posted
I have been without furniture long enough. I sort of liked having a huge house with (almost) nothing in it -- sort of a model for my mind if you think about it. Which I don't. But the inconveniences were starting to mount. For example:
- Everyone who comes over says the place looks like a batchelor lives there and offers to bring pizza next time.
- Then they make suggestions as to what style of furniture THEY like. "You know, I think some highgloss laminated pressboard with strobe lights would go good in here..."
- The postal delivery person isn't really sure I live here. She keeps wanting to stop my mail.
- I have to borrow furniture when really important people come to visit and then return it when said VIPs are gone. And I HATE moving furniture.
So...I buckled down and started shopping in earnest. I drove 80 miles (R/T) to the "nearby" town of Calvert which is famed for it's myriad antique dealers and low, low prices. I went on Wednesday. It's closed on Wednesday. The WHOLE town! I was able to buy gas and a Diet Coke and that's about it.
Next I went to a store that a friend recommended. I got lost and found a different store. Closed. Then, later, I found the store the friend had recommended. It would've been open had I not gotten lost. By the time I got there, it was closed.
I did find a dealer in Amish furniture. They'll make semi-custom stuff for you. It costs more than my house. Seriously! What is it with these people? Okay, they have to make everything without powertools and only during daylight hours, but sheesh! Maybe if they purchased a decent set of shop equipment the stuff would be affordable. Price of a dining-room table, six chairs and a buffet: OVER $6,000 before tax!!!
Found an unfinished furniture place. I thought "hey, this'll be cheap and next time I'm home for a day or so, I'll just slap some varnish on and I'm good to go. NOPE! Unfinished furniture has gone upscale since my college days. Whoa! A bed frame is $950 and you still have to buy all the stain and poly coating and it takes 3 coats and something like 5 days to do it right!!!
YIKES!
A stinking chair is $99!!! Well, there was cheaper stuff, but it LOOKED like garbage and my attacking it with a brush and some stain wasn't going to help.
So nix that.
Next came the guy who actually does make custom furniture. He's also a refinisher. The stuff he refinishes comes out looking "museum quality." Near as I could tell, the stuff he makes custom looks like unfinished furniture. Weird quality difference. Anyway, since what I'm looking for is mostly straight lines, I figure he could handle it. His prices were even higher than the darn Amish! I sort of figured they would be. But heck!
I got ahold of an IKEA catalog. If you aren't familiar with IKEA, it's a really great place to get stuff that you plan to dispose of eventually. Not that their wares are of terribly poor quality, but they are just on the "affordable" side of things. I've had great luck with their products in the past, but I have to admit that I was looking for something higher quality. But their prices are great so I looked and found a couple of styles I liked really well. The problem is that the styles I liked were either pressboard or they were not a complete "line" of furniture for a given room. So, for example, I could get a really great table, but there were no chairs that matched (not the same wood). Or, I found a great table and then the description read something like "oak veneer over presswood." The other drawback is everything has to be assembled. I have two main problems with assembling my own furniture: 1) I always screw something up or have pieces left over, and, 2) The piece, once assembled and GLUED together does not fit through the door so I can never get it OUT of the room I built it in -- I've been smart enough in the past to build dining room furniture in the dining room, but still, it means that piece is not leaving that room except as kindling.
Anyway, I went back to the closed furniture store that my friend recommended. It was like a thrift shop and the furniture was mostly stuff that people had donated to get it out of their house. Or it was left behind in apartments rented by A&M students. I went through a couple of couches looking for loose change. No luck.
Finally, NIRVANA. Well, actually it was NPR, but I found my stuff. It was in the store I found when I got lost looking for that crummy store. This place is run by a family that imports antiques and near-antiques from Europe in containers. They mostly serve the local decorator community, but the store is open to the public.
Perfect. Solid wood, simple lines. Not necessarily antique, but not real new stuff either. And the store was having a 1/2 off sale because they wanted to reduce inventory before tax season comes around. I ended up with a really cool "country French" table and chairs in solid oak, plus a cool Mission-style desk and locking shelf unit in walnut. Then I found a mirror and buffet that closely matches the dining room table.
Very cool.
On another front...I got the good news that my couch, chair and ottoman will be shipped next week from North Carolina. These are my real "spurge" items. I've always wanted a really high quality leather couch. So I bought one. And the chair was just too weird looking to refuse.
So, only a bedroom shy of a housefull of furniture!
And I have the bedroom set picked out, I think. Maybe.
But I don't need it RIGHT AWAY because I do have an old set of my grandmother's that is ultimately going into the guest room, but will serve me for now.
By the way, lemon oil is your friend. And it smells good too.
Of course, the kick-ass stereo has been installed since day one. In case you were wondering.
posted
gosh. i'd give my left kidney for a thrift store couch.
good for you, though. even though i'm young and still renting, there's something satisfying about furnishing and decorating a living space.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I need to get new beds in my guest rooms, as my sister has informed me that my living room couch is more comfortable than the beds. And I've fallen asleep on that couch, so I know just how comfortable it's not.
But I cringe at the idea of spending lots of money on furniture that only gets used once a month (if that).
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Oops! That sends entirely the wrong image, doesn't it.
Sorry Papa Moose, I guess this just turned into an onanism thread.
And I don't even have the darn couch yet!!!
dkw, I've had good success with futons. I even bought a futon mattress and turned my regular bed into a platform bed just because I like that kind fo mattress better.
But for guests, if not for full time use, a futon mattress is a wonderful alternative to buying a real bed.
fiazko, I have spent YEARS using other people's discards and had some really nice stuff that way. I myself have donated some very nice stuff to thrift stores. I don't mind shopping in them either. Maybe I should've said this one store had the stuff that thrift stores reject. It was NASTY!!!
Posts: 22497 | Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
i'm not knocking thrift store merchandise. i have come across plenty of things that i would buy. my point was that i can't even afford the thrift shops. not that i have to go without eating to pay bills, but i'm in the process of crawling my way out of a serious financial slump, and since i couldn't part with my old, ugly, stuffing-oozing, oversized cat scratching post excuse for an armchair, getting a couch falls under the luxury department, and thus, i'll be lucky if i have one by easter.
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Bob, it sounds like you are ready for the next level: Bed, Bath, and Beyond.
If you are really into this interior decorating, may I suggest Crate & Barrel?
J/K and enjoy the experience. If you are like me, it is the thrill of the hunt, not necessarily the kill...
Posts: 1870 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
fiazko...I've been there. It's not fun, but eventually it WILL work out. At least you are TRYING to crawl out of the problem. I know a lot of people who don't even try.
I have a friend who manages a Crate & Barrel. Cool stores. And, I'm ashamed to admit it, I kind of like some of the Martha Stewart stuff at K-Mart. At least you know that the colors will go together.
My dining room has become the "mission" room. Or maybe "mission control." Except for the lighting fixture (which I hate and will jettison as soon as I can) the room is decorated with earth tones and various images of adobe buildings, South America, etc.
My friends loaned me a water color for the den that is also sort of "mission-like."
Hmm...I sense a theme.
Except...have you checked the prices on "mission" or "prarie" style furniture? Sheesh! It's simpler than most other styles but they mark it up incredibly at most places.
Oh well.
Maybe I'll just get wooden planks and a couple of those cable spools from the utility company.
posted
fiazko - I would suggest putting a (free) want-ad in an area paper (or in on-line classifieds) saying that you're looking for a couch, etc. but that you can't afford to pay for one. I recently gave several household items away (including a loveseat that had been given to us by our next door neighbors when we were in need of furniture a while ago) to someone whose wantad I found online.
Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Bob, I feel your pain. We looked for about three months for a dining room set that was affordable. For some odd reason, I really don't like oak and maple grained tables and wanted something unique, but not $6000+! We hit the jackpot when a local store told us that they were having an inventory reducing sale that would just about halve the price of the set we liked. Its alderwood and very simple. The hutch has a bay window sort of look, though, which I really liked.
This is the second piece of new furniture that we've bought. It feels so odd to get rid of that "$25 for the lot" furniture and know that we can afford something of our own.
Glad the house is coming together!
Posts: 1777 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Bob, if you're going for "mission" but don't want to pay obscene prices, Kmart has a collection (futon/sofa, table of various sizes, lamps, bookshelves) that's not bad. I have the futon and one of the end tables.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Mack, I really LOVE IKEA. After my FIRST divorce, it was all I could afford, barely. Maybe there's a bitter association with that time, but I don't think so (when I look back on that year, it was one of the happiest of my adult life and IKEA's furniture was really a big part of the fun I had that year. Lots of entertaining on stuff I eventually just turned into work tables or gave away, etc. But it was great stuff. Good looking and very affordable.
Also, the neat thing about IKEA furniture is that later on, you don't mind giving it to someone in need. It usually still looks presentable (so you aren't embarassed) and you don't usually feel like you have to get your money back out of it like one would if one had spent $6,000 on a dining set. Ya know?
Anyway, IKEA has better styles at lower prices than just about anyplace I can think of.
I'm in the mode now where I'm buying stuff that I want to keep forever. Or at least until my next wife comes along and says she hates every decorating decision I've made.
Yes dear! <---see, I'm already trained!
At that point, there will be one HELL of a garage sale in Bryan, TX, let me tell you!!!
By the way, if no-one has checked out Pier One lately, I highly recommend their furniture. Moderate prices and very good quality. I'm thinking of buying the "Jackson" line for my bedroom. The headboard is about 1/3 of what comparable stuff would cost at the unfinished furniture place and the Pier 1 stuff is already nicely finished. Cool!
Of course, its all made by exploited Asians in places like Java or Melanesia, but as long as their forests hold out, we'll have good quality affordable furniture to spare!!!!
posted
Not to mention lumpy. If they are as uncomfortable as she says, maybe she will pay the shipping just to get rid of them. Mine is in the same condition, but I won't be getting a new one until next spring (an inadvertant joke )
Posts: 1379 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
"But I don't need it RIGHT AWAY because I do have an old set of my grandmother's"
Bob, this comment about beds, coupled, if you will, with the comment about "mission style," is worrying me. I know you are much older than I am, but really, it is not yet time to go the separate bed route, especially when you don't have the new wife!
I think this might be a job for the crew of "Queer Eye."
quote: Then they make suggestions as to what style of furniture THEY like. "You know, I think some highgloss laminated pressboard with strobe lights would go good in here..."
Did this suggestion come from Lavalamp? Posts: 2425 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
On a more helpful note, I thought you might be interested in a cool fan for the dining room. We have the one in the top left picture. It looks great and works well. Mission Style fansPosts: 2425 | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I'm in a bit of the same position, in that I sleep on a mattress on the floor. I have my own apartment for the very first time - just me - and have decided that buying furniture is a sign of committment. I am freakishly terrified of committment, and I slept on the floor for the first couple years to avoid admitting I actually graduated from college. I also kept my Utah drivers license until I racked up three speeding tickets and a fender bender in two months.
I'm getting closer, though. I may be ready for the committment of owning furniture that wasn't given to me. It'll be okay. I'll still be Katie. This doesn't mean I'm losing the essential bits that make me me. Admitting you live somewhere does not mean you'll never live anywhere else. It's not too much. Breathe, Katie, breathe.
posted
dkw maybe you could get a futon at IKEA next time you come to visit. The low end ones are $99-150 if I remember correctly. For those of you who are Ikea fans I live 10 minutes away from one. Eat your heart out (or come visit me!)
From college student-walmart furniture Ikea is a step up. Grin. We love their BILLY line bookshelves because of its expandablilty. If you like wooden simplicity I suggest their LESVIK line, which is solid wood extremely sturily constructed too. We have the coffe table, the corner TV bench and the small bookshelf to store videos and dvds on. (I was going to link to IKEA usa to show the pictures but right now either their site or my server is being less than co-operative) AJ
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Yes dear! <---see, I'm already trained! 
