Nate Berkus Says These 5 Home Pieces Are Worth Buying for the Long Haul
Nate Berkus does not believe a beautiful home should require a constant stream of new purchases. His approach begins with editing what you already own, ignoring short-lived trends, and waiting for pieces that feel personal enough to keep through moves, renovations, and changing tastes.
When you do need to buy something, Berkus recommends focusing on five enduring categories: a well-made sofa, a gilded or iron mirror, candlestick holders, quality stemware, and vintage furniture or lighting. The point is not to spend heavily on every item. It is to buy selectively, pay attention to construction, and choose objects that can become part of your life rather than part of a temporary decorating phase.
Why Nate Berkus Rejects Fast Home Trends
Home trends can be useful sources of inspiration, but they become expensive when they make a perfectly functional room feel suddenly outdated. Berkus has repeatedly criticized this cycle. In an interview with Better Homes & Gardens, he explained that trends can pressure people to buy things they do not need or genuinely like.
His alternative is to identify what reflects your history, personality, and ambitions. A home assembled this way may combine inherited furniture, a contemporary sofa, travel finds, family photographs, and inexpensive objects discovered at thrift stores. Those differences give a room depth. They also prevent it from looking like a showroom copied from a single season.
This does not mean that you must avoid every popular color or material. If a current style genuinely appeals to you, it can still belong in your home. The useful question is not whether an item is trending, but whether you would choose it without the social-media attention surrounding it.
Start With a No-Cost Edit
Before shopping, remove unnecessary objects and reconsider the pieces you already have. This is more deliberate than simply tidying a room. The goal is to see the space clearly and identify what is missing.
- Clear one area at a time. Empty a bookcase, tabletop, cabinet, or closet rather than dismantling the entire room at once.
- Group similar belongings. Seeing every vase, candleholder, tray, or picture frame together reveals duplicates and forgotten favorites.
- Keep useful or meaningful pieces. An object does not need to be valuable, but it should serve a purpose, tell a story, or add something you enjoy seeing.
- Repair and relocate before replacing. A lamp may need a new shade, while a neglected chair may work better in another room.
- Write down genuine gaps. A shopping list based on specific needs helps prevent impulse purchases.
You may discover that the room needs fewer objects rather than new ones. Even rearranging furniture, changing which artwork is displayed, or moving a mirror closer to a window can refresh the space without spending anything.
The 5 Home Pieces Worth Buying
1. A Well-Made Sofa
A sofa is often one of the most frequently used and expensive pieces in a home. It supports everyday lounging, conversations, guests, children, and pets, so comfort and construction matter more than a fashionable silhouette.
Do not judge quality by price or a product description alone. When possible, ask the retailer or manufacturer for specific information about the frame, joints, seat support, cushions, fabric, warranty, and availability of replacement parts.
- Frame: Look for hardwood or furniture-grade engineered wood suited to structural use. Avoid assuming that every product described simply as “wood” is equally durable.
- Joinery: Reinforced corners, dowels, screws, blocks, or established woodworking joints generally inspire more confidence than a frame held together primarily with staples.
- Suspension: Springs and webbing can both perform well when properly designed. Sit in several positions and check for even support, creaking, or noticeable sagging.
- Cushions: Consider how much maintenance you accept. Down-rich cushions feel relaxed but require regular fluffing, while firmer foam tends to hold a neater shape.
- Upholstery: Choose fabric for your actual household. Check abrasion information, cleaning instructions, colorfastness, and whether cushion covers can be removed.
- Scale: Measure doors, halls, elevators, stairs, and the intended floor area before ordering.
A neutral sofa can be versatile, but “neutral” does not have to mean pale beige. Olive, tobacco, charcoal, navy, and warm gray can also provide a durable visual foundation. The best color is one that works with your room and tolerates the way your household lives.
2. A Gilded or Iron Mirror
Berkus favors gilded and iron mirrors because they can move easily between rooms and different styles of home. A substantial mirror might hang above a fireplace today, sit over an entry console in another house, or become a bedroom dressing mirror later.
Look for pleasing proportions and a frame with enough character to function as decoration. Genuine age is optional. A well-made contemporary mirror can offer the same versatility if its materials and design appeal to you.
Before buying, inspect the glass for unwanted distortion, dark spots, scratches, or damage to the silvered backing. Some deterioration may enhance an antique mirror’s character, but it can reduce its usefulness when you need a clear reflection.
Weight and installation also matter. Heavy mirrors should be attached with hardware suitable for the wall type and rated for the load. Large leaning mirrors may still need anti-tip restraint, particularly in homes with children or pets.
3. Candlestick Holders
Candlestick holders are small enough to collect gradually yet visually strong enough to change a table, mantel, or shelf. They introduce height, shape, and warm light without forcing you to commit to a complete decorating scheme.
A matching set creates a formal effect, while a mixed group feels collected over time. Brass, iron, glass, ceramic, stone, and turned wood can work together when they share a common quality such as color, proportion, or finish.
Check that each holder stands level and grips the intended candle securely. Use candles that fit properly rather than forcing a loose or oversized taper into place. Keep flames away from curtains, greenery, shelves, children, and pets, and never leave burning candles unattended. Flameless tapers are a practical alternative when open flames are unsuitable.
4. Quality Stemware and Wine Glasses
Good glassware can make an ordinary meal feel considered, but quality does not automatically mean fragile crystal or an expensive brand. The right glasses should feel balanced, suit what you drink, fit your storage, and be realistic for your cleaning routine.
Inspect secondhand glasses in bright light for chips, cracks, cloudiness, or repairs. Run a finger carefully around the rim and base, and compare pieces for stability. If you want a usable set, confirm that replacement glasses are reasonably easy to find; if not, treat mismatched glasses as an intentional collection.
You also do not need a different glass for every beverage. A versatile wine glass or elegant tumbler may serve your household better than a cabinet filled with specialized shapes. Start with the number you regularly use and expand only when a genuine need appears.
5. Vintage Furniture or Lighting
Vintage and antique pieces are central to Berkus’s layered approach. Furniture and lighting with age can introduce materials, proportions, craftsmanship, and surface character that are difficult to reproduce convincingly in mass-market décor.
Age alone, however, does not guarantee quality. Examine furniture for movement at the joints, missing veneer, woodworm holes, odors, water damage, unstable legs, sticking drawers, and repairs concealed beneath paint or upholstery. Sit on seating only after confirming that its structure is sound.
For upholstered vintage furniture, ask what is beneath the fabric. Reupholstery can be worthwhile when the frame is exceptional, but fabric, foam, springs, labor, and transport can make a seemingly inexpensive piece costly. Request an estimate before committing.
Old lighting deserves particular care. Wiring, sockets, plugs, and grounding may not meet current safety expectations even when a lamp appears to work. Have questionable fixtures inspected or rewired by a qualified professional before use, and verify that any shade leaves safe clearance around the bulb.
Why Vintage Tableware Can Be a Smart Place to Look
Silverplate, porcelain, napkin rings, candlesticks, and stemware frequently appear at estate sales, flea markets, consignment stores, and online resale marketplaces. These categories can offer strong decorative value because many pieces were made for long-term use but no longer suit their original owners’ routines.
A low asking price does not necessarily make an item a bargain. Consider condition, shipping, missing pieces, restoration, storage, and whether you will actually use it. Silverplate may require polishing, delicate porcelain may not tolerate a dishwasher, and discontinued stemware can be difficult to replace.
Buy for your habits rather than for an imagined formal life. If you regularly host four people, four attractive glasses and a useful serving platter may bring more value than a large, incomplete dinner service stored out of sight.
How to Decide Whether a Piece Is Truly Worth Buying
Before making a purchase, use a short test:
- Does it meet a real functional or emotional need?
- Would I want it if I had not seen it trending online?
- Is it properly sized for the room and route into my home?
- Can it work in more than one location?
- Are its materials and construction appropriate for how I will use it?
- Can it be cleaned, repaired, reupholstered, or rewired?
- Does the total cost include delivery, restoration, and maintenance?
- Would I be comfortable owning it for the next decade?
You do not need an enthusiastic answer to every question, but hesitation about function, condition, or size deserves attention. Waiting is often less expensive than trying to make the wrong item work.
What “Buy Nothing New” Really Means
Berkus’s philosophy is not a literal rule that every household must follow. Sometimes a new sofa, mattress, appliance, or custom-sized furnishing is the most practical choice. The deeper principle is to stop treating decoration as a cycle of automatic replacement.
Begin with what you have. Remove what no longer serves the room. Repair or reposition pieces with potential. When a real gap remains, choose something durable, useful, and personally meaningful—whether it is new, inherited, handmade, or found secondhand.
A home built slowly may never match one single trend perfectly. That is precisely its strength. A dependable sofa, adaptable mirror, sculptural candlesticks, enjoyable glassware, and a few old pieces with character can move through life with you, creating an interior that feels collected rather than consumed.
