We’ve always told folks that they should order everything for their kitchen remodel, from cabinets to cabinet knobs, *before* anyone lifts a hammer to demo their old kitchen. This is one of the #1 ways to avoid costly delays on your project and the stress of having to make last minute decisions.

We’ve also always told folks to order their furnishings as soon as we are finished creating the design. That may not be as critical if you are working with a designer who orders “to-the-trade” furnishings (or if it is, your designer will take care of it). But if you are working with a design team like Seriously Happy Homes that shops retail so you can access all the product directly, you don’t want to take too long to order that side table you love, because it might just go out of stock.

It’s SO frustrating when something you love goes out of stock!

These things have always been true, but it’s even *more* true now, because manufacturers and retailers are keeping fewer products in stock than they once did. There are various reasons for this — including just-in time manufacturing, inventory management, and broken supply chains that are making it impossible to get more stock — but the bottom line is that many items not only can’t just be picked up at the store last minute, but may be backordered for months! Even for in-stock items the order-to-delivery time can range from a day to a few weeks, depending on the product and the manufacturer.

All this makes timely selections more important than ever before! So while there is no need to feel like design is an emergency (it’s not) once you *do* have a design, get crackin’ getting things ordered so you don’t have to start the whole design process over again, and you can avoid having a design installation that takes months longer than you expected. Need help strategizing the design for your space? We’d love to meet through a virtual Design Helpline to help get you started!