Modern design ideas at a low price

Especially those who move or furnish their apartment want to make their new home particularly beautiful. Of course you could buy new and expensive designer furniture, but there are also cheaper methods of getting a nice interior. However, one should beware of fraudulent machinations through so-called fake shops.

Designer furniture is of course more than just a purely pragmatic and functional purchase. They are also a kind of status symbol with which one likes to distance oneself from one’s surroundings. The most popular, and probably also the cheapest, are still the mass-produced furniture stores.

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Table: IKEA is still one of the most popular furniture stores in Germany. On the one hand, this is certainly due to the cheap offers. Nevertheless, there are now many alternatives on how you can design your home furnishings individually.

How can you customize your apartment without spending too much money?

You don’t always have to buy the most expensive designer furniture to give your own four walls a bit of individuality. One way to give your own apartment or house that certain something is, for example, so-called vintage furniture. These can be bought easily and cheaply at the flea market or on eBay. The buyer can then enrich this old furniture with small, high-quality design pieces that go well with it.

How to make vintage furniture look new

Old furniture in particular is of course not always in the best condition when you buy it. Often, minor or major repairs are necessary to make them look fresh and not look scruffy or worn. The good news is: with a little practice, every furniture buyer can now paint their furniture themselves or replace small components such as handles and feet and adapt them to a modern living environment.

Who buys designer furniture and why?

The so-called vintage furniture can be a rarity, even if this will be relatively seldom the case. But if you want it to be particularly exclusive, you also have to dig a little deeper into your pocket and spend more money. Furniture designers with strict or bright colors, unusual shapes and their clear lines are aimed at the target group looking for something unique and special.

Old is modern

Ironically, it is the vintage furniture that is currently very popular. The so-called shabby chic (shabby = shabby) or used look furniture (used = used) have small blemishes and signs of age that are either authentic or artificially created during the manufacture of the piece of furniture. This means that even a modernly furnished home has the appearance of history, rustic charm and character.

How to furnish yourself modern, but also sustainable

Sustainability and environmental protection have long since become part of the mainstream and are gradually finding their way into a wide variety of industrial and economic sectors. So it’s no wonder that the furniture industry is trying to jump on this bandwagon and at the same time do something good for the environment:

1. Furniture and building materials are used that are made from renewable materials and that do not contain any toxins
2. Some companies not only take care of the production and distribution, but also the disposal of the furniture when it is no longer needed
3. CO2 emissions should be reduced and as little waste as possible should be produced
4. Here too, vintage furniture can be used again, because reusing old furniture is part of the sustainability concept of this specific furniture industry

Handmade apart from the mass product

The trend is turning more and more away from mass production and towards traditional handicrafts. It is becoming more and more important to customers that their furniture is made by hand. The hand-made, lovingly and carefully processed is again in the foreground. But that does not mean that modern mass-produced goods cannot be decorated and processed accordingly in order to still give the facility an individual touch. Ultimately, there are no creative limits for the buyer.

Even further back in time

For his extravagant taste, the design lover and connoisseur of traditional craft and design art even goes back to the 18th century, when the rococo style was very much in vogue. Plants, flowers and other floral decorations, opulent carvings and ornaments with which armchairs, tables, mirrors and consoles are provided can be combined with bright, modern colors.

Beware of fake shops

You should also be careful of fake shops when buying furniture. These lure with cheap offers, require prepayment, but ultimately deliver little or nothing. In the worst case, the customer can be left with his own expense. There are lists on the Internet that draw attention to such fake shops and that every furniture seeker should consult carefully before buying.

Amazon has had an eventful time with big profits and losses since 2009. Since 2014 until today, however, things seem to have been steadily increasing. Image Source: Yeamake – 232596253 / Shutterstock.com. Infographic information: www.mein-deal.com/fake-shops-amazon/

Infographic presentation: own presentation

Fake shops are not easy to spot and the people behind them are not easy to pin down

With furniture it is much more difficult to identify a dubious offer than with, for example, a new iPhone that can be had for 200 euros. If a customer has already fallen for one of these shops, the first signs quickly become apparent: There is no response to inquiries or there are constant problems with delivery. The backers often move abroad and use a fake imprint, which makes tracking much more difficult.

How can you identify fake shops?

Fake shops are often modeled on real shops in order to appear as authentic as possible. That is why you should pay close attention to the address bar: if you suddenly see a “.com” instead of “.de” in the top-level domain, the first suspicion is justified. Other signs to look out for include:

5. Dubious payment methods such as Paysafe or Western Union, behind which the providers can hide anonymously
6. Invoice payment should always be an option
7. Safety and quality seals do not necessarily always have to be authentic, the fake shop can also simply copy them, so it is always important to double-check whether the relevant shop is also listed at the relevant locations or whether the seal even exists
8. User experience reports are also often very helpful – if there is a large number of negative reviews under the specified shop, it is better to stay away from it
9. Browsers are also becoming increasingly clever at recognizing fake shops and dangerous websites, but you shouldn’t rely on them alone

Image sources:
sedat seven – 365233193 / Shutterstock.com
Yeamake – 232596253 / Shutterstock.com