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Thread: Shopping by price instead of quality

  1. #11
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    Lol, touche!

  2. #12
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    Quote Originally Posted by EricCT View Post
    They ended up ordering this sofa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BZX4VDR...ing=UTF8&psc=1. Came in today 99% assembled except for the legs. It's still in the box so haven't sat on it yet. I can try and take photos if anyone likes, though I'm not sure build quality will come through photos.
    The reviews on that thing are funny. Almost all of them are like "it looks great... not very comfortable to actually sit on, but that is ok". Lots of justification happening in there!

  3. #13
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    Back to this thread...today I had a prospective client come into the store and he and his wife have not been successful at buying on-line upholstery, it (sofas) have not held up at all and he has returned them or got rid of them. He was tired of the constant searching and now wants a high quality piece even though it will cost more.

    And once again, I have think this comes back to budget. Going on-line and reading the drivel those on-line people write, then matching that to the price - and style - you find satisfactory. And once again I will reiterate DO NOT BUY ON PRICE. You just have the wrong target if you go down the path to a leather sofa and try to make something fit your budget you set for yourself. I sincerely believe this...you MUST learn about construction quality first. If it's poorly made, is it ever a bargain? Ask yourself that. Get schooled on what makes a quality piece, and that's not going to come from pretty prose on a seller's website, especially those offering to cut out the Middleman. You know who the Middleman is? Why, it's the guy doing the website - he's not a producer in most cases, but instead of a showroom he works from a keyboard out of his house. 9 out ot 10 website sellers of upholstery job out their builds to small time upholstery shops that could never make it on their own name.

    Ask questions. And then learn to understand how to best interpret the answers.

    How is the frame made?
    What is the suspension inside the frame?
    Foam cushion cores are not all alike, what is the seat core construction?
    What is the cover? Top Grain Leather? Full Top Grain Leather? BiCast? Bonded? Split Leather?
    Look at the tailoring. Tight is Right
    Do the legs screw onto the piece and you install after its delivered? Hard Pass.

    Here is this wonderful resource right here that has been operating since 2008 (15 years now and over 15,000 posts on this forum). www.myfurnitureforum.com. You ask, we will try very hard to get you the correct answers, and it costs you nothing but time to type it out on your keyboard. Decades of knowledge that is yours for the asking. Once you LEARN how to determine a quality build, then you can go price shopping and match the build features you want to a given price point. And just to save you some time, none of those on-line sellers will have the high end build quality. For one thing, better makers don't sub out to internet marketers, it dilutes what they do. Secondly, the premium domestic makers have plenty of backlogs building their own product, they aren't looking for side jobs. Would Rolex build a watch for someone selling under their own name? Or would Porsche build a car for someone doing on-line sales promising to do it cheaper? Not hardly.

    You are going to run into another problem going into a lot of stores - the salespeople don't know their product. So they throw terms out that you are not familiar with in order to gloss over your questions. Most furniture salespeople make less than $ 30K per year, it's not a job anyone really studies for and they don't go tour the North Carolina factories annually like we do. They don't care about long-term satisfaction, they DO care about you buying from them today, however.

    Skip the Mall Furniture stores. These are Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Arhaus, Anthropologie.....you are paying for mediocre furniture in high-overhead stores with clerk-level furniture knowledge. Go to your independent furniture stores, the smaller Mom & Pops where the owner-operator is in the building. These are the people that can usually offer you the best product and it won't be much more than those mall stores mentioned. They should have more knowledge of the product as well.

    I will be 69 years old in July. I'm past retirement age but I still go to work everyday because I enjoy it. I like the furniture business. I like the people in it, too - the suppliers and the workers at the manufacturer level (they work so hard and are proud of what they do). I don't have to work anymore, I could easily retire and walk away financially secure but I would miss it too much. I can't lift like I used to, those days are gone....but I still get excited when a cool new piece arrives for the showroom, or we unpack a custom creation and it's a stunning work of art. I like my customers, too. Well, most of them....lol. The occasional prospective person that walks in and treats me like a used car salesman and he's going to "get his deal" - meh....he doesn't get much time from me, go and bother someone else. I see the children of my earlier customers grow up and come into the store for their first real furniture purchase. They will say "I remember coming here when I was 8 years old, and my Mom says this is the only place to come to now that I'm 28 and need a sofa for my first apartment". That I get a real kick out of, and it happens more than you would think.

    Maybe the best part of The Keeping Room is we have never sold sub-par furniture. If I won't have it in my home, why would I expect you to have it in yours? We have great customer loyalty because of that, and if you come into the store to learn about quality builds, we are more than happy to share our knowledge with you. If you are a Value shopper, we may not be your store - We won't buy furniture targeted to a given price point because that's when you start compromising builds. The cheap stuff is never good, it deteriorates rapidly and you just have to replace it.

    Once again, buy CONSTRUCTION first, then find a piece that suits your style and can fit into your budget if possible. That's the right way to do it.
    Last edited by drcollie; 01-18-2023 at 12:32 AM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2022
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    Whoa, coincidental timing as I too was going to post an update.

    Have you watched or heard of the HGTV star Mike Holmes? He has your mentality but in the construction industry; he makes it hard to find any other contractors because very few are at his level. I try to shop local as much as I can and avoid Amazon.

    Here are updated photos from the office space.

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    The table is from the oldest elm tree in CT, and was created by a local woodworking shop, so that is actually quality. That being said I feel it does not fit with the building industrial brick look.
    Couch was linked in an earlier post, and did have screw on legs.
    Rug is here.

    Fridge is here
    Coffee bar is from a locally owned furniture shop but is International Furniture Direct brand; which goes to show even with locally-owned still need to ask questions etc.
    Last edited by EricCT; 01-18-2023 at 11:35 AM.

  5. #15
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    They spend a small fortune on that table and went cheap on the sofa? Is that table open or is it clear resin-filled? I can't tell...but it should have resin in the gaps.

    The light blue velvet sofa near the coffee. PERFECT. Not even a weekly application of Scotchguard will save that one. lol They bought it to match the refrigerator, I see. But then they put a gray buffet in there to hold the coffee pots and a tie-dyed rug? Was the "Designer" 12 years old?
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  6. #16
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    The table is open, no resin. I'm assuming those small slats in the small gaps are helping add some structure for that reason. Those chairs around the table are here.

    I should've added the company logo has teal and pink/bright violet in it, hence the colors.

    It's demoralizing for me. Not only is the quality poor, but the layout and walking paths are not thought through.

  7. #17
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    That's odd there is no resin fill in that table, because the gaps are huge. Also, I have never seen that kind of stress joint used in a "natural" wood table, its straight-edged and not a butterfly from what I can see in the photos. The straight edge can pull apart and move, the butterfly does not, however the latter requires more labor and skill. Maybe there is more to those joints than I am seeing, too.

    I do see they put correct breadboard ends on the table allowing the top to move without warping. You can see the winter shrinkage at the ends of the table and that will go back to even in the spring, then move outside the breadboard ends during the summer, and then the cycle repeats with the seasons.

    George Nakashima was of the first to really bring attention to the butterfly joint in his pieces as shown here in this table he made in 1985. This recently sold at Sotheby's for $ 20,000. This is really the correct way to prevent those natural splits from opening up.

    Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by drcollie; 01-18-2023 at 01:30 PM.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  8. #18
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    They mentioned the breadboard ends a few times and how it's a tricky joint to do. Thanks for the history and knowledge about the butterfly joint; good to know when I'm looking for myself.

  9. #19

    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    I wish that when I was a much younger person and newly married that I had a better knowledge of furniture that I have now thanks to your site. I have tried to tell my children that when they do decide to get furniture to at least get Bradington Young or something similar although my husband and I went with H & M. I agree that the couple who was looking for bar stools will remember you when theirs fail in the future.

  10. #20
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    Default Re: Shopping by price instead of quality

    Thanks! Well, like the old saying goes "you can lead a horse to water...."
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

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