I am a first time home buyer in Connecticut and have been struggling to find furniture stores with good quality modern furniture.  I am looking for a big range of items to furnish bedrooms, family room and living room and would love suggestions for what you experienced buyers view as some of the highest quality furniture stores with contemporary styles.  Any comments on which are more expensive & which are less so and which are higher quality would be really helpful.  Thank you so much!

West Elm has nice pieces. The price range runs from affordable to pricey. A trick to save money if you buy a daybed... you can always buy the frame from West Elm or another more expensive store and put on 1 or 2 Ikea mattresses on the daybed and nobody will know the difference. I love the pieces we've ordered from there. http://www.westelm.com/

Personally, I like Ikea for bedroom furniture. It is of similar quality as other more expensive brands and they are a bit more eco friendly than some companies, without being so expensive. I know a lot of people think of Ikea as cheap but our pieces have held up for years and look brand new and function great! http://www.ikea.com/

If you have a lot of money, DWR has nice pieces. http://dwr.com/

Eurway has modern pieces in a variety of price ranges. I haven't personally ordered from there (yet). http://www.eurway.com/

Overstock.com has some modernish and clean lined pieces. It can be hit and miss but the shipping of $2.95 is a great deal. I've seen some nice side chairs, tables, ottomans and couches on there http://www.overstock.com/

You probably won't believe this, but I found modern, clean lined ottoman/bench/storage units at JCPenny's http://www.jcpenny.com/ Note: if you call the catalog number, make sure that you have the internet prices and Web site addresses for each item that you want to order because usually the prices on the Web site are much less expensive. I also found great, simple roman shades at JCPenny's. They have great sales and they have added a lot of more modern pieces (I was amazed). And sometimes you can find a free shipping coupon. The quality of the items are great.

Dwell magazine has a list of design sources. I can't speak to all of the stores but it might be a start for inspiration. http://www.dwell.com/services/designsource

I don't know the Connecticut area, so these are all places where you can buy online. The only trouble is that you don't get to test the furniture out first. But that is the way I've been shopping and it has turned out really well for me.

Best of luck with your search. Also, you'll probably notice that I like a good deal. There are probably more expensive options out there (I know that there are). But if I can buy similar quality for less money, I'm happy.

I'd recommend BoConcept, they have a store in CT http://www.boconcept.us/BoConcept-reg_Milford-14215.aspx and a warehouse in NJ so that most items ship within a week or two.

Also:

http://www.crateandbarrel.com/furniture/

http://www.ligne-roset-usa.com/

http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/

http://www.sleekspaces.com/

Here are a couple of other links I have bookmarked. Some of these are more expensive than my earlier suggestions.

http://www.velocityartanddesign.com

http://www.ladiff.com/

http://www.iniah.com/furnature.php

http://www.europebynet.com/home_all.asp

These bed systems are really neat and functional if you need to save space. I think you can find that other places have the same beds but this site has them all on one site so you can see them at one time.
http://www.bonbon.co.uk/clei/index.htm



Not so expensive options:
http://www.chiasso.com/store/index.aspx?DepartmentId=36

Crate and Barrel now has a more modern Web site and options:
http://www.cb2.com

We found that Bed Bath and Beyond has modern options for dishes and silverware.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/

Some of Pottery Barn's pieces are more modern then they use to be.
http://www.potterybarn.com

Ethan Allen has really started to carry more modern pieces. The nice thing about Ethan Allen is that they have design consultants.
http://www.ethanallen.com

Target has a lot of more modern options that are affordable.
http://www.target.com/


If you need modern accessories:
http://www.wrapables.com/


I hope that all these options help. With the more mainstream stores, you might have to look a little harder to find their more modern pieces but I've found that it is worth the time. Also, the more mainstream stores don't often have ultramodern pieces.