furniture shopping in the Knoxville metropolitan area (Sevierville, Clinton: sales, renting)

[ThisUserNameIsTaken]

Hi there,

Any suggestions for furniture stores with a good selection and good customer service? I see there is an Ethan Allen and a Pottery Barn in Knoxville... any other stores, whether chain or locally owned, that we should check out? Consignment or thrift/second hand stores with a furniture selection will also be considered... I love refinishing/re-purposing smaller pieces!

We'll be renting for about year or so, while looking for a forever home (or building... haven't officially decided). Not planning to take much of my furniture with us on the move down, so will need to furnish the whole house eventually. Usually do a mix of good quality pieces, less expensive accent pieces and some refinished decorative pieces. I don't do all expensive, high quality furniture because I like to be able to change up some of the smaller pieces without feeling overly guilty about wasting money lol. So stores of all price ranges will be considered! I know that dealing with furniture stores can be frustrating (at least up here... maybe it's not like that everywhere?) so was looking for some recommendations from people that have had a relatively painless shopping experience.

Thanks!

[Barking Spider]

There are a zillion places to buy furniture in Knoxville. Just drive up and down Kingston Pike or go into Turkey Creek.
There are also some in the Downtown area up Broadway.

[grampaTom]

Consign to Design is a good source of quality used furniture. Knoxville Wholesale Furniture has a really good selection of just about every piece you would likely want, Brown Squirrel is pretty good, Bradens, Bassett.
If you don't find what you need after hitting those you can do as mentioned above and cruise Kingston Pike and Turkey Creek.


PS: I have never in my life considered shopping for furniture to be painless. Rates right up there with hemorrhoids if you ask me.

[NYS2Tennessee]

Where are you from? We're from NY and are currently furniture shopping. I can say that sales people here are less pushy than in NY/NJ.
I'll be following along for recommendations.

[hiknapster]

For good quality pieces, I suggest Braden's.

I had bad customer service with Brown Squirrel. Kind of a nightmare. That was 10 years ago.

Of course, stay away from Rooms To Go. Looks nice, but junk.

[ThisUserNameIsTaken]

Originally Posted by grampaTom

Consign to Design is a good source of quality used furniture. Knoxville Wholesale Furniture has a really good selection of just about every piece you would likely want, Brown Squirrel is pretty good, Bradens, Bassett.
If you don't find what you need after hitting those you can do as mentioned above and cruise Kingston Pike and Turkey Creek.


PS: I have never in my life considered shopping for furniture to be painless. Rates right up there with hemorrhoids if you ask me.

Thanks for the suggestions... and the laugh!

[TheShadow]

If you want to go further afield, you might try Ogle's Furniture in Sevierville. A lot of there stuff has a more rustic feel, as they do service the vacation cabin businesses in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, but the prices are good and they have a lot of leather pieces.

Always ask for a better price than the tag price at any furniture store. The more you buy, the more they will reduce prices, but expect at least a 10% reduction off the tag price if buying multiple pieces

[ThisUserNameIsTaken]

Originally Posted by NYS2Tennessee

Where are you from? We're from NY and are currently furniture shopping. I can say that sales people here are less pushy than in NY/NJ.
I'll be following along for recommendations.

We are coming down from Long Island, NY.

oooooh, yay... I can definitely deal with less pushy!!! They act like sharks in a feeding frenzy up here!

[Barking Spider]

You can also go to Big Lots. :-).

[NYS2Tennessee]

Originally Posted by ThisUserNameIsTaken

We are coming down from Long Island, NY.

oooooh, yay... I can definitely deal with less pushy!!! They act like sharks in a feeding frenzy up here!

They aren't anywhere near as aggressive here. It's been extremely pleasant looking for furniture here compared to NY/NJ.
My husband faked the flu to get sales people to back off back in the Tri-state area, here all we've had to say is "thank you, we will definitely find you when we have some questions." Very different experience!
We've tried Knoxville wholesale and will probably buy a couch and other soft furniture there. For accent tables and other wood furniture we've seen some nice pieces at thrift shops and antique shops. Also there's a nice and not insanely expensive place that builds wood furniture in Clinton, we are most likely getting out dining set there.