Buying a Larger Home

A growing family means changing home and furniture needs. Finding a home that accommodates your expanding family as well as furniture that will withstand your three-year-old's juice habit are huge challenges. Use Premier Baby & Child's tips to save time and money.

When buying a larger home:

Create a list of "must haves" for your new home.

A house is not up for consideration if it does not meet every requirement on the list. Give this list to your realtor, and you will avoid wasting time looking at homes that don't fit your family's needs.

Do a little research about neighborhoods to make sure it is a good fit for your family.

Find other families in the neighborhood similar to yours. If they like the area, chances are you will too. Other factors to consider - the school district and the neighborhood's proximity to grocery stores, shopping centers, dry cleaners and gas stations.

Think about resale.

Give some thought to the marketability of the house. Is it super-custom? Or does it have features that appeal to many people? This can dramatically impact your home's value in years to come.

When buying family-friendly furniture:

Select family-friendly fabrics.

Upholstered pieces with irregular patterns or very large patterns are the most forgiving of stains and dirt. Tapestry prints, large multi-colored florals and toiles are great choices. As far as color goes, very light colors show every dirt smudge and smear. But, unexpectedly, very dark colors can also show soil marks and stains. Choose a medium toned hue. Highly textured fabrics can fray when they're worn, so you may want to select a flat weave.

Choose a fabric with a high thread count.

Generally speaking, the higher the thread count, the more durable the fabric. An investment in a higher quality fabric typically pays off. It will take more time to look "lived in" than its lower quality counterpart.

If you know that stains will be an issue, consider a pre-shrunk slipcover.

You'll want to think about this decision carefully, because slipcovers can cost nearly as much as the furniture itself. Choose a good quality pre-shrunk or non-shrink fabric. If the slipcover is clean, but no longer fits on your sofa, it's not much good to you.

Invest in stain guard.

Choose the best stain treatment that the furniture store carries. Look for a store that offers stain guard with a guarantee, like Fabri-coate from Guardsman. If you can't get the stain out, they'll come and clean your furniture. And if they can't get it out, they'll replace it for up to five years.