Pepperidge Farms remembers Crate Furniture!
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We have had the good fortune of living down the road from a person who, for her own reasons, changes out her furniture every few years. She always asks us if we want ‘this ugly old couch’, which we always do. I also build some furniture, though a couch is a steeper hill to climb than a coffee table.
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I remember like ~20 years ago going to NYC and staying at a family friends apartment while they were out of town. They had a new sofa that converted to a bed, and part of it broke while I was trying to set it up. I was horrified, but then I looked and I was like, this part is particle board? No wonder it just broke.
The person wasn’t upset with us, and ended up getting it replaced
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Wood furniture…pfft
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I’ve thought about building my own frame and using cheaper memory mattresses cut to shape for the cushions.
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I always thought it was cool that Jack White was doing it before fame.
Foam, leather, wood, metal, rock and roll.
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I’m tempted to try Home Reserve instead of IKEA next time I want furniture. https://homereserve.com/ At least it’s locally made sawdust and glue!
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So that puts it a step above Ikea. And I don’t mean the “local” bit.
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We got this nice solid rolled-arm couch from Rowe in 2014 for ~$1000. Still going strong and should last at least another 5 years or more. I think we’d have no problem reupholstering if needed.
They don’t sell it anymore, of course. But maybe something in the same line.
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The foam in Ikea couches is not very forgiving to pressure points such as tailbones.
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OK, I am going to reveal my snooty side here, but
SHE PAINTS SOLID WOOD FURNITURE?!?!?!?!?
(Obviously, this depends on what you have and what the quality is, but that breaks my heart.)
A 1:1:1 mix on linseed oil/tung oil/bees wax, and maybe some thinner if it’s to your liking, will make the wood glow like anything. I cannot count to hours I have spent cleaning questionable paint finishes off of gorgeous old woods and lovely, thick veneers. Most of what I have worked on is made of truly amazing wood (huge amount of survivorship bias here. I’m sure there was crappy stuff back then, it just didn’t survive to the present day.) Always worth the effort, though. IMHO, of course.
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We have a number of very well built 80’s oak pieces that we just can’t give away. I’d label that era of design “Funeral Parlour Chic”. Some have suggested painting them to make them look a little lighter.
Update:
Oh my.
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Enshittification is coming for our couches now!
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Yeah, my husband and I had a string of bad experiences with couches. After progressively spending more on stuff that just kept falling apart, we finally resorted to investing in one of the few companies still making furniture in the United States with real wood and junk. The kittens we just adopted are destroying the upholstery, but at least that can be repaired.
It’s not an option for everyone. Cheap furniture (and everything else) is one of those ways the system makes poorer people pay more for less, as they cannot buy better quality products but poorer quality products will cost them more in the long run. Not everyone can restore old furniture or purchase restored furniture, either.
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Sam Vimes has entered the chat.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. … A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. … But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that’d still be keeping his feet dry in ten years’ time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet .[4]
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Yeah. This is the exact thing I was thinking of.
eta: although, I want to add, that’s not why wealthy people are wealthy. My husband just makes a lot more money than most people, so we can invest in better furniture. Not the other way around.
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