"They don't make things as good as they used to" is a common complaint handed down from generation to generation. However, the old adage is actually true when it comes to furniture. The Wall Street Journal reported recently if you think your new couch is worse than the old one, it's not your imagination. The sofas are worse than they used to be. The Journal reported:
The lifespan of your new sofa may be much shorter than you expect.
Instead of once-a-decade purchases, furniture makers and restorers say, couches are becoming more like fast fashion—produced with cheaper materials, prone to trends and headed to the landfill after just a few years. High-quality sofas still exist, pros say, but they are harder to find. Mass-market options, even those that cost over $3,000, are increasingly made with less sturdy materials and construction methods. ...
Consumers are complaining that their new couch’s cushions are lumpier, springs squeakier and frames flimsier than those of the well-loved models they replaced. ....
Melissa Newell and Jennie Fisher spent $1,945 on an Eddy reversible sectional from West Elm in 2021 to upgrade their work-from-home setup, since Fisher often works from the couch.
“It is coming apart at the seams,” says Newell, a 54-year-old nurse anesthetist in Birmingham, Ala. Photos reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show misaligned edges with staples poking out, dented back cushions and pilled fabric. ...
A West Elm spokeswoman said, “We are proud of the product that we offer, and we have seen consistent improvement in customer metrics including a decline in returns and damages.”... (KF: Ah, metrics, the bean counters favorite word. Customer experiences may suck but as long as you meet those metrics, it's OK). ....It has become kind of the Wild West,” says Adam Rogers, an independent furniture designer in Portland, Maine. “People have to choose between the right aesthetic, quality and price. If they want all three, good luck.” ...
When it comes to leather, consumers often don’t know what they’re buying, says Boyer, who is based in Frisco, Texas. The “genuine leather” touted on many mass-produced options isn’t a single skin, but a slurry of ground-up slaughterhouse scraps held together with binders and glues, he says.
Genuine leather is the furniture equivalent of cheap cashmere, pros say. Buyers should look instead for top grain cowhide, which may darken from skin oils over time but won’t flake and fall apart.
One big advantage of older sofas is their hardwood or plywood frames, says Andy Buck, a professor of furniture design at Rochester Institute of Technology. Many newer sofas use particleboard or medium-density fiberboard, which Buck describes as compressed wood chips mixed with glue.
“It doesn’t hold a screw and over time it’s very difficult to repair, especially if it gets wet,” Buck says.
The easiest way to suss out your sofa’s skeleton, he advises: Look underneath. You should be able to see if the wood pieces are interconnected with one another in what is known as mortise and tenon joinery. With more brittle couches, those connections are made with an external bracket. Wiggling the arms and backrest is also a helpful test of their stability.
Boyer says he is getting more calls to fix snapped sofas, especially when the piece has an extendible foot or backrest. “It was a rare thing before, but we are seeing that happen even with some of the upper-end of furniture producers, where people are paying $5,000 or $6,000 for a sofa,” he says.
Low-density foam is one of Boyer’s biggest pet peeves. Fifteen years ago, cushions tended to retain their shape and comfort for a decade, he says. Now, homeowners ask him for help swapping out the innards in as few as three years..... Rest of article
The comments to the article were brutal.
23 comments:
Batte Furniture is gone and Miskelly's is here.
Kazery Furniture on Chadwick Drive carries quality, well made furniture. Mr. Kazery just passed recently (99). His family still has the business and hopefully will continue his well earned reputation in the furniture world.
Learned my lesson with Miskelly's 10 years ago. They denied there was a problem until the warranty ran out. Never again.
Interior Markets and Kazary give quality and service. They have sales and yet get what you pay for.
I have a recliner that looks great and is super comfortable. Interior Markets did me right. All my furniture purchases will come from the quality places. Life is too short to have cheap, uncomfortable furniture.
It’s ironic because the first cheap crappy sofas I bought were made in the Delta here in MS.
Thanks for the Kazery Furniture info.
I know this is a different category of household item, but we purchased the GE cafe series refrigerator, dishwasher and gas range less than 2 years ago. My dishwasher has broken down for the 2nd time in a year and a half and the refrigerator broke down within 10 months. If it hadn't been under warranty, and the dishwasher under extended warranty (thank you Home Depot for asking us if we'd like to purchase this coverage, bc it's great), we'd be out 7,000 bucks. I regret buying this stuff. My appliances were so new when they broke down, we had to wait for them to manufacture parts for them. I definitely agree with the sentiment they don't make stuff like they used to
"Wish a Ford & a Chevy still last 10 years like they should ...", Possum's friend
Our GE Cafe microwave crapped out last week a year and a week after purchase. I'm thinking they program a certain percentage of appliances to fail days after warranty expires. Class action anyone?
A big part of the problem is that folks sit on them 3X or 4X as much each day as they used to... different times we're in.
12:31 - I've never heard of a couch manufacturer in the Mississippi Delta other than Lazy Boy who, while in Leland, made case goods (office consoles, desks, credenzas), no couches.
3:56 makes an excellent point. Conversely, pots and pans are used far less than they were in past years.
Another large part of the shit-furniture we get today is due to that 'giant sucking sound' Ross Perot mentioned.
If you're too young to remember that, it's NAFTA.
10:37 for the win - nothing else needs to be said.
I swear to Budda, this blog has the biggest collection of bitchy people ever assembledd in our great state. Crabby, bitchy, negative people, looking to pour sour out.
This brings to my mind my recent experience with a swing for the backyard. Instead of buying from one of the big box stores, my wife found a referral to a guy in Laurel who makes them for a very reasonable price out of quality local wood.
Since we are piling on, I bought a Frigidaire refrigerator 2 years ago. Ice machine is broken, freezer handle is broken, refrigerator handle is broken…and it’s over the stove microwave cousin that is four years old next to it has a handle that has lost all its paint and the motherboard crashes intermittently. This ain’t your momma’s kitchen.
10:37 & 5:40 - Interior Spaces in Renaissance took over where Batte left off and carries the same quality & brands.
Some of you people could tear up an anvil.
It was shocking to see a sofa that was being reupholstered and see the same plastic strip webbing that was on cheap outdoor folding chairs in the 50's used as the only cushion supports!
Sherrill Furniture outside of Statesville NC still has well made furniture.
I have a sofa hundreds of years old that I recovered that is a wood frame with springs that simply needed re-tying and a good one from Batte that only needed to be re-covered.
And, beware of wood furniture from China. They don't dry the wood for two years and so the frames will crack.
A well made piece of furniture will last generations. Go to a store with old furniture and have it recovered.
I fear we have become people who know the cost of everything and value of absolutely nothing!
5:39am
An excellent Waring Blender and Microwave, commercial quality, and a Samsung side X side have all performed beautifully for four years now.
Some people get in a hurry to buy without spending sufficient time researching available choices, then suffer the consequences. Make the internet your slave to procure Value!
Remember, Value = Quality ÷ Cost.
People with plenty of money head out to a showroom and buy something cheap in a few minutes. My wife agonized when I spent hours before finally ordering a highly rated Wolf gas, drop-in cook top, but it's beautiful, heavy duty and dependable.
Buddhist @ 9:13pm
Complaining about the complaints?
I have a large antique chest, made in pre-revolution China out of hand carved yew wood. The golden tan patina is incredible, as if glowing from its own inner light. When I drilled and chiseled a few modifications, I could smell its incense-like aroma.
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