The Furniture Capital, North Carolina

May 30 -- You may have adopted your tables, chairs and loveseats at your local furniture store, but chances are they were born in High Point, N.C.

The bulk of the furniture sold in the United States — 60 percent — comes from the High Point area, reports Good Morning America's Home Improvement Editor Ron Hazelton.

Recently, Ron accompanied a young married couple to this furniture-making mecca on their first big furniture shopping spree.

Maggie and Robert Murphy were willing to buy top-quality furniture, but with two new babies and a new home to furnish, the couple was determined to spend their money wisely. After some doing some preliminary checking online, the Murphy's estimated they might be able to save as much as $50,000 off manufacturers' list prices by making a trip to North Carolina.

Pre-trip Advice: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare

Before hitting the road to furniture central, the couple spent considerable time carefully planning a shopping trip from their home in Morristown, N.J. They made detailed room measurements, clipped scores of magazine pictures, and even spoke with some of the showrooms they were considering visiting.

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"The best reasons for buying furniture at High Point are the sheer volume of product that is on display here in 70 retail stores," says Ron Stephens of the High Point visitors' bureau. "Also price savings of 10 to 40 percent — and certainly the mystique of buying furniture in the furniture capital of the world."

But shopping at stores like Furnitureland South (which calls itself the largest furniture store in the world and boasts over 1 million square feet of display space) can be a bit overwhelming for some consumers. For first-time buyers, just viewing the 150,000 pieces of furniture can take days. The store's manager actually recommends that shoppers contact their store for help prior to making the trip.

After spending about nine hours making some hard choices, the Murphys found pieces for their foyer, living room and dining room. The manufacturer's list price for the Murphy's three rooms of furniture was $118,000; they paid $68,000. That's $50,000 that stayed in their pockets.