Funiture budgeting

You might be able to get a good estimate by doing a Web search re major furniture and carpet companies.

Will's advice is good. Check online at stores like pottery barn, crate and barrel and ethan allen to gt an idea. Depending on how high quality you're looking for - pottery barn has dining tables for example for as low as $400. If you want higher end, stores like roche bobois or maurice vilency would cost you around 10-15K for a dining table. Fortunoff.com could give you a good feel for what's available in rugs. Like furniture prices for rugs vary greatly. Good luck!

Can anyone recommend any other stores with a West Elm / Crate and Barrel modern look?

Check out Room & Board as well as Z Gallerie.

I like the Room & Board tip... any others?

Check out CB2 on Broadway (near Canal). It is marketed as a younger, hiper and slightly less expensive spin off of Crate and Barrel.

Williams Sonoma Home has some very nice stuff as well. They have a web site that's fairly comprehensive.
They have traditional Ralph Lauren-ish as well as more soft modern pieces. Not the highest or the lowest prices, but the quality is decent for the money.

Design Within Reach.

Also see, Jensen Lewis at 7th Avenue and 15 St. BoConcept stores around NYC. On-line lighting sights like Y Lighting and Lighting Universe, Mecox Garden for some more expensive and unusual pieces. www.apartmenttherapy.com is a terrific urban interior design blog.

Check out Environmental Furniture - next door to ABC. It has really cool and reasonably priced stuff.

One idea is to consult with a decorator. If you're willing to splurge on one or two high quality items, it might be worth the cost. At the very least, the consultation can give you ideas of how to work within your budget and style.

Don't forget to budget delivery and assembly costs. If you are in a walk-up, tell the store this so their delivery estimate is accurate.

If you're interested in modern furniture from Design Within Reach and Room & Board, I recommend you look at europebynet.com With the falling dollar it's not as cheap as it used to be, but you may find some bargains versus these stores. A couple of years ago they were often half the cost of these stores, now they seem to be only a little cheaper. Sometimes it took months to get the furniture, but the savings was worth it and customer service was great.

the fact that you are looking at these complete piece of shit 'furniture' places means that you've completely stretched to buy your apartment and you're heinously fucked with a simple 10% decline.....250k for 3br if you buy anything of substance or check out all this other shit and look like a high school drop out that's living on leverage...fred sliberman on 23rd, italian antiques, start there...or go to jensen lewis and fucking kill yourself....

Yes jnetter, your furniture knowledge is only surpassed by your eloquence.

Wow, jnetter. Your manners and values are astounding. Since you're such a troll I imagine you standing in your apartment admiring your expensive furniture....alone, since you clearly have no social graces and zero friends.

We found that using a decorator paid for itself based on the discounts she could get on a number of items and her relationships helped us find some good deals. Not to mention all the help in matching curtains and pillows, which I have to say is not my strong suit.

Don't listen to jnetter, he is the same guy who complained he couldn't "afford" Manhattan real estate while looking at $2M apartments. He is also the guy who claims he can get a 25-50% yearly return on his investments, so he probably takes weekend trips on his jet and flys all of his furniture in from Italy.

I struggle to see how you can spend 250k on furniture for a 3BR unless you are buying a bunch of 30k rugs or paying the rediculous full retail ask from some fancy store designed for wall st suckers, where the only thing you are doing is soothing your insecurities.

I think with some wise shopping around and the right contacts to get discounts you could do a 3BR for 100k or less - and that would get you a number of PREMIUM showpieces intermixed with some more down to earth stuff. Here is the math:

2 beds/bedside tables: 10k
2 armoire/dressers: 10k
Children's room: 5k (anything more is rediculous)
Sofa: 8k
2 Club Chairs: 8k
Coffee table: 3k
Dining table: 5k
6 dining chairs: 6k
2 nice area rugs: 15k
Lighting: 15k
Credenza: 5k
Entertainment system/built in: 10k

Total: 100k

You can obviously spend more, but you can also spend less if for example you dont need to deck out the second bedroom. If you are using the 2 bedrooms for two kids take the 15k you save in fancy stuff and put it into the living areas.

By the way, my prior list assumes you are getting 20% off retail and perhaps a piece or two from high end consignment.

Where do you find a decorator? And would you stay within the same 100K(+/-) w/the decorator or with the price of the decorator put you over? Also, is a decorator generally paid as flat fee or per hour?

Another thing to consider is the amount of time you'd save by using a decorator. Matching fabrics, wall paint colors, and selecting furniture takes a LOT of time.

Amity95, decorators can charge by the hour, flat fee or per room. I think there's a web site that recommends decorators, someome posted it here on Streeteasy sometime ago.

okay.....250k....here we go....35k for window furnishings (most expensive thing you can imagine), 20k for dining room table and chairs, 25k to upgrade bad lighting (avg. cost for me in the 3 places I've owned in NY), 20k for 3 couches (two living room, one master bedroom) , 10k for two coffee tables (master bedroom, living room), 30k for 3 bedroom furniture (beds, side tables, lamps), 30k for rugs (3 in bedroom, one in living, one in dining), 25k for built in speakers in ceiling and audio equipment (again, have done this 3 times), 20k for tv's and other AV equip), Entry table (5k), chandelier for dining room (10k) and master bathroom (5k), antique mirror for entry way (4k).....can you do it a lot cheaper??? Surely....but what does an average 3 bedroom in Manhattan sell for?? 3mm+?? So less than 10% budget to furnish is right on target.....I've done it 3 time in NY and 1 time in surburbia, it's amazing that it always comes out pretty darn close to this.....or go to jensen lewis....fuck.....

I could furnish a 3 bedroom for $25,000 without a decorator. I am furnishing my 1000 sf apartment with a 15,000 budget. I think if you have good taste and know what you want, you can source it online and get tremendous deals. Many sites have no tax for out of state purchases and free shipping. Here are some things I've bought so far:

2 Phillips 42" plasma tvs for $650 each
wall mounts for them for $33 each
ivory leather sectional and coctail ottoman for $2300.
several mirrored nightstands/end tables for $100-300 each
ivory tufted leather bed for $800.
black laquer and mirror tray for $25
ivory barcelona chair and ottoman for $600.
electric fireplace for $300.
sheepskin pillows for $50 each.
4 Frette bathsheets and 4 Handtowels for $176
6 Closet organizers for $700
2 Lamps for $70.
Irridescent White Mosaic Tile for Entire Bathroom for $1000

You don't have to spend a ton of money for a designer look. Check out these tables. One is from Target and one is from William Sonoma Home and they look identical.

William Sonoma Mirrored Table - $950
http://www.wshome.com/products/8109878/index.cfm?clg=57&bnrid=4250301&cm_ven=Google&cm_cat=ProductSearch&cm_pla=furocc&cm_ite=Metropolitan%20Mirrored%20Side%20Table,%20Each

Target Mirrored Table - $150
http://www.target.com/Square-Mirrored-Side-Table/dp/B000UEQITS/sr=1-3/qid=1200022092/ref=sr_1_3/601-6823947-0643368?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Amirrored%20table&page=1

www.allmodern.com is a good site.