The Journal — Read Before You Renovate
Materials, budgets, upkeep — the lessons we've learned, written down.
88 articles
"Solid Wood" Doesn't Mean What You Think It Means
Solid wood. Engineered wood. Veneer. MDF. These terms get thrown around like the...
The Five-Second Drawer Test That Tells You Everything About a Dresser
I've opened thousands of drawers as a furniture buyer, and five seconds is all I...
The Most Common Furniture Mistake I See — and It's Never About Style
After walking through hundreds of homes, I can tell you the most common furnitur...
How to Fit a Dining Table Into a Room That Wasn't Designed for One
Not every dining room started as a dining room. I've helped fit tables into gall...
Sectional or Sofa? A Room-by-Room Decision Guide That Has Nothing to Do With Looks
Sectionals look inviting in showrooms, but in the wrong room they destroy traffi...
The Coffee Table That Nobody Can Reach: A Short Guide to Furniture Spacing
The numbers nobody tells you: 18 inches between sofa and coffee table, 36 inches...
What I Saw at High Point That Actually Matters — and What'll Be Forgotten by Next Spring
Back from High Point Market with a notebook full of observations. Two trends wit...
The Three Silhouettes Every Furniture Brand Is Chasing Right Now
Walk enough showrooms at High Point and patterns emerge. Right now, three silhou...
When a Trend Hits Wayfair, You're Two Years Late: Notes From the Floor
Furniture trends don't appear out of nowhere. They travel from Milan and ICFF to...
What I Learned From Ten Years of High Point Market — the Patterns That Repeat
Every five years, the furniture industry cycles back to the same material, the s...
The Entry-Level, the Sweet Spot, and the Splurge: A Furniture Buyer's Three-Tier System
Every furniture category has three price tiers, and I've used the same framework...
Which Pieces Are Worth Spending On First — and Which Can Wait
Not every piece of furniture needs to be bought at the same time or at the same ...