Furnishing a whole house runs about $25 to $50 per square foot for a comfortable baseline, $50 to $100 at a high-end level, and $100 to $200 or more fully styled with custom pieces. For a 4,000 square foot house, that is about $100,000 to $200,000, $200,000 to $400,000, and $400,000 to $800,000 or more. Sales tax is added on top: 10.25 percent in the City of Los Angeles, 8.875 percent in New York City, and 6 percent plus a capped 1 percent county surtax in Miami-Dade. A whole house ordered at one time usually installs 5 to 8 months after the orders are placed.
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Furnishing a whole house runs about $25 to $50 per square foot for a comfortable baseline, $50 to $100 at a high-end level, and $100 to $200 or more fully styled with custom pieces.
For a 4,000 square foot house at a high-end level, that is about $200,000 to $400,000. The living room and the primary bedroom carry the largest room budgets.
Rugs, lighting, window treatments, art, bedding, delivery, and sales tax are the lines most often left out of a first budget.
Sales tax on furniture is 10.25 percent in the City of Los Angeles and 8.875 percent in New York City. In Miami-Dade County it is 6 percent, plus a 1 percent county surtax on the first $5,000 of each item.
A whole house ordered at one time usually installs 5 to 8 months later. Custom upholstery takes 12 to 20 weeks and hand-knotted rugs 4 to 7 months.
Furnishing a whole house runs about $25 to $50 per square foot for a comfortable baseline, $50 to $100 at a high-end level, and $100 to $200 or more fully styled with custom pieces. For a 4,000 square foot house, that is about $100,000 to $200,000, $200,000 to $400,000, and $400,000 to $800,000 or more. Sales tax is added on top: 10.25 percent in the City of Los Angeles, 8.875 percent in New York City, and 6 percent plus a capped 1 percent county surtax in Miami-Dade.
Furnishing a whole house is a separate project from building or renovating it, and it needs its own budget. After more than 15 years designing high-end homes, I see the same pattern. Owners price the sofa and the dining table, then find that rugs, lighting, window treatments, and everything outdoors make up a large share of the total. This guide sets out what a whole house costs to furnish by level and by room, what the number includes, and how sales tax, delivery, and lead times differ in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York.
The furnishing costs and lead times in this guide are planning ranges for an early budget, not quotes. The tax rates come from the state and city agencies listed in the Sources. If you are also renovating, read the Los Angeles home renovation cost guide first, because construction and furnishing are two separate budgets. For how the studio handles furniture from selection to install, see the furniture styling services page.
The fastest way to set a first number is per square foot of the house. These three levels cover furniture and furnishings only: seating, tables, beds, rugs, decorative lighting, window treatments, art, accessories, and outdoor furniture. They do not include construction, built-in millwork, appliances, or audio and video systems.
Level 1, Comfortable Baseline, $25 – $50 / sq ft: Good ready-made and made-to-order furniture from established retailers, machine-made or hand-tufted rugs, simple window treatments, and lighting chosen from stock. Every room is finished and comfortable, with few custom pieces.
Level 2, High-End, $50 – $100 / sq ft: Made-to-order upholstery in better fabrics, solid wood and stone tables, hand-knotted or custom-sized rugs in the main rooms, lined drapery, decorative lighting, and a first layer of art and accessories. A common level for a primary residence.
Level 3, Fully Styled, Custom, $100 – $200+ / sq ft: Custom upholstery and tables made to drawings, hand-knotted rugs sized to each room, motorized window treatments, collected or commissioned art, and full styling down to bedding, books, and tabletop. The top of the range is open, because vintage and one-of-a-kind pieces have no fixed ceiling.
Multiplied out by house size, the three levels look like this before sales tax.
2,500 square feet: $62,500 to $125,000 | $125,000 to $250,000 | $250,000 to $500,000 or more
4,000 square feet: $100,000 to $200,000 | $200,000 to $400,000 | $400,000 to $800,000 or more
6,000 square feet: $150,000 to $300,000 | $300,000 to $600,000 | $600,000 to $1,200,000 or more
Use the per square foot number to set the overall budget, then test it room by room. A house with large living areas and a furnished terrace sits higher in its range than a house of the same size with more bedrooms.
These ranges are for the high-end level, the middle of the three. Each one covers the room complete: furniture, rug, lamps and decorative lighting, window treatments, and accessories.
Living room: Sofa or sectional, lounge chairs, coffee and side tables, rug, lamps, drapery | $40,000 to $85,000
Dining room: Table, eight to ten chairs, sideboard, chandelier, rug | $20,000 to $45,000
Kitchen and breakfast seating: Counter stools, breakfast table and chairs, a pendant or two | $6,000 to $15,000
Family room or den: Sectional, chairs, tables, media console, rug, shades | $25,000 to $50,000
Primary bedroom: Bed, nightstands, bench, seating, rug, lamps, drapery, bedding | $30,000 to $65,000
Secondary bedroom, each: Bed, nightstands, dresser or desk, rug, lamps, shades, bedding | $12,000 to $25,000
Home office: Desk, desk chair, seating, shelving, rug, lamps | $12,000 to $28,000
Entry and halls: Console, mirror, bench, runners, lamps | $8,000 to $18,000
Outdoor living: Seating group, dining table and chairs, loungers, umbrellas, outdoor rugs | $20,000 to $60,000
Added up for a 4,000 square foot house with three secondary bedrooms, the table runs from about $197,000 to $441,000. That lines up with the $200,000 to $400,000 the high-end level gives for the same house. Few houses sit at the top of every row, so the room-by-room total usually lands inside the per square foot range.
The living room is the largest line because it holds the most seating, the largest rug, and the most lighting. Bedrooms cost less per room, but there are more of them.
Most first budgets list the pieces you sit on, eat at, and sleep in. A finished house also needs the layers below. Left out, they are the reason a furnishing budget runs over.
Rugs: A whole house needs six to ten rugs. A hand-knotted rug for a main living room runs about $8,000 to $30,000 depending on size and construction, and bedrooms and halls add several more.
Decorative lighting: Chandeliers, pendants, sconces, and table and floor lamps are furnishing, not construction. A dining room chandelier alone can run $3,000 to $15,000.
Window treatments: Lined custom drapery with hardware runs about $2,000 to $6,000 per window, and motorized shades about $1,000 to $3,000 per window. In a house with 30 windows, this is one of the largest lines.
Art and accessories: Framing, mirrors, books, vessels, trays, and plants are what make rooms look lived in. At the high-end level, plan $15,000 to $50,000 for a whole house before any significant art.
Bedding and linens: A fully made bed with sheets, duvet, pillows, and a coverlet runs about $1,500 to $5,000 per bed, plus towels and table linens.
Outdoor furniture: Outdoor furniture is built for weather and priced like indoor furniture. A terrace with a seating group, a dining table for eight, and loungers by the pool runs about $20,000 to $60,000.
Freight, storage, and installation: Furniture ships to a receiving warehouse, is inspected and stored, then delivered and placed in one install. For a whole house, plan about $15,000 to $45,000, and more for imported pieces.
Sales tax: Tax applies to the furniture total. At roughly 6 to 10.25 percent in the three cities covered here, it is a five figure line on most whole-house budgets.
Built-in pieces such as dressing rooms, libraries, and banquettes are millwork. They belong in the construction budget, not the furnishing budget. The custom closet cost guide covers that side.
Two houses of the same size can land a level apart. These five things account for most of the difference.
Custom versus ready-made: A ready-made sofa from a good retailer runs about $4,000 to $9,000. A similar sofa made to order in a chosen size and fabric runs about $9,000 to $20,000, and a large custom sectional built to a drawing can pass $30,000. Custom buys exact size and proportion, which matters most in large or unusual rooms.
Upholstery fabric: A three-seat sofa takes roughly 15 to 20 yards of fabric, and a large sectional 30 or more. At 18 yards, the difference between a $60 per yard fabric and a $250 per yard fabric is about $3,400 on one sofa.
Scale of the rooms: Large rooms need more pieces and bigger ones. A 12 by 18 foot rug has twice the area of a 9 by 12, and a long living room often needs two seating groups where a smaller one needs a single group.
How finished the house is on day one: Furnishing every room at once costs the most up front. Finishing the main rooms and the primary bedroom first, then guest rooms and outdoor areas, spreads the same total over a longer period.
Lead times and storage: Furniture that arrives before the house is ready sits in a warehouse, and storage is billed by the month. Rush production and air freight, when they are available, add cost.
The furniture plan is drawn before anything is ordered, so sizes, quantities, and fabrics are settled on paper first. That is part of the studio's interior design services.
The furniture itself costs about the same in all three cities. What changes is the sales tax, how the pieces get into the home, and which materials hold up.
Sales tax on furniture: 10.25 percent in the City of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills | 6 percent state tax, plus a 1 percent Miami-Dade surtax on the first $5,000 of each item | 8.875 percent in New York City
Tax on $300,000 of furniture: About $30,750 | About $18,000, plus up to $50 per item in surtax | About $26,625
Typical home: Single-family houses, many on hillside streets | Waterfront houses and condo towers | Co-op and condo apartments and townhouses
Getting furniture in: Driveway delivery, with smaller trucks on narrow canyon roads | Service elevator bookings and building delivery rules in towers | Certificates of insurance, reserved service elevators, and tight elevators and stairs
Materials to plan for: Strong sun through large glass walls | Humidity and salt air | Smaller rooms and pieces made to fit
Sales tax is the largest difference. California's statewide rate is 7.25 percent, and district taxes bring the City of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills to 10.25 percent, Malibu to 10.75 percent, and Santa Monica to 11.25 percent in the state's rate table effective October 1, 2026. New York City's rate is 8.875 percent, made up of 4 percent state tax, 4.5 percent city tax, and a 0.375 percent Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District surcharge. Florida's state rate is 6 percent, and Miami-Dade County adds a 1 percent surtax. The surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of each item and follows the county where the furniture is delivered. The Florida Department of Revenue's own example is a $7,000 dining room set, taxed at $420 for the state plus $50 in surtax.
In Los Angeles, most of the work is houses, so delivery is simpler. Hillside streets in Bel Air and the Hollywood Hills can limit truck size, and large glass walls put strong sun on fabrics and rugs, so fade-resistant fabrics belong near the windows. Rooms are larger, which raises both the number and the scale of the pieces. If the house is new, the custom home cost guide for Beverly Hills covers the construction side.
In Miami, the climate decides the materials. Humidity and salt air corrode unprotected steel and iron, so terrace and pool furniture should be powder-coated aluminum, teak, or marine-grade stainless steel, with solution-dyed outdoor fabrics. In a condo tower, the building controls how furniture comes in. Expect set delivery hours and a service elevator booking, and many buildings ask the delivery company for a certificate of insurance. Measure the elevator cab and the entry door before ordering a long sofa or a stone table top. More on working there is on the Miami interior design page.
In New York, the building is the constraint. Co-op and condo buildings commonly require a certificate of insurance from the delivery company, a reserved service elevator, and delivery within set hours. Elevator cabs, stair turns, and apartment doors limit the size of any single piece, so sofas are often made in sections and large tables with separate tops and bases. Rooms are smaller, and more pieces are made to fit. See the New York interior design page for how the studio works there.
Very little high-end furniture is sitting in a warehouse ready to ship. Most of it is made after the order is placed, and the slowest item sets the install date. These are typical lead times from order to delivery at the receiving warehouse.
In-stock furniture: 1 to 4 weeks
Made-to-order upholstery: 10 to 16 weeks
Custom upholstery built to a drawing: 12 to 20 weeks
Tables, cabinets, and beds: 12 to 20 weeks
Imported furniture: 16 to 26 weeks, including ocean freight
Decorative lighting: 6 to 16 weeks
Hand-tufted and machine-made custom rugs: 8 to 14 weeks
Hand-knotted custom rugs: 4 to 7 months
Custom window treatments: 6 to 10 weeks after final measurements
A whole house ordered at one time usually installs 5 to 8 months after the orders are placed. With hand-knotted rugs or imported pieces on the list, plan for 9 to 12 months. The design work before ordering, which covers the furniture plan, selections, and fabric approvals, adds about 6 to 10 weeks at the front.
Window treatments run on their own clock. They are measured after construction is finished, so they are often the last thing to arrive. Everything else is received and inspected at a warehouse, then delivered together. A whole-house install takes about two to five days, and it is the point where the rooms come together at once instead of piece by piece.
If the house is under construction, work backward from the move-in date. Upholstery and rugs need to be ordered while the walls are still open, not after the paint is dry.
Budgeting only for the big pieces: Sofas, tables, and beds are the visible part. Rugs, lighting, window treatments, art, bedding, and outdoor furniture are the rest, and together they are a large share of the total.
Leaving out tax and delivery: On $300,000 of furniture, sales tax alone is about $18,000 in Miami-Dade, $26,625 in New York City, and $30,750 in the City of Los Angeles. Freight, storage, and installation come on top.
Ordering before measuring the way in: Measure the elevator cab, the stair turns, and every door on the route before ordering. A sofa that does not fit the elevator has to be remade in sections or hoisted.
Leaving window treatments for last: Drapery and shades take 6 to 10 weeks after final measurements. Ordered late, they leave a finished house with bare windows for two months.
Buying room by room with no plan: Pieces bought one at a time rarely agree on scale. A furniture plan for the whole house, drawn first, sets sizes and quantities even if the buying is phased.
Using indoor materials outdoors or on the coast: Unprotected metal, untreated wood, and indoor fabrics fail quickly in sun, humidity, and salt air. Choose outdoor-rated materials from the start.
Planning a home in Los Angeles, Miami, or New York?
I design and furnish high-end residential interiors in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York, from the first furniture plan through the final install. Joelle Uzyel Interior Design takes on a limited number of full-service projects each year.
A whole house runs about $25 to $50 per square foot to furnish at a comfortable baseline, $50 to $100 at a high-end level, and $100 to $200 or more fully styled with custom pieces. Those figures cover furniture, rugs, decorative lighting, window treatments, art, accessories, and outdoor furniture. Sales tax, freight, and installation are added on top.
At the per square foot ranges above, a 4,000 square foot house costs about $100,000 to $200,000 at a comfortable baseline, $200,000 to $400,000 at a high-end level, and $400,000 to $800,000 or more fully styled. A room-by-room budget at the high-end level for the same house adds up to about $197,000 to $441,000.
The living room is usually the largest single room budget, about $40,000 to $85,000 at a high-end level, because it holds the most seating, the largest rug, and the most lighting. The primary bedroom comes next at $30,000 to $65,000, followed by outdoor living and the family room.
A complete furnishing budget covers furniture, rugs, decorative lighting, window treatments, art and accessories, bedding and linens, and outdoor furniture. It should also carry freight, warehouse storage, installation, and sales tax. Built-in millwork, appliances, and audio and video systems belong in the construction budget.
A whole house ordered at one time usually installs 5 to 8 months after the orders are placed, and 9 to 12 months when hand-knotted rugs or imported pieces are included. Made-to-order upholstery takes 10 to 16 weeks, tables and cabinets 12 to 20 weeks, and custom window treatments 6 to 10 weeks after final measurements.
As of November 2026, the rate is 10.25 percent in the City of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills and 8.875 percent in New York City. In Miami-Dade County it is 6 percent state tax plus a 1 percent county surtax that applies only to the first $5,000 of each item. On $300,000 of furniture, that is about $30,750 in Los Angeles, $26,625 in New York City, and a little over $18,000 in Miami-Dade.
Begin your project. Share the location, the scope, your budget, and your timeline. Every inquiry gets a personal reply. Start your project