Buying an Upholstered Bed

Hello,

My husband and I are looking for an upholstered bed. We are on a limited budget, and found several pieces at Macy's that fit into our budget. We spent half a day trying out different beds made by Jonathan Louis, grilled sales person for information, but still don't feel I have enough information to know if this would be a decent purchase or a total rip off.

I wasn't able to get any specifics on Jonathan Louis furniture. The site uses very vague language in explaining what is used in different parts, and it isn't clear what specifically is used for the Macy's line of beds. I am also very uncomfortable with a year only limited warranty. That means like a very short period of time to me.

I am trying to get a good starting point to accurately evaluate if I am being reasonable in paying almost $1000 for the queen size upholstery bed made by JL, or am I getting a bad deal?

And by the way, I am fully aware that this piece of furniture isn't on a higher end. Unfortunately we are limited by our budget, and have to work with it. Ideally I'd like the bed to give us good 7 years of life.

Any advice/suggestion on how to asses if this is a good deal?

Thank you

Olga

P.S. We are trying to score the holiday's discount that is available until Monday. If someone has any quick feedback for us, it would be greatly appreciated!!!

P.S.S. I love this forum!!!

Looking at customer feedback for this brand, it would appear that most complaints deal with cushions breaking down relatively quickly. On an upholstered bed that would not be an issue. Having never had an upholstered bed, I am not sure there are points of use that would show wear too early. I think your quality check may have to be more in the bed frame and how the piece was constructed. If you left one corner of the bed, does it feel like the wood rails and end pieces are solid and heavy? On the other hand if when lifted it tends to feel like it is over-stressed and may bend or break ...forget that one. The sales people may know something about the construction or how the pieces connect which could reveal more about the quality and durability of the furniture. Obviously the fabric and the sewing, buttons etc. should be checked to judge craftsmanship. Looking over the brand and the pricing, I should think the chairs, sofas, sectionals would not have a long in-use life. Hopefully someone with some experience with upholster beds will be able to offer you some feedback.

In order to get advice on an item, its a good idea to show detailed photos of the piece, there are tens of thousands of pieces out there, no way anyone can know what you are looking at with just a name. In very general terms (VERY general) Macy's usually had mediocre pieces at regular retail prices. What makes a bed decent (or not) is how the corner construction is done on the frame corners. Without being able to see that, there is no way to tell.

Sorry everyone who wrote for not following up sooner. After all said and done, we ended up getting Victoria Queen by Jonathan Louis through Macy's. We stopped at Bassett to see what they have to offer. They did a great job explaining how they treat the wood, how the put the frame together and etc. What they have to offer is def. good, but even with the cheapest pricing, Bassett's bed are out of our price range. We next stopped at Thomasville, which carries mid to higher end range products. They do carry JL as well, and interestingly enough they were quoting a higher price than Macy's for the same items. I drilled the sale's person to see if JL is using better quality materials for them, but no, it doesn't. I concluded that it must be pricier because it is a pricier place to begin with.

Thanks to Bassett's breakdown on what constitutes good constructions we were able to ask better questions. Learning about bolting to keep frame together versus hooking pieces together was priceless. We stopped at two more places that were highly recommended, and both of them had their items hooked, which we decided against, so it was easier to decide if we should continue to look at the item, or leave right away. Talk about time saving!

Our last stop was Macy's. Thankfully the sale's associate at that location was pretty knowledgeable and she didn't mind us asking all the questions, and she actually had fairly detailed information on the bed. And doubly thankfully she wasn't pushy about upsale of Macy's insurance coverage for a bed.

So JL is using bolting method, but it isn't as eloquent as what Bassett does for example. Its headboard is made out of hardwood, as well as the 4 small legs and 3 support legs. But not the rest of slats. The material is a mix of polyester and cotton. In total I found about 24 reviews for that bed that gave it almost 5 stars. My husband and I tend to want to change our furniture every 5 years. And I think this bed will last us this long.

Attached are few pictures of the bed.Attachment 6260