).
• Guidance: Seek help understanding terminology—sectional math is tricky and mistakes are expensive.
• Quote:
  • “When you’re ordering a sofa…You have to know those different pieces when constructing a sectional.” (Lane, 22:47)
• Timestamps: 21:23–23:13

11. Art Without Frames or Cheap Frames

• Mistake: Hanging unframed “stretched” canvas or art in cheap frames.
• Guidance: Invest in high-quality or custom framing to elevate artwork.
• Quote:
  • “I get so sad when I go into a home and they have original, beautiful art—but they didn’t invest in the frame.” (Sam, 23:39)
• Timestamps: 23:14–24:04

12. Using Baskets as Furniture

• Mistake: Substituting baskets for side tables or visible room features.
• Guidance: Hide baskets for storage; don’t treat as focal or functional furniture.
• Quote:
  • “We should probably tell them that baskets aren’t furniture.” (Alice, 24:35)
• Timestamps: 24:05–25:13

13. Too-Short Lamps

• Mistake: Using undersized lamps (20”–24”) on large nightstands or sofa sides.
• Guidance: Use lamps at least 30” tall for visual impact—these act like jewelry, adding style to your room.
• Quote:
  • “That lamp is like sculpture in the room…if you’re going to underplay it with a really small lamp, it’s going to look even smaller.” (Alice, 25:29)
• Timestamps: 25:14–26:42

14–18. General Scale & Proportion Sins, and the Importance of Measuring

• Mistake: Miscellaneous errors in scale, mismatched proportions, not measuring before buying.
• Guidance: Keep a tape measure handy when shopping; refer back to these “18 mistakes” to spot what feels “off.”
• Quote:
  • “People can look at something and be like, 'There’s something off there. I just can’t put my finger on it.' And we’re just giving these to you..." (Lane, 26:42)
• Timestamps: 26:42–27:41

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• “You can make fun of people now when you see that they do [tables too tall]… clown all day long.” (Alice/Sam, 01:42/01:59)
• “Everything’s just going flowing with the motion of the ocean on it.” (Lane, 08:07)
• “If you want to look really unflattered, go ahead and buy yourself one [Cloud sofa].” (Sam, 12:20)
• “It looks menopausal… It says a woman in her 50s. I can say that. Okay.” (Alice, 14:54)
• “If you want to tell the world you were void of character and you have no discernment, get the set!” (Sam, 18:13)
• “Baskets are not furniture.” (Alice, 24:04)
• “Do better.” (Sam, 25:13)
• “That lamp is like sculpture in the room. It's adding a lot of style points…” (Alice, 25:29)

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Conclusion

The Dear Alice team delivers a rapid-fire, humor- and wisdom-filled guide to avoiding the most common—and costly—furniture buying mistakes. Repeatedly, they advise listeners to measure everything, be discerning about both quality and design, and to avoid shortcuts for the sake of convenience or trends.

This episode is perfect for anyone looking for real, actionable interior design tips delivered with genuine expertise and a dash of sass.

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For more design wisdom, tips, and entertaining rants, follow the Dear Alice podcast and Alice Lane on Instagram!

Transcript

[Alice]

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Dear Alice. If you're new here, we are the designers behind Alice Lane and Alice Lane Interiors. We've been designing homes for about 20 years now. New builds, remodels, and we just want to take everything. We're learning all the mistakes we're making, any design principles, and just share it with you all. Insider knowledge that we use every day with our clients.

[Lane]

And for the last seven years, we've been designing our own line of furniture.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Lane]

So kind of goes with the topic that we're going to talk about today.

[Alice]

We're product developers and furniture designers, and we are measuring this stuff, and we are really taking great care. And if we see somebody making big mistakes, we're like, we gotta help them. They don't know. So we said, let's do a podcast. So if any of you are investing in furniture this year or in the future, you're going to want to save this episode. We're going to save you thousands and thousands of dollars. Dollars for making the wrong mistake. So today's episode is called 18 Biggest Furniture Buying Mistakes. We're going to give you 18 of them. So these are the things to avoid.

[Sam]

Whole adult.

[Lane]

Yeah, there are plenty more than this actually, too. So this is. This is just our closest 18.

[Sam]

This is our edit.

[Alice]

You should do this every year, probably.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Okay, let's jump into it.

[Sam]

Oh, man. Okay. Can I start? Yes, please do. Okay. Side tables and consoles that are too tall for the furniture frames that they are actually functioning for.

[Lane]

Yes.

[Sam]

Okay, so what, this is you. You have two chairs. They're both sitting next to each other. They're having a good time. Your side table is sitting above that arm height. As soon as I walk into the room, I'm just like, gosh dang it. They didn't measure. They did not check that dimension of the arm height and the height of the table. Looks like they inherited or got that hand me down from grandma and just stuck it there and nobody considered it.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

The table height should not be proud of the arm height. This is true for sofas as well. You have a sofa arm. That side table should be slightly lower than that arm height or in line with it. It should not be proud of the arm height. That looks crazy. You can make fun of people now when you see that they do that

[Sam]

clown all day long.

[Alice]

Yeah. Same thing with the console behind the sofa. If you have a console that's being a rainbow above the back of your sofa, that's too tall. The sofa table's job is to be slightly lower than the back of the sofa, usually to give you something beautiful to walk into. If you're walking to the back of a sofa, you've got a sofa table. We oftentimes see that the console is too tall. That looks crazy from both sides.

[Lane]

And you're giving people concussions that are sitting down on your sofa.

[Alice]

Dangerous.

[Sam]

Straight up dangerous. This one's probably my biggest pet peeve is the console that is too long of a piece of furniture in that space and not have looked at that dimension. I want to say one quick thing. So you have a sofa in the back of it has this like shelter. Right. And that could be the same as the arm height or whatever. It's that hard portion. Then. Oh, it's still taller because the cushions really rise above that. The back loose cushions rise above that 4 inches. So therefore the sofa is at 35 inches. That sofa is at 32 inches. Because that's the. Where the actual sofa interacts with the console.

[Lane]

Yes.

[Sam]

So your console does not go over 32. If not, it goes under. If not at 32. I don't want the cushion. I don't want that thing popping a wheelie above that sofa frame because your cushions are going to get compressed and you're going to see it.

[Lane]

We're talking frame frame height, not cushion height.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Alice]

Yeah, exactly. I also think that if your furniture designer is using something 36 inches high behind a sofa, the intention of that piece was never to be made to go behind a sofa. That was made to go on a wall with a dining table. It's meant to go on a wall within your entryway. So you've got to know what consoles. Therefore it's usually called a sofa table. If it's supposed to go behind a sofa or you're going to look for a console that's 32 inches or lower. That's a huge common mistake. That happens all the time.

[Lane]

You have an exposed back of the sofa, but also so they're not pushed up against the wall. You can use a sofa table behind those as well. Same rule is to be below the frame height.

[Alice]

You wanna know what else, though? Let me just say, I don't like it in an entryway when I walk in and they're using a 32 inch console in an entryway that's too short, that's too low.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

And then their styling's all happening down here. It's way below eye level. You wanna use an entry console that's 36 inches tall, which is the same height as your kitchen island. You want that higher up where you're. You don't have sofas. Another thing that it's interacting with it is the main event. So you want that 36 inch console in your entryway or 34 inch or whatever. So you've got to know when to hold them. You got to know when to know

[Lane]

when to play what card.

[Alice]

When exactly.

[Lane]

This is one that's for me, one of my biggest pet peeves, interchanging bar stools and counter stools. Like as if they are the same thing. Again, you got to know when you need which one.

[Alice]

I don't know if people know what the difference is. They think they need to buy a bar stool. Bar stools are tall. That's a height that's outdated and nobody's doing that too. Height countertop.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Remember in the old days when like they had the kitchen sink and all of that is happening down here and

[Lane]

then there was a 36 inches and

[Alice]

they'll send here up at 38. Is it 38? We don't do it anymore. 42.

[Sam]

You do in a bar. I just want to say that I'm gonna be okay. I'm like, we do enough bars. I'm like, I see you. I'm like, we're still doing bar stools. But Nadia kitchen islands. We're usually like just staying at 36 inch counter height. That is for a counter stool. 36 inches is your counter height. You're going to buy a counter stool. If you have a 42 because you're cool and you have a cool bar, you're swanky like that. Then you can use a bar stool. They are rare. They're fewer than they are the rare

[Alice]

birds in the zoo.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Alice]

Most everybody listening to this podcast that's getting stools for a kitchen needs a counter stool, not a bar stool.

[Lane]

Yeah. Have you ever tried to sit down in a bar stool and slide underneath the counter? If you've ever thought you've had chubby eyes. Yeah.

[Alice]

Children. Only children can sit at the marshals.

[Lane]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like you said, everything. Counter stool. We're not doing that two tiered thing.

[Sam]

Okay.

[Lane]

It's not a not happening.

[Sam]

One thing I just want to say to everybody, building a home, don't go away from the standards. If you're just like, actually, we're really tall. So we're going to go ahead and pop that 36 inch counter to 38. Cool for you, but lame because you're going to have to get a bar stool and cut down the legs. You're gonna have to custom Make a bar stool, because these are, like, standards that are met for those dimensions. Again, counter height is 36. Your counter stool will go to a 36 inch if you go to 38, which. So I can't tell you the amount of homes that I've been in. We bring in this.

[Lane]

The stool.

[Sam]

You know, if they're. They built it without us, they need furniture, and we're like, gosh dang it, how tall? Make sure you're measuring designers. Make sure you're measuring the height of, like, where these. This furniture is going, because it will throw salt in your game. Yep, 100%. And another thing, too. One fun fact that we just learned from one of our manufacturers is they'll put one dimension of just like this is what they have for the counter stool height. But secretly, in their fine print, they have three different heights. So ask if you do come into that case where the builder went ahead and went 38 or 40 for that. Some weird size for that countertop. Ask and see what the options are, because it's, like, so bad when you do have to start to alter what was supposed to be beautiful.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Ugh.

[Lane]

Should go cocktail ottomans next, guys.

[Alice]

I hate cocktail ottomans. I hate them. I think that there was once a day where this was beautiful, and if you have one, you are grandfathered in. Live like that. It's beautiful. It's great for grandchildren and children. Here's why I hate them. They're always too tall. I don't know why. I don't know why. People make these at least 18 inches high, which is seat height. If you're going to cross your feet up and put it on something, you want it slightly lower. I even think they might make these 20 inches high or something. They're just too tall also. Do you want to know what happens? They're out in the middle of the room, and nobody can actually put their feet on them.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

But mostly.

[Lane]

Or you got to get up, and you got to wheel it.

[Alice]

Mostly. Let me just be a visual snob for a moment. I think it's too much upholstery in a room. This room doesn't have any definition. It has no cheekbones. It has no collarbones. It has no structure to it. Everything is soft. Everything is an unbaked roll. Everything is just so, so soft.

[Lane]

Everything's just going flowing with the motion of the ocean on it. You can't set anything on it. I used to think 100% forever. I am an Ottoman type of guy. Bought a cocktail table. I haven't looked back, and I Actually love it.

[Sam]

And when you do see a cocktail ottoman, it has all those sins, right? You have. It's too much upholstery. The room looks chubby, but the room looks chubby. The room looks chubby.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Sam]

That's what happens o it. I have kids, they have zero balance. So, like, corners are going to happen. But what that happens when you do have a cocktail ottoman, you're just like, we'll put a tray on there. People be fooling around and be doing a floral on a tray and a sculpture on a tray. And I'm just like, amateur hour. Oh, my gosh, I want to pull my hair out. That tree is not to be styled. It's meant to be brought out. You bring out some cheez. It's for the children that are like so lovingly during this space because they're heading their coat on the corner. I hate them.

[Alice]

I hate them too. I'm not buying one today. No, yeah. No, I'm not going to specify this for someone. We just sold all of our cocktail ottomans in a warehouse sale and we're never going to make one again.

[Sam]

Not looking back, it's going to be

[Alice]

a decade before we ever want to create one.

[Lane]

I specifically hate the tufted ones. What's even the point?

[Sam]

They're still putting a tree on it.

[Lane]

Exactly. Yeah. And. Oh, man. Okay.

[Alice]

Too much.

[Lane]

Yep, too much.

[Alice]

Along with that same vein. The chair and a half. I hate it.

[Lane]

Tell people what that is. I don't know if the chair and

[Alice]

a half is a really, really, really wide chair. They also make this in Shay's form. So the idea is that you and your lover can lay or you and a grandchild or you and your puppy. Just the really great big oversized chair. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the same thing. It looks obese in a room. It's too much of a good thing.

[Lane]

Y.

[Alice]

It makes the rest of the room lack balance.

[Sam]

Chubby rooms.

[Alice]

It's just not a good looking thing. It's too much of a good thing.

[Sam]

You ought to know. What's worse than one chair and a half is too.

[Lane]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Alice]

They do it.

[Sam]

I know. They stack it.

[Alice]

They do too.

[Sam]

You know, lovers, coral. I don't know, it's.

[Lane]

And then they put a too tall of side table.

[Sam]

Sure. Do

[Alice]

you know what I saw recently was the chair and a half in a round formation. And so there's two big round chair and a halfs next to each other in a family room.

[Sam]

How do you. Oh, God.

[Lane]

Gosh.

[Sam]

I would just get lost.

[Alice]

It's Too much.

[Sam]

It's too much.

[Alice]

And you just phoned in it at that point. It's all stretchy.

[Lane]

There's no refinement.

[Sam]

They were still in stock.

[Lane]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[Alice]

Gosh, I hate the look of that. Sorry, everybody. If I've offended you, I just. I don't want you to do it going forward. I had to say it out loud. You're our friends.

[Sam]

Next one. Speaking of things that are too large over stuffed furniture or understuffed, if I can say. Okay, so overstuffed furniture and is again, that is someone trying to cover up all the sins. That is a cheap manufacturer that's using plywood, and it's sloppily done. So they're like, put some more stuffing in it. Call it casual. And just how, like, cozy that is. It's like a pillow, but it will break down, and it's going to expose all. All the dirt. You know, eventually it's going to look bad from the very, very get. I hate it. I hate it when I see it. I know it's underneath there, and it's not good. That's firewood.

[Lane]

Y.

[Alice]

Also, you're having to do a back bend on it while you're sitting so stuffed that you can't actually sit in a pitch. It's a rainbow that you're trying to sit up against. Yeah, it's too much.

[Sam]

Too much. My mom would hate it.

[Alice]

Yeah, she would. Your mom enjoys a good set.

[Lane]

That was me in the cloud sofa. Mari and I were on a date one time.

[Sam]

Who would say that again?

[Lane]

Corey in the cloud sofa.

[Alice]

Cloud Sofa by RH Yeah.

[Lane]

I thought, hey, that's. I want to lay down on this. This is comfortable.

[Alice]

Everybody's doing it.

[Lane]

Everyone's doing it. It's the thing. This was, like, four or five years ago, Mario. I want it. We're on a date. It's like, I want to go see what this thing's all about, you know, rock it. It's spineless. There's, like, no form or function to it whatsoever. Mari took a picture of it while I was sitting. Not taking a picture of me while on it, so I wasn't, you know, wasn't ready.

[Sam]

Posing.

[Lane]

The worst picture I've ever taken in my entire life. I look like Jabba the Hut sitting on that thing. I'd show it here, but honestly, I'm very embarrassed by it.

[Sam]

So if you want to look really unflattered, go ahead and buy yourself one. Oh, gosh.

[Alice]

Do you think it was just made to lay down on sideways? Like A bed.

[Lane]

I think it was trying to appeal to men, and they hid the shortcomings of their sofa in the wrapping it and calling it casual. It just doesn't need to be. Be so formed. And that's a cop out, too.

[Alice]

Can you sit upright on it?

[Lane]

No, there's no way. It's too deep.

[Sam]

It's too deep.

[Lane]

Yeah, yeah. If you're like Shaq, maybe. Maybe Shaq could.

[Sam]

But.

[Lane]

Yeah. I don't know.

[Alice]

So are you supposed to just pull your feet up? You know what I mean? Crisscross applesauce.

[Lane]

Yeah. Or. Or just look like the widest you've ever looked and just sprawling out on that thing. I don't. I don't even know.

[Sam]

You melt on. It's for the person that mounted their TV above their fireplace because you have to, like, lay vertically and, like, look up again, a very unflattering angle to see what's happening on your tv. Because it's too high.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Sitting too low. Sitting too high.

[Alice]

Okay, I've got one.

[Sam]

Okay, go.

[Alice]

Modular sectionals.

[Lane]

Oh, that. I might take the cloud over a modular sectional.

[Sam]

Unless you're a Bellini, like, original from 1960s.

[Lane]

Okay.

[Alice]

Yeah. Exception to the right.

[Sam]

That's.

[Alice]

Yeah, yeah. The modular sectional is basically eight slipper chairs all ganged together.

[Sam]

Right.

[Alice]

One of them is a corner. You're going for one direction, three the other, or three on one, two on one side, one on the other. But every single thing is a separate. It's a good idea for when you're moving it in because you just have to move in one slippery chair at a time. Right. But then you go to gang or the dorm room together.

[Lane]

It's for the dorm room.

[Alice]

Or maybe they don't have alligator clips on the bottom or whatever. They just always look like loose teeth.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

They never are. A one unit sectional, wall of sofa. It's. It's just all these individual players that are doing their own thing, and it's messy.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

And I think if you've ever had one, you regret it. And so we wanted to say it here. So you won't buy a modular sectional with all separate pieces. You want a sofa where the base.

[Lane]

The deck.

[Alice]

The deck can hold your cushions. One deck, you're going to have to move that whole thing in, but it's going to hold your big, long cushions. It's going to look chic. It's going to look elongated. This is what we all want for ourselves. We do not want individual, separate pieces that are going to call themselves a sectional.

[Lane]

That's the other point I don't get with these manufacturers that are doing it. They're like. And you can change up the configuration as much as you want to. It's like, who the hell's playing Legos with their sectional all the time?

[Alice]

Doing it once they get it in there.

[Lane]

Yeah. It's crazy to me.

[Sam]

The same person that's adjusting their shells after it's all said and done.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

You're not doing it.

[Alice]

So true.

[Lane]

High back sofas.

[Sam]

Define high.

[Alice]

I'm just gonna say right now. I hate that too.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

It looks menopausal. Yeah. It says a woman in her 50s. I can say that. Okay.

[Lane]

Yep.

[Alice]

I am menopausal. I'm just saying.

[Lane]

And I'm just agreeing with Jess saying it.

[Alice]

It looks really mature. It looks like someone's grandparents furniture. I'm going to define it as being probably 36. High.

[Lane]

I was going to say 36.

[Alice]

Yeah. It's. That's the height of an entry console. That's too tall. I know. People really want to be able to put their head back.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Alice]

And lay against it. I think you could probably do that at a lower height.

[Sam]

34.

[Alice]

Here's what happens. I know this because I know my dad does this. The man wants to choose the furniture and so he goes and sits in it. My dad's 6 foot 1 or 2 and so he wants a height that's really comfortable for him and his big body. Right. And I think he's chosen all the furniture in our house.

[Sam]

And do you love it?

[Alice]

It's just you just end up with really tall sofas. Just a lot of sofa.

[Sam]

I'm gonna say from a drawing perspective too. Drawing a sofa. Or like when you look at a line drawing, you're just like, oh, no. It's disproportionate. When you're talking about aesthetically golden means things like that. Ratios of just cushion the stretch limo. Ooh. I have the next one too. That also follows suit. High headboards.

[Alice]

Oh, high head.

[Sam]

High headboards. Okay.

[Alice]

My gosh.

[Lane]

And super wide ones that encompass the nightstand.

[Alice]

That's. Neither of those are good luck stand today. Don't let anybody trick you into that. No, don't do it. You'll regret it. I already regret it for you.

[Lane]

About 56.

[Alice]

Touching the ceiling.

[Lane]

Touching the ceiling. Yeah. Florida ceiling headboard.

[Alice]

And usually there's nail heads involved.

[Lane]

Yeah. Or tufting.

[Alice]

Making designs. Oh, yeah. Because you don't want that much of a good thing. You got to add treats to it.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

And I promise you, when you're sitting up in bed leaning against that thing. You're not that tall. There's no reason for that. That is what art is for, my friend. Because something else above that headboard. You do not need that high of a headboard.

[Lane]

No, y.

[Sam]

It's ridiculous.

[Alice]

It is ridiculous. Yeah. The super wide and the super tall. Yeah. Okay, guys, I've got one.

[Sam]

Okay.

[Alice]

Vinyl leather.

[Lane]

I don't love le a leather sofa, period. I don't care.

[Sam]

Every little sucker.

[Lane]

Yes. Vinyl or. And plus. Or if. When you're in the summer. I hate. It's like I'm a fruit rollup peel and have to peel off that thing. Yeah, not for me. Vinyl leather is even worse. The way it ages and kind of just like crackles and then it starts, like, peeling off, and I feel like

[Sam]

I'm a 1950s diner.

[Lane]

Yeah. 100%.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Lane]

So no to vinyl leather? No anything.

[Alice]

This is a hard one, guys. We had a client once that was vegan, and we weren't allowed to use any animal products, including down inserts.

[Lane]

Oh, wow.

[Alice]

Down fills in the furniture. Vinyl leather is okay. I don't know that two wrongs make a right.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

You know, it's tricky when at that point.

[Lane]

No, no leather.

[Alice]

Just fabric, period. Yeah, yeah.

[Sam]

Within a design center, like, you have exceptions for every single one. Just like we had to do it that one time. There are ones that are superior than others. If it is a must have to.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Sam]

So there's. There's nothing that we haven't done to an extent, but we will do it with our discernment and we'll do it with our opinions.

[Alice]

Just don't buy it off Amazon. The vinyl. The vinyl leather bar.

[Sam]

They'll call it vegan leather.

[Alice]

Yeah, don't do that.

[Sam]

Don't do it. Yeah, okay. Okay.

[Alice]

Furniture sucks. How do we feel about furniture sets? Two of everything.

[Sam]

Oh, gosh, no. That's too much. It's too much. Too much, too much. I don't know. As far as if you were trying to tell the world that you were void of character and you have no discernment.

[Alice]

Get this.

[Sam]

Go ahead and get the set. Yeah, yeah, go ahead and get the set. If you want to say that about yourself.

[Lane]

Like, I think you can buy things in pairs.

[Sam]

Chairs.

[Lane]

There are some things. Chairs, nightstands, ottomans. Exactly. But when you go into someone's home and they have the cocktail table with the matching side tables, and it's like they just walked into an Ashley or. Yeah, Costco. And I'm going to that whole thing into my house.

[Sam]

I Bet it was the dude.

[Lane]

100%.

[Sam]

100% it was the dude. Or the wife trying to get the dude buy in on her idea of getting new furniture. And he's just like, well, there you go.

[Alice]

It's nice because it comes in a set.

[Sam]

I know.

[Alice]

In a set price.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Alice]

Value driven.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Lane]

There's no personality baked into that though.

[Sam]

When we're designing anything. If there's more than one double in anything, I'm like, no, that's too many twos. Don't do matching lamps. Like with those. Matching. You already have two chairs right there. Don't do two. Two, two, two. We're very conscious about quantities of things and like certain shots because the eye doesn't want to see it. You take away all originality and as far as discernment and like curation from a space when you do that, it's lazy. It's lazy.

[Alice]

It's not interesting.

[Sam]

It's lazy.

[Alice]

Boy, you guys are interesting.

[Sam]

Yep. That's why you're here. Y.

[Alice]

That's for other people, but it's not for you. Animal print rugs. This can go wrong. This can go sideways so fast.

[Sam]

Yep.

[Alice]

No, I know that the animal print and the tortoise is really hot right now with fashion. Yeah. And so we've got to be very discerning. But there's a lot of sins that have been made in the name of animal print rugs. Usually power loomed construction. Polyesters.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Lane]

Power loom drugs, period.

[Alice]

That's one of our points too.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Alice]

These are all.

[Lane]

Am I skipping ahead? Oh, yeah.

[Alice]

No, they're wrapped into one though, because they usually. They usually hold hands. You know, you're going to be able to get yourself a tufted or a power loomed. It's a cheap construction.

[Lane]

I feel like cheap material.

[Alice]

Typically dyes, I feel like are unnatural. They're usually making an animal print out of like shades of gray, which doesn't exist in nature or something.

[Lane]

That's so like.

[Sam]

It's fluorescent.

[Lane]

Yeah. Fluorescent plastic bottles that they took it from. Exactly. Microplastics. That's a, you know, a huge buzzy topic right now. 100. That the material they're making that with is made from plastic bottles.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Sam]

We have busy families. We've designed four families. And everyone's just like, I want to do a power loomed rug because my kids are going to thrash it. You will throw that away very shortly after we put it in there because it's not going to hold up to your kids. It's. And you're not going to like the look of it. You're going to want to throw it away with a hand knotted rug. There's literally nothing I've gotten. Not been able to get out of that.

[Lane]

So true.

[Sam]

With my children. And they are all boys and they are. It's a frat house in there, guys. So you can get. Invest in the hand knot. Invest in the hand knots.

[Alice]

You can clean wool.

[Sam]

You can clean wool. Okay. And just. And it's okay for things to age. That's okay. But I know it's authentic. The power loom drug is a throwaway rug. If you are. If you're into disposable furniture, go out and get one. I hate them. I hate them.

[Lane]

Going back to sectionals really quick. Sectional math is hard.

[Alice]

Yeah.

[Lane]

You have to know what you're talking about when ordering the right pieces. You know, maybe the wrong direction or. It's literally wall to wall. It's just this gigantic. Who was telling me about the U sofa that was like you had to jump over the back of it to get inside of it. Yeah, yeah, that's man.

[Alice]

Too much sectional.

[Lane]

Too much sectional.

[Sam]

The doctor Pit.

[Lane]

Yes. Yeah, the doctor Pit. I forgot about that.

[Alice]

We carried a brand. It was Mitchell Gold, Bob Williams. They had the Dr. Pit, which was a U shaped sectional. And then the interior was all filled up with ottomans. And I'm just going to say these were all separates.

[Lane]

Imagine sitting in the corner of that thing. Imagine you're. That's not your sectional. You go to someone's house and that's where you sit and you have to roll off of that thing four times.

[Sam]

The worst is you have to crawl

[Lane]

into it and you're just like, this is so unflattering.

[Sam]

This is someone becoming.

[Alice]

Yeah. It's meant for everyone.

[Sam]

Look away. I'm gonna go get into the middle right there.

[Alice]

It's meant for movie theaters and it was really cool in the 2000s. 2000, early 2000s.

[Sam]

Very like Shagadelic for sure.

[Alice]

You guys, we learned our lesson and now we're telling you not to do it. So now you know. Now you know about modular sectionals and Dr. Pitts.

[Lane]

When a room has like so much sexual in it, it's claustrophobic.

[Sam]

You're choking.

[Lane]

There needs to be some breath and dynamic in it. Yes.

[Sam]

I need an escape route. We all need an escape route. Don't war people in. It's uncomfortable. They're not going to come back over.

[Lane]

When you're ordering a sofa, either get some help. Or a right arm facing sofa and a left. You have to know those different pieces. When you're constructing a sectional.

[Sam]

Yes.

[Alice]

You don't want to order online by yourself.

[Sam]

Call our home furnishings design services. They will help you. They know the section, know the sectional mask. Because even vendor to vendor to vendor has different terminology for the facing arms and stuff. So get help.

[Alice]

Yes.

[Sam]

On sectionals. And they're expensive. Yeah.

[Lane]

That's an expensive mistake if you get it wrong.

[Sam]

Art without frames.

[Alice]

That's not okay.

[Sam]

That's not okay.

[Alice]

Nobody's buying a stretch.

[Sam]

That's not okay.

[Alice]

Yep. Those days are done.

[Sam]

Do it. You're better than that. Okay. And then when you have art, even great art, they'll often put cheap frames on it. Because obviously the values in the art. And the dealer is going to say, oh, I don't want to distract from, like, the gorgeousness of the art. So I'm going to do something really simple. That's fine. But they're also trying to save money and not doing something great and leaving it to the buyer.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

To do something great. Invest in the free me. And so I get so sad. I get so sad when I go into a home and they have art, like, even, like original, beautiful collection. But they didn't invest in the frame. And it just. It cheapens the art. And I'm like, I don't know if it's original or if it's from Ikea. I can't tell because the frame's cheap. What's discerning it one way or the other. And that if you have beautiful art, frame it beautifully. Don't do a cheap frame.

[Alice]

Also, baskets are not furniture. We're just flipping through some stuff, just trying to get all of our ideas out and continue. And continue to see that people will put a pair of baskets next to a sofa or a pair of baskets

[Lane]

next to a chair, like a side table or something. You would think.

[Alice]

Yeah, I don't know if they're balance

[Sam]

a drink on that.

[Alice]

I think maybe they're putting blankets in it or dog toys. They're in the position where a side table should be, where you could set a drink down. And I think. I don't know.

[Lane]

Set a drink in maybe. I don't know.

[Alice]

I don't know. I just. I was just thinking that we should probably tell them that baskets aren't furniture.

[Sam]

I agree. We get function. People have throw blankets and things. You got to corral that somewhere. Put that next to your console by your TV or something. But not as a side table.

[Alice]

You would. You would hide it in a room as if it were a laundry hamper because that's essentially what it looks like. You're not putting this on display for your eye to graduate as you're walking into the room to see a basket, with a basket and then the chair. Yeah, yeah. This isn't beautiful in design. You want a lovely little side table. Graduate the height up to the chair, little lamp on it. So I think those days are behind us. It's in a basket. You're going to tuck those away.

[Sam]

Yep. No better. Do better.

[Alice]

That's exactly right. Too short of lamps.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Alice]

This often happens all the time.

[Sam]

Yeah.

[Alice]

I think a great standard lamp height for a nightstand or a side table next to a sofa or a sectional is 30 inches.

[Lane]

Yep.

[Alice]

You, that lamp is like sculpture in the room. It's adding a lot of style points to the room. Furniture's large, so you have a lot of large things happening. And these are your earrings. These are your style points. These are the things that are going to make that room feel really special and unique and, and stylish. And if you're going to underplay it with a really small lamp, it's going to look even smaller next to all of this furniture. Especially picture a king size bed with a 20 something inch lamp or too

[Lane]

tall of a headboard with a little baby lamp next to it. Yeah, that's two mistakes stupid compounded together.

[Alice]

I see designers make this mistake all the time. So that's why I was like, everybody needs to list this on the podcast so none of us will do this. Keep a tape measure in your purse if you're going shopping. I have a little, a little tiny one. And I'm, I will measure things out in the field, but your eye will start to know these things as you look at it. That, that's a good looking lamp.

[Sam]

Amen.

[Alice]

And it really does the work. It's kind of at eye level. It's interesting. If you're sitting down, it's eye level. It's really worth getting right. In fact, the designer lamps are often way taller than, than the 30 inches.

[Sam]

Like go big if you, like, know what you're doing.

[Alice]

It's a power move.

[Sam]

It's a power move.

[Alice]

Yeah. So make, don't, don't skip it. Don't phone it in with a tiny little thing.

[Lane]

I'm gonna say this too. All of these mistakes that we notice, and like I said, there's plenty more that we have. This is just a small list. I think everybody notices them, but they can't quite identify what the issue is. So it's not necessarily that. We just have opinions that no one else sees. It's just like, people can look at something and be like, there's something off there. I just can't put my finger on it. And we're just giving these to you so you can kind of calm that cognitive dissonance in your brain when you look at something. It's like, how come this doesn't look like the lifestyle photo when I bought it or whatever. It's like, these are the reasons why. Is because what you bought, you're pairing

[Alice]

with some tall side table.

[Lane]

Yes. Yeah. Some. Some often mistakes that I see.

[Sam]

It comes down to a feeling. When scale is right, you can't point it out either. You're just like, it feels right and it's wrong. Start to dissect and be like, what of all these things that my friends at Dear Alice just told me is happening in the room? Because I guarantee you something, the side table's too tall.

[Lane]

Yeah.

[Sam]

Yep. And the lamp is too small.

[Lane]

That was our list for today.

[Alice]

Yes. I hope that's helpful, you guys. We weren't trying to be mean or dis on anybody. We just really, truly want to help you as you're buying furniture. So hopefully you Learned from our 18 biggest furniture buying mistakes. You guys, the anniversary sale is going on right now. Happy anniversary, you guys.

[Sam]

Happy anniversary.

[Lane]

How many years is it? 18.

[Alice]

We opened in 08.

[Lane]

We're legal.

[Alice]

Yes, we are. You guys are going to get up to 25% off at Alice Lane exclusives right now. So go to the website, get yourself something nice, and just start living with it. I'm so excited for you. This is a really great time to buy. If you love the podcast, be sure and click Follow on your favorite listening platform. And while you're there, leave us a review, if you will, and share the podcast with a friend. If you guys have any questions, please send them to Dear Alice alicelanehome.com We'd love to hear from you. Be sure to give us a follow Instagram. Our handles are Alice Lane Home. That's our store site, and Alice Lane Interiors. If you want to see some of the behind the scenes of the projects that we're working on, product launches and more. Thanks so much for tuning in, guys. We'll catch you next time.

[Sam]

Sam.