Oh my goodness ... where do I start! My custom sofa in the family room - used the fabric the store designer said would look so fabulous instead of following my own gut ... my dining room chairs (too traditional, should have gone for something a little less expected), my dresser (too big for the room), my daughter's headboard, rug in my family room (not practical colors for wear & tear) ... and none of these were inexpensive.

I pretty much feel like this every time I buy a piece of furniture. I have a headboard that I don't particularly love, but it was really expensive, so we're using because, partly because I don't want to admit defeat, I think.

No advice, but you're not alone.

I feel like I spent way too much money on custom drapes for the LR/DR. While I do like them, I just feel like to justify the cost, I'm going to have to keep liking them for the next 10 years or so. I wish I had put in bamboo shades (since the windows face the front of the house and I need privacy) with stationary panels; but I felt an urgent need to decide soon to because of privacy concerns.

Some of my best purchases have been on CL where not only do I get what I want for a more reasonable price, but I know I can resell it there for about what I paid for it.

Yes. But I have resold things that were wrong (at a huge loss) and moved on. I inherited many beautiful pieces of furniture, there's still one sideboard I haven't figured out what to do with and it's taking up my whole hallway. I buy medium quality sofas and chairs, use them for 5 - 7 years, and haul them to the curb when they're broken down. Honestly, with the cost of slipcovering and reupholstering, and my own fickle aesthetic tastes, I don't see the point of buying something I have to be "married to" forever.

"Do you ever have remorse over expensive furniture you've bought?"

Quite honestly, no.

I am sure that it is because I research, and agonize, and second guess BEFORE the purchase.

By the time I actually buy the expensive furniture, I am confident that is it what DH and I want and love.

I would say no or rarely, for a few reasons;

1) there are very few really expensive purchases I've made (although *really expensive* is in the wallet of the spender!)

2) if I'm going to wallow in guilt or remorse over something, it's going to be a bigger issue than money spent on furniture or decor

3) my attitude is easy come easy go - don't love it anymore, sell it and move on, just like juithn

Now that's not to say that I've never had any *what were you thinking* moments where I want to smack myself. Just ask my DH about the 4 - yes 4 - sofa beds I bought and re-sold on CL within a 5 week period (and he sweetly helped me cart each and every one into the house and then out again to the new buyers, usually within a 48 hour period!)

If you exclude the dozens of desk chairs I've tried to get better ergonomics for working at computer, then no - I've not made expensive, regrettable furniture purchases. But I did reupholster a sofa in very expensive fabric that frankly, looks cheap on the sofa, and maybe isn't even the best color choice.

Rarely -- But that's generally because I only buy *expensive* if I LOVE it and know it's a forever piece. If I don't fall in love or have nagging doubts, I bargain shop.

I love going the Craigslist or eBay route, because there's no 'loss' if you change your mind. In fact, for us, there's often a gain...

I have, but not because I stopped liking the furniture, but because it no longer worked for us or our house. Example, our dining table, seats 12, and was used several times a week when the kids were home and bringing hordes of friends over all the time. Now we go months without eating on it. If we have company, it's just my in-laws and we all sit at the small table. It wasn't expensive at all, but I can't find a replacement for it.

Another thing is our refrigerator & freezer, also bought when I was cooking for 20-30 at a time and needed the room. Now a single 26 cu ft would probably be more than we need. I'm not sure what we'll do there as the units we have were moderately expensive for us.

I regret buying electronics 19 years ago thinking they would be the last ones I ever purchased. The 35" tube TV that was $2K....not HD, or digital & can't hang it on the wall. :0( The 2 oriental rugs I paid big bucks for, I'm tired of....

CL has changed everything. You can buy things others are tired of and get exactly what you want!

Your NOT alone!

Yes and no. The saving grace is that I've lived in 8 very different homes in the last 20 years. So something I bought for one place but don't like, I can get rid of when I move with the rationale that it doesn't work in the new place. However, I still have an Ethan Allen pine china/buffet I bought in 1985 even though it's no longer my style...

Only regret is that I wish we'd had our (custom) DR table made a little longer (if that had even been an option). An extra 12" or so would probably allow us to add a folding chair to either side so we could seat 12.

I never dropped huge sums of money and regretted it but enough smaller amounts to add up!

Val mentioned .."curtains...but I felt an urgent need to decide soon to because of privacy concerns. " That's what happened with our bedroom window. Two days after we in I bought curtains. I had NO game plan for the room. Guess what? I'm getting ready to finally change them. If I would've bought the 96" length maybe I could try and make them work somewhere.

Oh, I also don't know why we just didn't buy stainless appliances (the ones that don't show fingerprints) instead of white. We went to a local Mom and Pop place and that's nice and all but we could've got a deal at Lowes or Home Depot.

This is also part of the reason I'll never buy a good quality, expensive rug. I have a harder time parting with stuff that cost more money.

Ah, well.

When I purchase something "expensive" I have to love it. If I don't love it I will keep looking, if not I will not be happy with it in a few years and will keep it any way because it cost so much money.

I did purchase expensive patio furniture 15 years ago. I am tired of it but since nothing is wrong with it I keep it. Next time I will buy middle of the road because it is easier to get rid of.

Absolutely. My most recent expensive furniture regret is the chocolate brown sectional sofa with reclining ends that we bought two years ago. I agonized over the decision and am unhappy with it. Have been pretty much since it arrived. It was customed ordered though. Really wish I had gone with leather without reclining ends. I also dislike a couple of chairs we have purchased over the years. However, I find myself having much less regrets when I purchase something used and refinish it myself, or get a deal at a thrift store. Or when it belonged to my parents and has sentimental value, I cherish it, no matter what the style. I seem to have the most trouble with new pieces. Our town is small so craigslist isnt as well used. And our furniture selection is small unless we drive a couple hours away to shop for it. Who has the time with kids and everything. I must confess feeling guilt over secretly hoping the kids will tear it up so that we can justify getting something else. Is'nt that awful? To make things worse, we can't afford to replace it. I know, I'm a sad case.

I rarely have regrets in the furniture dept because much of our house is full of stray antiques or wannabes that I have collected over the years.
I did buy a table nook set for our new kitchen and then changed the plans on the layout. It has been in a box hidden under other materials that we will actually use for almost 4 years. I got a great deal on it and hope to resell it for almost that price since it is brand new in the box. I also bought a pop up vent for the kitchen when I thought our ceiling would be too high to put a vent over our island. Plans changed and I have to resell that as well (also brand new in the box).
Any other furniture purchase was enjoyed for many years before retiring (leather couch set is 16+ years and about to go)and most are still here. I was noticing I still have nice bar stools from our old house that will have no bar to sit it in our new remodel (and have been taking up space since we moved in). I will sell those on CL. No regrets because they worked well for 6 years in our last place and will bring in a few bucks when I sell them (still nice and not out of style).

I also am the kind who will shop until I am in love and the price is right. I also stay away from trendy. Luckily, I like more unique things. No regrets that way...

I had a chair reupholstered, I hated it and it pretty much destroyed my chair's historical value, if it had any value at all. I wished I had just done the seat, as there wasn't anything wrong with the arms. And the upholsterers left staples showing where it had been covered before. Now, I can't stand to look at it; I spent over $300 on a chair I got at a garage sale for $3.
Live and learn, now I know that is the price of a brand-new chair with custom fabric. So even though I still hate this chair, it taught me a valuable lesson.

I havenâÂÂt ever bought expensive furniture, so thankfully that is one issue I donâÂÂt have. Not that I havenâÂÂt wanted expensive pieces that I have seen, but we simply canâÂÂt afford it.

I think the most expensive piece we have is the 42â flat screen tv that we bought for the family room downstairs. DH is still happy with it, it gets used every day for hours by him (and the kids when they are around), and I rarely sit down there, so no regrets.

About 20 years ago, I bought an Ethan Allen pine amoire for around $2300 - a huge sum for me then (and now). About 2 years ago, I looked around my house and added up all the gorgeous vintage furniture and great deals I had found over the past few years (including a 1940s French sideboard, Italian bamboo side table, 2 Baker arm chairs, 2 designer floor lamps) - 17 items that totaled about $2600. I immediately gave my amoire to my sister - it was too painful to look at any longer! Now that I know where to find great deals, I doubt I'll ever buy expensive furniture again.

bepeace -- Can your sis use another Ethan Allen pine piece? Maybe a real nice china/buffet? Think of it --- she could own it when it officially becomes a collectible.

This is probably going to sound more like a lecture than it is intended, but impulsiveness, impatience, fickleness and not measuring are all things that you can work on :)--and it sounds like these are the basis of much of the regret.

Need privacy:? Put up a temporary paper shade. I had bubble wrap on my front windows for two years because I didn't know what I wanted. People actually thought it was kinda interesting.

Things don't need to be finished yesterday...decor never needs to be fully finished ever.

Meaure, tape it out on the floor, make it out of stacked up boxes if you don't know how big it really is.

Finally, don't look at every sofa after you have one, don't look back...and if you really hate it, sell it.

But analyzing why you don't like something you used to like or you thought you liked can be an important part of changing the behavior. Home decor is not like a pair of shoes that can be current, fun, and maybe impractical for a season or two and then discarded. If you look at the layering and collecting and other "intense" or "classic" decorating threads you will find many of those interiors started out with many of the same pieces that are still there 20 or 30 years later, without change.

About a year ago, we purchased a king-sized Stearns & Foster mattress with the thick layer of memory foam. We loved how cushy it was. It was pretty pricey, but we're not spring chickens anymore and needed a quality mattress. Well, after our 30-day test period was already up, hubby declared that the mattress is too hot! We still have it, of course. What else would we do with it? But that was definitely an expensive regret.

Since I almost never buy anything new, I'm not agonizing over a big outlay. But I also think you can make yourself crazy trying to label your style. French country, farmhouse, cottage--what do these phrases really mean? A French style sleigh bed could fit in with a zillion other styles--you could line the room with foil and call it "chalet on the moon" if you wanted to.

No, I don't think so. Except, one of the very first pieces I bought was a Hooker entertainment center in a very traditional, formal cherry. We lived in the Wash DC area at the time, and it was a no brainer. After a year or two, I realized the style wasn't really what I wanted, and when we moved to California, it sold easily.

Everything else, I love. Still. I have had to sell pieces when they no longer fit due to remodeling, but I still loved them. Other pieces have been moved up into our mountain condo.

The thing is, I don't like 95% of furniture that is out there, and so when I do like something, I'm pretty sure of it. Still using the first LR furniture we bought, more than15 years ago. Still love the DR furniture that I spent 5 years shopping for. (I have said before, I can buy a car in an hour, but the dining room furniture is for life!)

IN one way, it's frustrating because when I need something, it takes a long time to find it. When I was sofa shopping, as a 25 year old, this saleslady I was working with became very frustrated with me because I wouldn't pick one of her options. Yes, there were many many brands and styles of sofa and upholstery, but none of them were the right thing. I finally picked something (not from her store), and as I said, I'm still using it. It's in great shape, too, except needs a bit of cleaning.

Besides our bedroom set which will last for generations, the only thing we've bought that's expensive (waaaay expensive) is our Persian Rug. But I've never regretted it because it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I'm not one to go out and spend a ton of money on furniture. Our sofa table was kind of expensive, but it's another item which I really like.

I have a lot of "old" or antique furniture, but it was either handed down to me or I got it for a song at garage sales.

I don't have regrets on my furniture purchases. First of all it's because, when I start searching, I spend a ton of concentrated time on it. Usually I know what I want next and then work towards purchasing it. This can be a process that lasts over several years. When it finally arrives, sometimes I have to get used to it encroaching and changing the open space that used to be there. Being a very visual person, I love quality pieces and rooms that fit together well, otherwise I am unnerved and very uncomfortable. Once I purchase a quality piece, I don't ever want to revisit the issue again. It's time to move on.

I have no regrets on purchase I have made over the years. I could shop where I worked. Just researching the product boss!

I have remorse over the expensive furniture I didn't purchase. When I worked in furniture stores,cost+freight+10% was the standard employee discount. It would kill me now to pay regular price.

Ok, three of my favorite voices around here--Palimpsest, Ideefixe and Oakleyok--have pretty well covered all the bases, but just to recap...

The three biggest causes of Decorating Remorse--other than watching TV decorating shows & wishing you had done something other than what you already did, I mean--are Being in too big a hurry & buying something just to have something (rather than have nothing), Worrying about inconsequential stylistic labels & categories, and Buying brand new pieces.

I did without a sofa for five years rather than buy something merely to be have something to sit on, I don't worry about what style supposedly goes with what, and I never buy anything new. Well, almost never.

The most expensive thing in my house is an early 19th century sofa, for which I forked over 850 of my hard-earned dollars, and the two-months-long diet of peanut-butter sandwiches that paid for it was worth every bite. The second-most-expensive thing I ever bought was also the only thing I've ever bought new: a gigantic 3-piece arched mirror set out of a popular catalog that looked very handsome in the photo but which turned out to be a piece--well, three pieces--of junk, which I should have predicted, since, Hello!, it was in a popular catalog. All I can say is I must have been on Nyquil that day. Anyway, I seldom make mistakes, but when I do, I don't brood & beat myself up over them, so I hauled them down to the service entrance lobby of my building and in a few hours, they were gone. The sofa I'll have forever.

I usually agonize so much that I have been happy over the long term though I still have those moments when I'm not sure. I"m not convinced that all the agonizing is always the better way to go - I waste a lot of time researching, shopping and fretting over stuff. I still have things that won't be making it over the long hall - but not many and they were not terribly expensive.

I do think decorating should be a job that is never done - I am in the process of re-painting after living in my condo for 15 months. I kept the original colours that I selected but I have changed the placement. I wouldn't have known to do that without having painted it the first time. Could be the same with furniture - you have to try it to know what you really want - expensive but sometimes that's the way it goes to get to what's right.

Amen to Palimpsest, Ideefixe, Oakleyok, and Magnaverde.

I can honestly say, I have no remorse over any of my expensive furniture. Some of my furniture is 12+ years and I still love the pieces everytime I walk into a room. I never feel rushed. So much so, that I drive my DH crazy. He hates bare spaces and I prefer them to filled and not quite right. I still have paper shades in our Master Bath. We moved here 4 yrs ago.