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...Pottery Barn has never been big on ornate furniture. I've bought several pieces from them over the years, mostly cottage-style tables/nightstands and the like. Here's one (I actually still have these in the master bedroom):
That piece, to me, looks very typical of PB. Everything I've bought from them (virtually always on sale) has held up VERY well -- a lot of it is >10 years old. And I always look at measurements before ordering so I'm never surprised!
I haven't lived in the U.S. for almost twenty years, but there used to be an PB very close to where I worked and "ornate" would never have come to my mind in describing what I saw there. I looked on their site after reading a few postings, and though some of their furniture seemed a bit big, none of it struck me as my idea of ornate. In fact, it looks pretty uncluttered in design...though not that scary VIP airline lounge tending to mental hospital modern look that is Ikea.
But if PB is ornate, then maybe Ikea is the answer.
That was the point of the article. Millenials aren't buying. Seems like the the execs at William Sonoma are responding though because this is having a big enough impact on PB's business. PB started a new line of small space furniture this year. Pottery Barn Debuts Small Space Furniture Collection | Apartment Therapy
I think so as well, which makes me wonder why you and others seem unable to let this discussion go. Ornate is a subjective term, and PB is too ornate for me. It is really a simple concept. If you think it is not too ornate for me, I welcome that discussion. Otherwise, I recommend moving on. All the best.
With all due respect, and as gently as I can type, please understand that your posts seemed condescending. It is possible that you did not mean that to be the case. But that is how I read it.
Most of us here do not need lessons about the meaning of common words.
As far as I'm concerned, you are welcome to post here. I love coming to this thread for decorating talk, and I hope you participate. And I hope you take this post in the spirit intended. There are many good ideas here.
Most of us here do not need lessons about the meaning of common words.
I emphasized that ornate is an adjective, a subjective term, over and over again. I never defined it for anyone but for myself. There is one person who defined the word and even cited a partial quotation from a dictionary. I am not that person.
Before you continue to make accusations like this, I encourage you to re-read the posts, understand exactly what was written, and re-examine your emotional response to the comments. We are all adults and have our opinions, and we don't necessarily agree on every topic. That is ok and healthy. But this type of accusatory behavior is tiresome and moves the conversation forward not one iota.
Unless you disagree that PB is too ornate for me, I recommend that you drop this line of discussion. It has been discussed ad nauseum. I hope you take these words in the spirit intended. All the best.
I emphasized that ornate is an adjective, a subjective term, over and over again. I never defined it for anyone but for myself. There is one person who defined the word and even cited a partial quotation from a dictionary. I am not that person.
Before you continue to make accusations like this, I encourage you to re-read the posts, understand exactly what was written, and re-examine your emotional response to the comments. We are all adults and have our opinions, and we don't necessarily agree on every topic. That is ok and healthy. But this type of accusatory behavior is tiresome and moves the conversation forward not one iota.
Unless you disagree that PB is too ornate for me, I recommend that you drop this line of discussion. It has been discussed ad nauseum. I hope you take these words in the spirit intended. All the best.
Wow. You apparently STILL have no clue how you come across ... even when responding to a poster who was about as nice as she could be!
Yes, we can all agree that you think that Pottery Barn is too "ornate" for you ... although by any normal definition of the word "ornate," PB is not ornate at all.
All the best! *
(* because of course writing "all the best" makes everything just fine, as does including smileys )
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More to the point of the thread: all it takes is a simple tape measure to determine if a particular piece of furniture will fit in the place one wants it for. If not, OK, then PB is apparently "too big" for you (as well as being too "ornate" for you). Maybe just don't shop there, then?
I love PB, at least when they have sales. Of course I use my trusty tape measure before buying anything.
More to the point of the thread: all it takes is a simple tape measure to determine if a particular piece of furniture will fit in the place one wants it for. If not, OK, then PB is apparently "too big" for you (as well as being too "ornate" for you).
The point of the article is not that consumers are unaware of the furniture size. The point is that consumers ARE aware. PB furniture is simply too big for many consumers. Using tape measurers is not going to change the issue many consumers have with PB - they are already aware of the dimensions and are not buying. This is affecting revenue for PB. The lagging demand is sufficient for execs to respond with a small furniture collection this year. The theatrics with gratuitous use of quotation marks doesn't mask the fact that you've missed the point altogether. All the best.
Last edited by hellopity; 06-02-2017 at 11:07 PM..
For me and I can only speak for myself, the term ornate also relates to degree. In my mind, I do not consider PB furniture to be ornate. A decorative detail does not make an item ornate but rather he degree of ornamentation.
If, you look at any Baroque or Rococo piece to name just two styles (again in my mind) they can generally be described as ornate.
Now to the OP's original point. I have to disagree with your appraisal of PB. I find most of the furniture today to be larger size than years ago. Starting with the bedroom. Back in the 50's the double bed was the industry standard. Today that is the queen and the king is moving up. I have a queen and love a king bed, but my former home was built in the 50's and the master bedroom was smaller then and we were lucky to be able to put a queen in the room.
We bought furniture in 1997 for that 50's built home and I was amazed even then how large the furniture seemed in terms of scale to the room I had. It took work because I wanted "formal" traditional in my living room and traditional the rest of the house. The homes today are bigger, often times swallowing up my simple cape cod at 1400 square feet. With larger open format homes comes a different scale of furniture. My current home is a 1/3 larger, instead of retiring and downsizing we upsized! I wish I were shopping for furniture now.
Look at the detail at the base of the table. That is too ornate for me. Perhaps you are confusing ornate (an adjective) with a specific style or technique. It happens often.
Understand that adjectives are subjective (e.g. this couch is too cold, too warm, too bright, too dark) and do not specifically reference a period or style. Hollywood regency and Rococo can both be ornate, but they reference different styles. A contemporary piece of furniture can be warm or cold, ornate or simple. You get the point. If I conflated the terms traditional and ornate, calling the pieces at PB traditional and ornate would be redundant. I ask you to please stop conflating those terms when you read. Thanks.
Now to the OP's original point. I have to disagree with your appraisal of PB. I find most of the furniture today to be larger size than years ago. Starting with the bedroom. Back in the 50's the double bed was the industry standard. Today that is the queen and the king is moving up. I have a queen and love a king bed, but my former home was built in the 50's and the master bedroom was smaller then and we were lucky to be able to put a queen in the room.
We bought furniture in 1997 for that 50's built home and I was amazed even then how large the furniture seemed in terms of scale to the room I had. It took work because I wanted "formal" traditional in my living room and traditional the rest of the house. The homes today are bigger, often times swallowing up my simple cape cod at 1400 square feet. With larger open format homes comes a different scale of furniture. My current home is a 1/3 larger, instead of retiring and downsizing we upsized! I wish I were shopping for furniture now.
The median size and average size of new builds have been increasing steadily from 1500sf to about 2500sf over the past few decades. It has only begun to plateau and even drop in the last couple of years. I don't disagree with that at all. What the article points out is that PB's own market analysis revealed their furniture does not appeal to millenial consumers for several reasons, one of which is size. That analysis resonates with my personal experience, as I said. Despite the growing size of the average new build, millenial consumers with disposable income may still find PB to be too big for several factors. Urbanization is one potential explanation offered. Most larger new builds pop up in suburbs where land is more plentiful. Gainfully employed millenials starting out their careers in legal services, finance, tech, etc., often live in urban cores rather than suburbs. Lifestyle and attitudes about space also evolve. Millenials favor good public transportation, less commute time, and easy access to amenities. Some of that means trading off a suburban McMansion or country living for a more modest urban dwelling. Whatever the reason, the result is PB's declining sales. PB believes a significant factor is furniture size and is responding with the small furniture collection. Will be interesting to see how that experiment goes.
Last edited by hellopity; 06-03-2017 at 11:36 AM..
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