Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think there is a place for Pier One, World Market, Rooms to Go, level furniture, as long as you don't pay too much for it. If I pay a lot for something, then I feel as if I'm bound to keep it forever. I'd just as soon get 5 years out of something and then get something else.
Right now, I have Rooms to Go living room furniture. I've already gotten my money's worth out of it. If it had gotten any hard use, it would have crumbled into the floor already. If I move again, I'll probably pitch it and get new.
Contrast that with my very expensive dining room furniture. My table is way too big for the room, and I am no longer a fan of formal cherry Georgian furniture, but we paid so much money for it that dh would have a cow if I even mentioned replacing it.
Most of the furniture I've seen from these chain stores appears to be made in India or Southeast Asia from poorly seasoned wood (like, it's already cracking in the store due to humidity differences between the manufacturing location and the USA), with poor joinery and low-durability finishes. If I were renting a room for a year and then planned to move somewhere else and donate the furniture, I would consider it, but not for something that I intended to keep for years.
I have had the best results either buying high quality machine made furniture from the 1940s and 1950s (made in the USA), or buying new furniture (mostly made in USA) from a non-national-chain store (Weir's in Dallas; Jordan's in Boston area, for example).
I bought a little round dining table (with a leaf) from West Elm and cost/value ratio was pretty good. For what I paid, my expectations were middling but the quality, in general, was better than I expected for the price.
On the other hand, dealing with West Elm's stocking and shipping issues was not pleasant. When I initially ordered, they said it would be back in stock is 2 weeks and shipped then, and that the shipping would be about a week. I kept calling and they kept repeating the same line "there was a hold up, but it will be here next week" over and over. In the end, it was more than 6 months and the shipping time, from when it left their warehouse to when it arrived at my house, was nearly a MONTH, plus it arrived with zero notice. I'd never deal with them on a large item that needed to be shipped or even a small item that wasn't in stock again.
__________________
Moderator posts are in RED.
Moderator for: Oregon (and subforums), Auto Racing.
When you signed up for an account, you agreed to abide by the site's TOS and rules. You really should look through them.
City-Data Terms of Service: //www.city-data.com/terms.html
City-Data FAQ: //www.city-data.com/forum/faq/
I have never been tempted by furniture at Pier 1. Whenever I have looked at pieces there, I thought the quality was poor. Stylish, but poor. However it is possible they have added more quality pieces.
To learn about quality furniture, visit a local furniture store. You might not like the styles, if they do not carry the sort of stuff Crate and Barrel does. But you can look at case goods. Ask a salesperson about his wares, and try to learn what quality furniture looks like. The properly constructed corners shown in post #10 will give you an idea of things to look for. But most modern furniture that I have looked at do not have those corners. You might have to settle for a different looking corner. What you want to avoid are corners that are sort of stapled together. Another thing to avoid is fake wood. Once you know what it looks like, you will never be fooled again.
So, after you've spent some time doing research on what quality looks like, you can intelligently search for what you want.
If I were buying modern, and had money, I'd buy from Room & Board. But I would find a way to look at it before buying, because that's how I do things.
I prefer solid wood furniture, by the way. Solid wood pieces are getting scarcer and scarcer.
Is that site sponsored or hosted by La-Z-Boy? It links to them.
It is a glorified ad. Apparently Crate & Barrel is attracting customers away from La-Z-Boy. But Crate & Barrel has the cool factor. Old Line furniture mfgs aren't attracting young customers.
It is a glorified ad. Apparently Crate & Barrel is attracting customers away from La-Z-Boy. But Crate & Barrel has the cool factor. Old Line furniture mfgs aren't attracting young customers.
Crate and Barrel also has the quality factor. Maybe the La-Z-Boy people didn't realize this before they made their online comparison.
Crate and Barrel also has the quality factor. Maybe the La-Z-Boy people didn't realize this before they made their online comparison.
You mean the "poor quality factor"?
I can't speak to the quality of Lazboy products, but the big chain store furniture I've looked at - as I noted above - looks poorly assembled from poorly machined pieces of poorly seasoned low quality wood using inaccurate joinery. (When it's actually even made of wood and not MDF or particleboard.)
I am sure that for a young person just starting out who wants something cheap and cheerful to get through a few years and then set it on the curb, it's just fine. But I wouldn't want to pay mall store prices (including all their overhead for store lease and excessive advertising) for the quality of products I"ve inspected in those stores. The stuff bears all the hallmarks of overseas sourcing to the lowest bidder.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
