Jason Ball of Jason Ball Interiors has a great post about shopping for furniture from an interior designer's viewpoint:
Interior designers shop for furniture differently than most consumers by focusing on size, style, lines, color and pattern. Many designers "shop" at designer-only showrooms which don't have a large number of options on the floor, but instead have thousands of options in catalogs covering multiple manufacturers. The number of styles and semi-customization are much greater than most retail furniture stores. The real benefit comes in access to hundreds of fabric options and a higher level of customization possible. Take the "walking the floor" situation. In a designer-only showroom, you'll test out different types of cushions to see what's comfortable. You can then select pieces based on their various measurements - seat depth and height, arm height, overall height, etc. And, the piece you select will be built for you!
