Choice of furniture store to totally furnish new home

[senior citizen]

Just thinking ahead (as we will be selling all of our northern furniture here, prior to moving):

How many of you chose to use The Villages furniture store at Lake Sumter Landing? Is there another one within The Villages?

Is there yet another furniture store that you would recommend in Ocala?
Or, close by? Where is it located?

Also....

With regard to the two guest rooms in TV homes.......up here I have two huge bedrooms which are considered oversized master bedroom suites, and a third very large bedroom which could be a master.

I am so tired of making up the beds when visitors leave (two king sized beds and one queen sized bed).........plus we have blow up queen beds for kids, etc. and porta cribs.

How many of you furnished the two guest rooms with "sofa beds" and are happy with them?

Are your guests happy sleeping on them?

Which brand would be the best queen sized sleeper sofa that would be comfy and not "dig into your old bones".......you know that kind.

I figure if I do the two guest rooms with convertible sofa beds, we can still have our computer desks, recliners, etc........extra t.v. room.....

Husband thinks a murphy bed would be good. Are they comfy?

Getting older, so I just want to have all of the linens ready and waiting in the closets and let the guests make up and change their own linens as they would be mostly the younger crowd..........plus some folks our age.

Don't want to dance around the king sized beds anymore when the company leaves......ditto for the queen sized bed.......

Husband said, "Just get sleeping bags for the kids".........

Thanks in advance to those who have already been there and done that.
Appreciate it.

[JMEZARIC3]

Have you considered used furniture?The area has many very good used furniture stores and if you have a pickup truck you can shop Craiglist and TOTV.The used furniture market in FL is not like up north were family and friends pick out the good stuff and only junk make it to the used stores.We furnished a 2 BR Patio Villa for under $2,500.Everything we purchase was a brand name and mid to high mid in the product line.A lot of the used furniture come out of seasonal homes only used 2 to 6 months a year.

[chiefrose]

We too sold all of our furniture up north and completely furnished the new house. We bought just about everything from Babette's in Leesburg and did fairly well on selection and pricing. The lanai furniture came from Palm Casual. We selected these two stores after checking out several other locations.

[ssmith]

Don't have answers but have had many of the same questions as you.

I have looked at a sleeper sofa by Lazy Boy ...it has a blow up mattress on top of a regular mattress....does anybody have that one? Is it comfortable?

Has anyone tried a Memory foam topper on top of a sleeper sofa mattress?

Who likes their Murphy Beds?

Waiting and watching for answers.

[senior citizen]

Have you considered used furniture?The area has many very good used furniture stores and if you have a pickup truck you can shop Craiglist and TOTV.The used furniture market in FL is not like up north were family and friends pick out the good stuff and only junk make it to the used stores.We furnished a 2 BR Patio Villa for under $2,500.Everything we purchase was a brand name and mid to high mid in the product line.A lot of the used furniture come out of seasonal homes only used 2 to 6 months a year..

Thank you for your input. Nope, we do not have a pickup truck and are selling our S.U.V..........just bringing a sedan down. Selling the boat too.

Sounds like you've been a wise shopper and found some pretty good deals.

Our daughter loves to browse the used and antique furniture, but I'd like to just buy all new soft leather.......and minimal furnishings at that.

I was thinking of two leather sofas, each having two recliners in them.
So that would be an "L" with four recliners........we are bringing down our newish 60 inch thin screen t.v. for the living room.........plus other such t.v.s for the two extra guest rooms.....so I'd also get recliners and sofa beds for those two rooms.......after I do some research on the comfort of the sofa beds for our family and guests.

Just found Southern Living on Canal St. in The Villages....
Website has a "room planner" feature......which is great.
First we would have to sell this house; buy the new home in TV.

Not bringing our dining room set nor china cabinet, etc........so will think about that.....

I'm just in the frame of mind that now at our age "less is more" so am trying to think of furniture to do double duty......

Our entire northern home is set up for ultra comfort no matter which room you are in........but it's lots of big heavy duty furniture and "entertainment type bookcase units, etc.........want to do away with all of that. Even our desks and try to figure out ways to put our laptops (since I got rid of my tower and desktop setup.....am all wireless now, even the new printer is wireless)..........just thinking ahead.

First on the agenda.....keep downsizing......and list next spring.

I think I'd just like to choose new stuff, simple stuff but comfy, in soft leather, that serves multiple purposes........

Plus the master bedroom of course.......and lanai furniture.

Just downsizing is exhausting up here........so hope to not have too much to pack up and unpack on the other end.........

I do appreciate your thoughts........it wouldn't hurt for us to look.
Thank you.

[senior citizen]

We too sold all of our furniture up north and completely furnished the new house. We bought just about everything from Babette's in Leesburg and did fairly well on selection and pricing. The lanai furniture came from Palm Casual. We selected these two stores after checking out several other locations.

We'd go to Seaside Heights and then Seaside Park from age 17 to 24, prior to moving to Vermont........Seaside was where everyone went......
Wildwood Crest also........

Just saw the rebuilding progress on the news recently......
Quite a disaster last fall........

We do know where Leesburg is.......so I'm jotting down all of these store names. Thank you for sharing that information.........appreciate it.

[senior citizen]

Don't have answers but have had many of the same questions as you.

I have looked at a sleeper sofa by Lazy Boy ...it has a blow up mattress on top of a regular mattress....does anybody have that one? Is it comfortable?

Has anyone tried a Memory foam topper on top of a sleeper sofa mattress?

Who likes their Murphy Beds?

Waiting and watching for answers.

See........great minds think alike.

Anyone who has ever slept on a sofa bed would know where we both are coming from.

I like your idea about the memory foam on top of the mattress.

I'll be watching and waiting along with you...........

Right now, we are waiting for our carpet installer to call with the date to install here........we were gone to graduation.......and after our summer vacation will have the upstairs re carpeted as well.........but painted while we are gone on vacation......

Just doing it to get full potential profit back on our investment..........

I feel like I'm living in a topsy turvy house right now as all the china cabinet stuff has been emptied.......some is in the kitchen, some out on our screened in porch......stuff all over the upstairs bedrooms.........

Maybe I'll buy a fully furnished home in TV.......it would save all the grief.
Good luck to you.........

[graciegirl]

My choices for furniture for price and quality and customer service

Southern Lifestyles
Showcase Direct
Babbettes in Leesburg.

And

for interesting additions and pieces Bargains and Treasures.

for Accessories

Bealls Outlet
TJ Maxx
Pier One
Kirklands
Tuesday Morning
Kohls

for lanai
Home Depot

Expensive and enjoyable additions

Frontgate

Inexpensive and enjoyable additions
Ikea

Drapes
JC Penneys.

[Barefoot]

Don't want to dance around the king sized beds anymore when the company leaves......ditto for the queen sized bed.

For our guest room, we started with a queen size sofa bed with foam topper. Then we tried a queen size "real" bed. Now we have two twin beds. They make it so much easier to change sheets and wash comforters. Sometimes, rather than a married couple, we have two unrelated friends visiting. So twin beds are perfect.

Our second guest room has a pull-out sofa which is rarely used. We're planning to replace the sofa with TV chairs and use blow-up beds for overflow company. To stay sane, we try to limit our company. Otherwise, we'd have six months, non-stop, of Canadians trying to escape the winter.

[dewilson58]

Southern Living is expensive............Better deals to be found. The suggestions of Leeburg are good suggestions..........it's a competitive environment down there.

[njbchbum]

take a look at this store - just a short ride north to belleview [below ocala]. we dealt with them when we moved in 5 yrs ago. was not charged a delivery fee to kent as we did to babbette's.

https://www.facebook.com/KentFurnitureInc
Kent Furniture (http://kentfurnitureinc.com/)

also bought from showcase direct - liked their policy of trying accessory piece in your home before you buy so you can evaluate it to see if you're comfortable with the way it looks.

[princesspat]

Bought a sofa sleeper with a built -in air mattress from Showcase Direct. Liked the idea of the second bedroom being a den, rather than unused except for company. No one has spent the night yet, but it seemed very comfortable in the store. A little pricey but not when compared to a bedroom set, mattress, etc that didn't get "everyday" use.

[Barefoot]

Southern Living is expensive............Better deals to be found. The suggestions of Leeburg are good suggestions..........it's a competitive environment down there.

Bargains and Treasures is a consignment store that has lots of "gently-used" Southern Lifestyles furniture. Located in The Villages one block south of CR 466.

[Schiffy]

We bought everything from Hudson's on East colonial in Orlando. Free delivery to TV once a week. Great sales , quality furniture and the best customer service I have ever experienced! They are coming to Ocala soon

[geri317]

I was impressed with Babette's in Leesburg. Very large showroom and great customer service. Free delivery to the Villages.

[jebartle]

if you want to see it ALL and visit a gorgeous state at the same time(just a tad prejudice), go to the Furniture Market in High Point, North Carolina.

[mac9]

We purchased much of furniture from Kent in Belleview. They have things that the other stores don't have. But price is not a problem with southern Lifestyles. They will match the written price of any competitor, providing, of course, that they carry that line of furniture. Because we bought several rooms from Kent, we were able to negotiate the price and have been quite satisfied.

[hansel]

We had one of our guest rooms done with a murphy bed and it is wonderful. We went to Wall Beds Plus in the Southern Trace Shopping Center. They were the best, helped us design the entire room to fit all our needs. The mattress on the bed is as good as the one we purchased at Southern Lifestyles for our master bnedroom. It is a family owned business and they are great to work with, everything was delivered and installed exactly as promised. We are planning on scaling down to a smaller home in a few years and will definitely used their services again. Not to mention when the grandchildren visit they get the biggest kick out of closing their bed into a closet.

[Cedwards38]

Like many who move here, we brought nothing from up north and completely furnished the house we built locally. We used Southern Lifestyles in Lake Sumter Landing for the following reasons:

(1) They have a large selection of some very high quality furniture.
(2) They have consultants (Debi in our case) whose taste is impeccable in putting together a package of great furniture to match the design concepts you are going for.
(3) They have access to new homes and can deliver and set up your furniture before you ever arrive.
(4) Discount to Villagers.
(5) We know they will stand behind their product.

Yep, they weren't cheap, but all things considered, they seemed like the best option for us, and we haven't been sorry.

[VillagesFlorida]

I was impressed with Babette's in Leesburg. Very large showroom and great customer service. Free delivery to the Villages.

Babette's is terrific......large selection in all price ranges. After traipsing through every furniture store from Leesburg to Ocala we found exactly what we were looking for in the vast selection in Babette's showroom. They have great sales now and then where you can get several hundred dollars off a purchase. Unless things have improved I would not want my guests sleeping on a sofa bed (kids don't seem to mind). Personally, I have never slept on one that was comfortable. I see the value in a murphy bed as far as utilizing the room as an office, den, etc., but think about resale, too. Our new neighbors just went through removing a murphy bed so that they could have a conventional bed in the room. I think you just have to do what seems right to you and meets your needs.

[festusrules]

We furnished our patio villa with all new stuff. Looked at several stores in TV , Ocala, and Leesburg. Ended up buying 90% of furniture at Southern Lifestyles...great service, low prices, nice selection. Had a couple issues after delivery and they resolved them asap.

If I had to do it again I would have saved several days 'shopping around".

[Rosie53]

We furnished our patio villa with all new stuff. Looked at several stores in TV , Ocala, and Leesburg. Ended up buying 90% of furniture at Southern Lifestyles...great service, low prices, nice selection. Had a couple issues after delivery and they resolved them asap.

If I had to do it again I would have saved several days 'shopping around".

We used Showcase Direct and Southern Lifestyles. Both give 5% discount to Villagers. No delivery charge. When they do deliver they give you an hour window of when they will come (not like in NY where it is 4 hours). They also have floor plans for the models in the Villages and will let you see how the size of the furniture will fit. We closed on a new home in January and we had picked out some of the furniture in Oct. It was delivered 2 days before closing and we had beds to sleep in that night and chairs to sit on. They make it very easy for people in our situation.

[Bizdoc]

We bought most of our furniture at Babbette's and are happy with it. Also bought some thru Amazon (dining room table and chairs, entertainment center, furniture for study and TVs) and were also happy with that approach. If you have Amazon Prime (a great deal at $79/yr), you get free 2 day shipping things fulfilled by Amazon.

[jaackleyjr]

My wife and I have just recently purchased several rooms of furniture and a rug from the other Villages owned furniture store, Showcase Direct, up near Spanish Springs off of Bichara Blvd. It is in the center near Belk. The sales person we worked with was Linda Hayman, who also has a decorating background as well. She is very easy to work with and very helpful. With any futre needs, we will see her first. Also, extremly good delivery service after the sale.

[Cateca]

We bought new at Southern Lifestyles, Kent in Belleview (on 27/441) and Blockers in Ocala. Used at Bargains and Treasures.
In a three BR. Home, we have king bed, Posturepedic, in master BR, twin beds in guest room 1, and pull out sofa bed in den, where there is also desk, bookshelves and small recliner.
Lanai furniture, very nice, special order from Coral Casuals near Best Buy.
Rugs at Foxy near intersection 42 and 27/441.
God luck

[mgjim]

SNIPPED Otherwise, we'd have six months, non-stop, of Canadians trying to escape the winter. SNIPPED

I'm sorry but I just had to laugh when I read your post, wondering how many Canadians are six months worth?

I promise not to hijack another thread the rest of today.

[twiceis]

Family leather Gallery in Leesburg. Love Murphy beds ... Gives you extra room when not being used! You can buy mechanism on line & have someone install!

[batman911]

Like many who move here, we brought nothing from up north and completely furnished the house we built locally. We used Southern Lifestyles in Lake Sumter Landing for the following reasons:

(1) They have a large selection of some very high quality furniture.
(2) They have consultants (Debi in our case) whose taste is impeccable in putting together a package of great furniture to match the design concepts you are going for.
(3) They have access to new homes and can deliver and set up your furniture before you ever arrive.
(4) We know they will stand behind their product.

Yep, they weren't cheap, but all things considered, they seemed like the best option for us, and we haven't been sorry.

Agree 100%. Price is not quality. Beware of some stores selling furniture made cheaply overseas with poor construction and material. Cheap is OK as long as you are aware of what you are getting.

[Jayhawk]

Like many who move here, we brought nothing from up north and completely furnished the house we built locally. We used Southern Lifestyles in Lake Sumter Landing for the following reasons:

(1) They have a large selection of some very high quality furniture.
(2) They have consultants (Debi in our case) whose taste is impeccable in putting together a package of great furniture to match the design concepts you are going for.
(3) They have access to new homes and can deliver and set up your furniture before you ever arrive.
(4) We know they will stand behind their product.

Yep, they weren't cheap, but all things considered, they seemed like the best option for us, and we haven't been sorry.



Same here, and Debi is awesome as you said. And she has to be the most patient person I have met in a retail furniture environment.

[TraceyMooreRN]

I was not impressed at all with Bargains and Treasures! Went in there a few times over the last few months. Looks like a Goodwill store from the Virginia area- prices are too high for "used" furniture. Shop on this site--wait for what you want and you will save thousands. I wish I would have waited longer.
I purchased at Babbettes in Leesburg, Showcase Direct (Spanish Springs) and on this site.

[LABSX2]

We moved into our new CYV last Saturday. We arrived to a house with no furniture armed with two air mattresses, two lawn chairs, a coffee maker and a mattress and box springs on order to be delivered on Tuesday. On Monday we went to Babbette's in Leesburg and bought a bedroom suit, entertainment center and a power reclining leather sofa. We were given discounts off of the prices as well as free delivery. Our furniture was delivered today and was set up, cleaned and placed exactly where we wanted it.

[senior citizen]

Thanks to all of the above for great input and much food for thought.......
It is appreciated.............

[senior citizen]

We had one of our guest rooms done with a murphy bed and it is wonderful. We went to Wall Beds Plus in the Southern Trace Shopping Center. They were the best, helped us design the entire room to fit all our needs. The mattress on the bed is as good as the one we purchased at Southern Lifestyles for our master bnedroom. It is a family owned business and they are great to work with, everything was delivered and installed exactly as promised. We are planning on scaling down to a smaller home in a few years and will definitely used their services again. Not to mention when the grandchildren visit they get the biggest kick out of closing their bed into a closet.

I am printing out all of this information and do appreciate you taking the time to post the details of where to look for the murphy bed.........which my husband seems to want for one of the guest rooms.......he also thinks it's a great space saver and good idea in general.

I'll bet your grandchildren do LOVE closing up their bed..........plus it all makes sense for a more spacious room when no visitors are around.....

Many thanks.......

[senior citizen]

We bought most of our furniture at Babbette's and are happy with it. Also bought some thru Amazon (dining room table and chairs, entertainment center, furniture for study and TVs) and were also happy with that approach. If you have Amazon Prime (a great deal at $79/yr), you get free 2 day shipping things fulfilled by Amazon.

I do have Amazon Prime and just love Amazon in general for so many things, plus give their "gift cards" all the time...........but haven't yet looked at their furniture online........thanks for the hint.

[senior citizen]

My wife and I have just recently purchased several rooms of furniture and a rug from the other Villages owned furniture store, Showcase Direct, up near Spanish Springs off of Bichara Blvd. It is in the center near Belk. The sales person we worked with was Linda Hayman, who also has a decorating background as well. She is very easy to work with and very helpful. With any futre needs, we will see her first. Also, extremly good delivery service after the sale.

More good advice..........which is appreciated........

[senior citizen]

We bought new at Southern Lifestyles, Kent in Belleview (on 27/441) and Blockers in Ocala. Used at Bargains and Treasures.
In a three BR. Home, we have king bed, Posturepedic, in master BR, twin beds in guest room 1, and pull out sofa bed in den, where there is also desk, bookshelves and small recliner.
Lanai furniture, very nice, special order from Coral Casuals near Best Buy.
Rugs at Foxy near intersection 42 and 27/441.
God luck

Master bedroom sounds comfy for sure.......other rooms multi functional and good choices too.........thanks for sharing.......

[senior citizen]

Like many who move here, we brought nothing from up north and completely furnished the house we built locally. We used Southern Lifestyles in Lake Sumter Landing for the following reasons:

(1) They have a large selection of some very high quality furniture.
(2) They have consultants (Debi in our case) whose taste is impeccable in putting together a package of great furniture to match the design concepts you are going for.
(3) They have access to new homes and can deliver and set up your furniture before you ever arrive.
(4) We know they will stand behind their product.

Yep, they weren't cheap, but all things considered, they seemed like the best option for us, and we haven't been sorry.


I "hear you" and agree it would be easier.......I've checked out their computerized room planning, etc..........it's neat.

They have quite the website..........I was impressed.

Thank you.

[senior citizen]

Family leather Gallery in Leesburg. Love Murphy beds ... Gives you extra room when not being used! You can buy mechanism on line & have someone install!

Another vote for murphy beds.............thank you; appreciate it.