will this Asian-import, "birch ply" furniture make me miserable, or be ok?

Some caveats up front: I admit to being a complete newbie when it comes to furniture. I have tried to educate myself as best I can as a consumer, but I am overwhelmed, and am reaching out to you guys for help.

In summary:

Overall, do you guys think the following construction is of reasonable quality for the price? I just want to avoid regret and annoyance over the next few years (at least).

Details:

I'm trying to buy some bedroom furniture (bed, nightstand, dresser) for under $2000. I found a set that seems to have acceptable quality for the price. I've looked for and found a lot of the features that supposedly indicate good quality for the price, including

Pros:
a good number of pine planks supporting the mattresses (maybe 3" planks separated about 2" apart)
English dovetail joining the drawer corners
metal glide rails

Cons:
no dust panels under drawers
no corner blocks in drawers

The salesman describes the wood as "birch ply". He calls it "solid wood", but I can accept it for what it is. The drawers look like they've made 3" wide planks out of maybe 5 layers of wood. I believe the salesman said the planks were "glues and cold clamped".

I can't tell what the bed is made of: although the salesman says it's all birch ply, I have no way of telling. Could it be MDF w/ veneer, and does it matter?

Here are some pictures if it helps. (sorry, the picture of the dovetailing is blurry)
Attachment 6341Attachment 6342Attachment 6343Attachment 6344Attachment 6345

Thanks in advance!

Some of the photos are illegible...and what you are seeing in several of those photos are called 'finger joints' which join two shorter pieces of wood together, typically seen on finish molding that will be paint grade, but finger joints are not good in stress areas (if that's where they might be). For a bed, dresser and nightstand under $ 2K you are going to have to make some compromises somewhere. MDF is absolutely horrid as a build material, Plywood is going to be OK, lack of dust panels is no big issue at all (you don't really need them in a climate controlled home). There's not enough good detail for me to really tell what I'm looking at, sorry.

I'm not a furniture expert--at least not an expensive furniture expert. But this kind of furniture is the kind of furniture that is usually made of pine and sold in cheap furniture stores. I know that kind of furniture. It isn't worth 2000 anythings.

As an alternative, you might start looking at estate sales. For less than half of that 2000 dollars you can get some quality stuff that hasn't been beaten up over the years. It might take a month or two for you to find the right bedroom suite, but when you see it, you will know it.

Now that advice might not be good for all. Many don't like to think about buying from an estate sale (because of the death). But if you can work around it, you'll find something great eventually for dimes on the dollar. Good luck.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dgw9

I'm not a furniture expert--at least not an expensive furniture expert. But this kind of furniture is the kind of furniture that is usually made of pine and sold in cheap furniture stores. I know that kind of furniture. It isn't worth 2000 anythings.

As an alternative, you might start looking at estate sales. For less than half of that 2000 dollars you can get some quality stuff that hasn't been beaten up over the years. It might take a month or two for you to find the right bedroom suite, but when you see it, you will know it.

Now that advice might not be good for all. Many don't like to think about buying from an estate sale (because of the death). But if you can work around it, you'll find something great eventually for dimes on the dollar. Good luck.

---

I know this is an older thread, but where does 1 find listings of estate sales? Besides, the obvious local newspaper classifieds section?

Like, are there estate sale exclusive listing websites that I can filter for my area, etc?

Thanks :)