Fast Furniture
In the era of Amazon, fast fashion and fast furniture, we’ve forgotten the value of things that take time. There’s been a recent shift to sustainability that has eased the pressure of the “fast” of it all and placed a highlight on economically friendly practices. Even stil, it never fails when we tell a client a lead time of more than a week or two that I get a “gasp” or a pearl clutch in response.
We’ll admit bias — we’ve been in a carpenter’s workshop and seen the attention it takes to execute a mortise and tenon joint. We’ve been to a weaver and watched them create rugs out of wool fibers by hand. Being in this business we’re exposed to the beauty of the time it takes to create the items in our homes and naturally have immense appreciation for it. That’s nice and all, but why, you might ask, would you wait 16 weeks for a sofa when you can get one at your favorite big box store for less in 3 business days flat?
It’s better to buy a good thing once than a fast thing 5 times.
Your favorite big box store sofa that your coworker raves about? Sure, it’s comfortable now, but it’s certainly not built to last. At the most, a low quality, inexpensive sofa will last you 5 years. By year 4, you’ll be side-eyeing it with disdain and cursing its existence. A quality high-end sofa, on the other hand, can last for decades, even generations.
The reason your favorite big box store can sell you a sofa that looks just like a luxury sofa at a significantly cheaper price is because, to put it frankly, they cut corners while making it. They’re not looking for quality materials or sustainably sourced materials and they very likely can’t offer a solid warranty for their products Quality furnishings take a lot of time to make to ensure longevity, the artisans and craftspeople who make these furnishings are well-trained, highly skilled, and well paid. The materials are sustainably sourced and constructed skillfully. The result is a piece of furniture made with skill, designed with consideration, and built to last.
Consider the difference between a fiberboard/particle dresser compared to a solid wood dresser with dovetail joinery or a hardwood frame sofa with a supportive spring system compared to a sofa that gives out when your kids jump on it or when you binge watch a marathon of your favorite tv show. If you’re unfamiliar with the durability of materials, think about a dresser that buckles under the weight of your clothes and chips when your kids are rough with it compared to one that supports all of your heavy sweaters and develops beautiful character (patina) over time as your kids use the top as the background of their imagination. The solid wood dresser is going to cost more, but you won’t have to replace it for 10-15 years, whereas that particle board dresser is going to start showing its mediocrity by year 3.
When you hire us, we want to set you up with quality design for the long run – so much so that when you’re ready for an aesthetic change in a decade, your family can still reap the benefits of your design investments in the form of an heirloom piece. Imagine being able to give your children the gift of quality furniture when they start their independent lives as adults. Quality furniture can always be refinished or reupholstered to be updated with another person’s style, but low quality furniture will barely survive its life in one home. When it comes to your investment, it’s much better to spend your money wisely once than to make a rush purchase, sacrificing quality and have to replace the item in 5 years. Over the course of 20 years, you will have replaced the same item 4 times, when you could have purchased that item once and not have to think about it again.
Need help navigating the seemingly endless amount of furniture selections and understanding the difference between quality items and poorly constructed items? Let us help you. Review our services and see which one best suits your needs.
