Excerpts from chapters 1-6
1. History – Furniture from Cleopatra to Napoleon to Us!
2. Wood and Veneer – How to Spot Quality in Tables and Casegoods
3. Wood Finishing – The Coating Protects and Beautifies the Furniture
4. Shopping for Wood – Never Pay Full Retail! Never!
5. Upholstery – Color and Comfort on Display; But Quality Is Hidden Underneath!
6. Buying Upholstery – Choosing the Right Fabric Is the Most Expensive Decision
CHAPTER ONE: History - Furniture from Cleopatra to Napoleon to Us!
Why do we need a history of furniture?
Don’t worry you are not going to be tested; at least not by me, but you will be tested by the market-place, and it is in the market place where you spend your dollars.
My goal in writing Shopping for Furniture: A Consumer’s Guide is to help make the total furniture buying experience for you more enjoyable, more rewarding; and, at the same time, more cost effective. It all has to do with value. In this chapter of the book you will learn the foundational secrets to those valuable keys of making better selections of your home furnishings! You soon will be spending less but buying better, and have more fun doing it in the process!.
Do you know that one of today’s most asked questions by consumers is: whether or not veneered furniture is as “good” as “solid” furniture? The perception is that if its “solid” it must be better! Not so!
Did you know that veneering is a technique that was introduced by the Egyptians over 4000 years ago? Since this question is still asked today it shows how uninformed most consumers are when it comes to their furniture shopping. Remember all manufacturers use the same words to describe their furniture. My book prepares you to know and understand how to really compare one product with another.
Information is power!
Knowing the things to look for that determine quality and value will put you in control of the buying experience and with you in control you will spend your money smarter and end up with an even more beautiful home.
Excerpt from Chapter 1:
Is it true that they don’t make furniture like they used to; or is it a common myth held by every generation? Frankly, at other times it might have been true, but it most definitely is not true now. Even today’s modest furniture is far better than yesterday’s routine furniture. Decent furniture, nicely styled, is currently available at very modest prices, and the best of present-day furniture is technically as good as any furniture ever produced. Now the key word is “technically”. It goes without saying–even though I’ll say it–that the craftsman of old, personally selecting the woods, preparing the glues, cutting each piece of wood to exacting proportions, working with hand tools and spending hundreds of hours on an item, often created true works of art. But the fact remains that carpentry, joinery, and cabinetmaking were slow, backbreaking kinds of work two hundred years ago. Today’s commercial woodworker is aided by machines and techniques that can duplicate the work of yesterday’s finest craftsmen.
CHAPTER TWO: Wood and Veneer - How to Spot Quality in Tables and CasegoodsWood is one of Nature’s most beautiful and flexible mediums!From the beginning of recorded information, wood has been the material of choice for man to manipulate into not only art forms, but into a myriad of utilitarian applications. In furniture wood is, at its very best, not only functional but artistic! At its worst, wood is still functional even though it may be lacking in beauty.Wood furniture is where art and utility can come together more completely than in virtually any other medium. Far too often we consumers go into our stores with too little information to make the best choices when we are faced with the multitude of manufacturer’s product to choose from.Questions surround us… Is solid better than veneer? …. Is cherry wood better than oak? …. Is a $3,000 dresser better than a $2500 dresser? …. What if the dining table has chipcore, or particle board as its core material? …. Is that bad? …. Should you buy a mahogany bedroom when the rain forests are being plundered? …. and so on …Often, when you are not armed with the facts and the simple keys of understanding what makes up quality you pay more money than you need to spend! Today’s furniture market place offers you too many choices to simply rely on the size of a discount, or on the price of an item in order to make good shopping decisions.
This chapter provides you with the necessary facts in order to arm yourself to buy better, get more for your money! Most importantly, you will acquire the knowledge and skills to do this for the rest of your furniture shopping life!
Excerpt from Chapter 2:
The difference between an inexpensive piece and a quality piece is more than one single thing. Instead of looking for a $300 difference in one dramatic spot, look for the thirty $10 differences in a number of different spots. Quality is always a matter of many things done well. To understand my point, compare the least expensive dresser in the store with the most expensive one. You will find that the two share all of the fundamental features: drawers, top, sides, bottom, hardware and finish. Yet, even with identical fundamentals there is a world of difference that you can see and feel in each detail. Again, keep in mind that quality is the details and value is the sum total of all these details, at a fair price.
CHAPTER THREE: Wood Finishing - The Coating Protects and Beautifies the FurnitureThe final touch is the finishing touch!Did you know that the first mention of wood finishing in recorded history was that of Noah and his Ark in the Book of Genesis! We have come a long way from the days of pitch or tar to today’s rich finishes. Not only have we come a long way with our techniques; but we are now faced with a real need to understand today’s finishes if we hope to make good selections.Good finishes must be applied to well prepared woods; and with the information you received in Chapter 2 you will be able to recognize those quality features and see how a beautiful finish is truly that….the final touch to a wonderful piece of wood furniture.Unfortunately… even taking into consideration all the skills of today’s expert finishing artists, they, and you, are still at the mercy of a finishes’ greatest enemy… SUNLIGHT! But don’t, panic you don’t have to be afraid of anything if you know how to handle it! In this valuable money saving book, I have even given you a mini (but comprehensive) course on Furniture First Aid!You’ll find out… How to recognize a good finish. …. How to protect a good finish. …. How to repair a good finish. …. How to bring back a good finish. …. It is all here and much, much more! In this book of outstanding money saving values, I have organized each chapter so that it will build on the prior chapter’s information, developing for you a solid and thorough background so that you will end up with a complete understanding of:
How to buy right! How to enjoy the process! How to preserve your treasures!
Excerpt from Chapter 3:
The thickness of any finish and its chemical effect on a wood surface are the keys to the protective quality of the finish system. Most manufacturers of commercial furniture — that is, furniture for institutional or office applications — use conversion finishes that are tough and durable. Often these manufacturers will use plastic laminates, instead of a finish system, on the tops of their tables and desks to further increase the durability of these high-use surfaces. Today’s medium–to upper–end manufacturers of quality home furniture most often use nitro–cellulose lacquer finishes. This finish system produces the beautiful deep, rich finishes seen on much of the more expensive furniture in our stores. But with the beauty also comes the fact that these finishes often are not as tough as those used on the more economical furniture items. Is this a problem? Not in the average home situation. Now, if you have ten children and five dogs, and run a motor re–wiring operation out of your kitchen, I would suggest you consider yourself a commercial operation and look for plastic–finished furniture. For the rest of us, it will come down to how well we care for the beautiful objects we purchase for our homes.
CHAPTER FOUR: Shopping for Wood — Never Pay Full Retail! Never!Never, never! After all, isn’t that why you’re thinking of buying this book?Shopping for wood furniture is when you will be tested (and tested with YOUR money) on what you have learned in chapters 1, 2, and 3. To be a good shopper you must first know and understand just what you are shopping for. That’s so important, I would like to repeat it… TO BE A GOOD SHOPPER, YOU FIRST HAVE TO KNOW AND UNDERSTAND JUST WHAT YOU ARE SHOPPING FOR!Almost equally important is the fact that you must understand what you want to accomplish for yourself. Knowledge of the product by itself is just part of the story. Finally, you must have an understanding of the furniture market place. For example:
- How do furniture retailers work?
- How do they price their goods?
- How do they arrive at the discounts they offer?
- When is the best time to buy furniture?
- Should you shop the warehouse sales?
- How do you judge the salesperson who ends up working with you?
- How do you compare one manufacturer with another?
- What about warranties?
- Should you buy from a North Carolina Discount Outlet?
The answers to these important value questions are found in my book!
Shopping for furniture, and particularly shopping for wood furniture, is one of the trickiest consumer events. Few industries have more manufacturers, more retailers, and more varied outlets than does the world of furniture. And to make it even tougher, it is something you, the buyer, don’t do too often. When several years go by between your purchases you can bet that the game has changed. I intend to keep you current and competitive!
Remember — it is your money you are spending!
Excerpt from Chapter 4:
HOW TO SAVE MONEY IN A RETAIL STORE
Never be in a hurry. Never be in a hurry to select an item, and never be in a hurry to buy an item unless it is priced right. How do you know it is priced right? Since we just learned that a furniture operation is a low turn, high margin operation, we know that the markup is high on any item. In fact, an item in a furniture store is usually marked up at least twice and often two and a half to three times what it cost the retailer. This means an item costing the retailer $1,000 will be priced on his floor from $2,500 to $3,000. The markup can even be higher than this, if the retailer has a product he retails exclusively.
Competition will help keep the prices down, but almost every furniture producer publishes a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) based on a two, two and a half, two–point–seven, or three times markup. The manufacturer distributes these price lists to dealers, enabling the retailer to show large mark–downs on a product to give you the impression you are getting a good deal.
CHAPTER FIVE: Upholstery - Color and Comfort on Display; But Quality Is Hidden Underneath!Don’t get outsmarted by the furniture pros!Buying upholstery is the most personal and the trickiest purchase you will ever make in home furnishings! The most expensive sofa in the store with the most quality features will be a poor selection for you if it doesn’t “fit” you.To make it even more of a challenge it probably has to “fit” your “significant other” also. To add even another very important selection factor, you must be comfortable with the color of the fabric. Color has great psychological impact, as well as having a decorative impact, and while you may be comfortable with your favorite color scheme, what about the other people in your family?To be a good buy for you upholstery must be:
- Priced right.
- Colored right.
- Feel right.
- Sitright.
- Feel right for the room.
- Be right for your family.
What’s a person to do?
The most important thing for you to do is to understand what goes into those sofas, chairs, and recliners that you will be looking at — looking at with the idea of spending your hard earned money! If you don’t understand what makes upholstery good or bad, you will be looking at “identical” sofas that can be priced $1000 apart. How can two sofas that look the same be $1000 different in price?
Shopping for Furniture: A Consumer’s Guide answers all these questions and many, many, more as well as giving you those valuable but hidden clues to look for when you are looking at upholstery to buy. Think about it — where else are you going to get this valuable money saving information? Remember, most of what makes upholstery good or bad is covered up!You will not (and should not) have to rely anymore on the salesperson to tell you about quality when you are armed with the facts. Facts that I have outlined for you in detail, and in plain English: Cushion facts! Frame facts! Fabric facts! Spring facts!
You will know more than most of the salespersons you will be talking with; and that’s another fact! Using even a portion of the valuable information found in this easy to read (and entertaining) book puts YOU in control! Isn’t that the way you want it to be?
Excerpt from Chapter 5:
The fundamental element that determines value and quality in an upholstered piece is the frame. Think about it. The frame is like your skeleton. It is like a home’s foundation. If the frame can�t carry the other components, or if it is cheaply done, the sofa or chair simply can’t be good for the long haul. With a cheaply–made frame, an item can be adequate for certain applications, and it can certainly function as a “starter” item but the price should reflect its humble origins. It should not be priced over $800. One of the basic points I want to make is: It is good business—for you—to carefully consider what you are trying to accomplish with your furniture purchase. For example, don’t pay more than $800 or so for a sofa for your vacation home but, at the same time, don’t ever expect it to be as good as a sofa that looks similar but sells for almost $2,000. It just isn’t so.
CHAPTER SIX: Buying Upholstery - Choosing the Right Fabric Is the Most Expensive DecisionNow, we’re talking about spending your money, and spending it wisely!Being armed with the facts about upholstery is important! Yes, but, the big step is applying that knowledge on the “front line”, the place of your testing, in the store. In Shopping for Furniture: A Consumer’s Guide, I show you how and what to look for when you are standing in a the store surrounded by 300 sofas and chairs! Remember, sitting in a chair or sofa for five minutes is only going to tell you if the “scale” of the item is right for you. Five minutes of sitting will not tell you if the item is going to be comfortable and right for you for the two hours that you will be sitting in it and watching a movie or reading a book!Remember — you want a sofa or chair that you will be sitting into, not on. There is a huge difference in those two terms.Here is a free tip for you: Never select a fabric that you only have a small swatch to select from; you may be in for a big surprise when the sofa is ultimately delivered to your home. That simple tip, plus the “why’s”, are found throughout the book!
- Is an 8 way hand-tied spring deck the best?
- Where is the “deck” on a sofa or chair?
- Is a “soft” front edge what you want?
- Do you know what a “soft” front edge is?
- Is a four–way–match better than a center–match?
- Are screw-on legs better than corner blocked legs?
What if I told you the screw–on legs are good because when you move to another city it will be easier to ship the item because you could take the legs off! Would you believe that? Almost sounds good doesn–t it? In the book, I show you what to look for, what questions to ask, and what fabrics will give you the best wear. I even rate the best manufacturers for you to look for and also list some of the rest.
In short, you will know more than most of the salespersons you will run into. Won’t it feel good to be in control of the situation? Knowledge is power and with knowledge you can save yourself real money.
Excerpt from Chapter 6:
It is very important, in any discussid=122ion of fabric, to realize there is little or no correlation between what a fabric costs and how it will wear. In fact, there is almost an inverse relationship between cost and wear. Often the most expensive fabrics are the least durable–silks, damasks, expensive wovens and the like–can be very fragile and vulnerable to marking and abrasion. For tough, almost indestructible wear, you need to go to nylon fris�. This is the fabric you used to see on sofas in the lobbies of old movie houses. (This fabric will be discovered in some landfill three thousand years from now, by a scientist who will then attempt to describe our society by extrapolating backwards what we must have been like to have developed such a tough fabric.) It is an absolute–price will not tell you how well something will wear or clean. Watch out when you are choosing the fabric of your dreams. Let your head rule and not your heart.
