At the risk of understating things, it’s been a crazy couple of years. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in February of 2020, nobody could have predicted the situation that we’d all find ourselves in today. It’s been more than two years, but the memories of school, work, and social lives being moved online and inside our homes are still very fresh in our minds, and with them, there are both new perspectives on and new anxieties about the world that we’re living in. Having to work, learn, and live from home taught us the true value of our homes, not just the monetary one. We learned what we need in our spaces to support us, and many people learned that owning a home is a goal that they care about more than they might have thought.
The housing question is one of the most important questions that we’re finding ourselves having to ask. With the housing market as inflated as it is, many people, both young and old, are starting to feel hopeless, like they’ll never be a homeowner and accomplish that little slice of the American Dream. Speaking personally, my parents bought the house that I grew up in in 2000, for around $180,000. It was the block’s ‘fixer-upper’, and they put a good amount of work into it, but not enough to warrant the nearly $800,000 price estimate that I just found by searching the address on Zillow.
What is a Clayton Home?
Enter Clayton. Clayton was founded in 1956 by Jim Clayton and has only grown and developed since then. Clayton offers a variety of truly attractive homes, both site-built and off-site built. Its off-site built homes include manufactured homes, modular homes, and CrossMod™ homes. Clayton Homes are built for families; they’re built to the highest quality standards, they feature floorplans that maximize space and make room for what really matters, and they’re customizable with the features that are most important to you – all while maintaining accessible prices and furthering founder Jim Clayton’s goal of making home ownership attainable for everyone.
Clayton offers floorplans that range from 1 to 5 bedrooms. This means that whether you’re looking for a private residence for you and maybe a partner or pet, or if you’re looking to find a home for your growing family, Clayton can offer you the best, brand-new home for your individual needs.
Buying a home is a huge investment, furnishing it doesn’t have to be
And once you’ve chosen the model and the location for your new home, you’ll have to start making some equally important and nerve-wracking decisions: what to do about furniture. Buying a home is a huge investment, furnishing it doesn’t have to be. That’s where CORT comes in. CORT Furniture Rental has been providing stylish and high-quality residential furniture for the last 50 years. We have showrooms across the country, so you can see and touch our furniture for yourself. If you can’t make it to a showroom, 3D Shopping is also offered on CORT.com for you to envision what your furniture rental selections will look like in your new Clayton home.
Let’s take a walkthrough
Here, we have the floorplan for Clayton’s Gpii 1460-3A Redondo home. This is a 3-bedroom 2-bath model that offers privacy in the master bedroom, ample space to cook and relax in the kitchen and living room, as well as two bedrooms with a full bath for children, guests, or even a home office. The possibilities are endless of how you can make it your own with furniture from CORT.
Master Bedroom
At the heart of every master bedroom is the most important element of the room: the bed. Choosing the right bed for a given space is important. You want it to be comfortable and solid without being overly heavy or bulky. It should fit the room and the overall design without blending into the background.
CORT’s Helix Storage Bed, available in both Queen and King size, is a perfect starting point to build your best master bedroom. It has an attractive contrasting color scheme, with clean lines and sturdy hardware. And, when space is a concern, having extra storage under the bed that can be used for storing clothes or an extra set of linens is always a plus.
For a nightstand, you can keep with the Helix family and make sure everything matches for a nightstand, or take a step outside of that comfort zone with the Tam Tam 16” round side table. The Helix option offers more storage and a matching look, but the Tam Tam offers a lighter footprint and introduces some contrast in shape and color without clashing. Ultimately, the decision is yours!
When it comes to adding subtle color and giving your feet a bit of softness, an area rug is a must. For a master bedroom, the Gypsy Area Rug adds an artistic touch. Its sculpted sides provide the perfect contrast to the hard, geometric lines of the Helix Bed.
Living Room
Moving on to the living room, this is where choosing the right pieces really comes into play. Your living room is the heart of your home. It’s where you relax as a family at the end of the day, it’s where your kids are going to bring their friends to come over and play after school, and it’s where your furniture sees the most use and heaviest wear.
Starting with the right sofa is key. The Allen Sleeper Sofa is an excellent choice, because its clean lines and neutral fabrics make it the perfect anchor for a room that can be ever-changing. Giving the living room more personal touches of color and style is easy to do with throw pillows, accent chairs, and rugs, which are all very easy to move around and replace, so you’ll never be stuck in a rut. Additionally, the Allen Sleeper Sofa pulls out into a Queen-sized bed, so you’re always ready for guests.
Speaking of accent chairs, the Reese Chair makes a perfect companion to the Allen Sofa in a living room. It has a sophisticated, modern silhouette, with dark, espresso wood legs that perfectly compliment the Allen Sofa.
Moving onto a coffee table, our Presidio Table introduces a great amount of contrast. It has a neutral wood top that ties the warm neutral of the Allen Sofa with the cool neutral of the Reese Accent Chair. It also introduces a metallic element, that you can then build on
with lamps and other accessory decors.
Keeping with the Mid-Century vibe in the living room, the Hendrick Dark TV Stand is a solid and stylish piece that grounds the room without overpowering it. It also sits a little higher than your average TV Stand, so it allows for some height variety within the furniture of the room, and provides storage for various consoles, board games, throw blankets, or anything else you might need to keep stashed in the living room.
When it comes time to add color and personality, the first place to start is to throw pillows. Above (from left to right), we have our Rylan, Buckle, and Lake Pillow Packs. Rylan’s natural green and lush velvet add a grounding touch to any decor scheme, Buckle introduces some masculine and industrial elements, and Lake’s calming colors mixed with elevated beading and patterns make it a sophisticated addition to the room. Whichever pillow pack you might choose (and these aren’t all; we have many others on our website!), you can use these as the groundwork for how you introduce color to the rest of the room.
Tying it all together with rugs, red compliments green, so the chocolatey red-brown of our Monaco Sisal Area Rug will provide contrast and grounding to the Rylan Pillow Pack. The abstract shapes and soft blue of our Urban Link Area Rug provides the perfect counterpoint for a room enhanced with the Buckle Pillow Pack since it gives the Buckle’s neutral colors and masculine hardware a more artistic element to work with. Lastly, the Rafia Cobalt Area Rug is the natural choice to finish off a room decorated with the Lake Pillow Pack. Blues and Greens are calming, and an excellent choice for the hub of your home.
Child’s Room/Guest Room
For a child’s or guest room, the easiest place to start is the bed. Our Bryce headboard is simple and neutral, to go with anything.
In a room for children or guests, storage is a necessity. The Beaumont Dresser has generously sized drawers to fit everything from clothes to cleaning supplies, and the optional added mirror will have the benefit of making the space seem much bigger and lighter.
Whether you need bedroom 2 for a child or for a guest, it helps to have a desk and chair so that kids can do their homework or guests can do their makeup. The Dakota Skyline Writing Table is sleek and simple, in a wood stain that perfectly complements the Beaumont dresser. Then, the Bixby chair introduces a soft, upholstered element and a comfy place for kids and guests to sit, as well as bringing a pop of color.
Home Office
Multi-functional pieces are a great way to maximize space and create a sense of harmony in any room. For a home office, in particular, the STAKS White Desk With Bookshelf gives you a clean, white workspace – a literal blank slate for your brain – along with a sleek, low gray bookshelf. The contents of a bookshelf can be just as much decoration as any piece of wall art, so fill it with colorful books and knick-knacks to give your workspace charm and personality.
For the best combination of style and functionality, the Sayl Work Chair does it all. A home office needs to allow for the most efficient workday, and the ergonomic comfort of Sayl combines with its modern shape and the stark contrast of black and white to give you a piece that looks and feels amazing.
Having some bright colors and interesting shapes to look at can help boost your creativity and keep your mind energized while working from home. Our Retro Wall Art is the perfect addition to a home office, and it’s cool, the 50s/60s vibe will never go out of style.
Why we work together
One of the best things about renting furniture through CORT is the freedom and the options that it gives you. Your home is your home; once you decide what model/floor plan you want Clayton to build for you, the hardest part is out of the way, and you just get to enjoy living in it. But trends and styles change so fast, that by the time you’ve purchased all of the furniture you need to live in your home comfortably, you might find that your tastes have changed.
CORT lets you try out furniture to find the perfect fit for you. Our pieces are selected for their high-quality, style, durability, and utility. We know that sometimes parts of your house have to pull double-duty, so we know the importance of having multi-functional pieces that allow for maximum use and comfort. With CORT, you can choose one of our Move-In Ready packages and let us take care of everything, or you can customize your own, and choose the furniture that speaks to you. Then, you can choose your lease length. You can lease furniture for as little as three months and for as long as you like. If the end of your lease comes and you find yourself in love with a few pieces and so-so on the rest, you don’t have to worry! You can switch up your package to try out new things while keeping the furniture that you know you love. And, we do all of the heavy liftings – literally. We come and pick the furniture up for returns, and deliver and set up anything new. It’s the ultimate convenience, and it’s one less thing you have to worry about as a new homeowner.
Home is where the heart is…
It’s cliche, but we say it for a reason: the home is where the heart is. Clayton and CORT Furniture Rental are both companies with long histories of understanding that your home is the most important place in your life, and it needs to be safe, comfortable, attractive, and affordable. Whether you’re looking for furniture to fill up your home, or just the home itself, you can trust CORT and Clayton Homes to deliver you the best product and service that we possibly can, because we know more than anyone how important that is.
—–
