Why new furniture doesn’t last long
washingtonpost.com
Why new furniture doesn’t last long
1–10 of 194 posts
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#2TLDR: Plywood (and to some extent plastic) replaced solid wood. Got imported from overseas rather than made domestically. Shifted from an artisanal market to a low-cost mass market.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#3Regarding Ikea and similar self-assemble furniture - even though the assembly instruction manual does not call for it - use wood glue when assembling. It will make it A LOT stronger and it will even survive moves.
One thing that didn’t make sense to me in the article is a claim that particle board or MDF is lighter than solid wood. I don’t think it’s necessarily true - I have wood furniture made of pine and cherry that is a lot lighter than Ikea pieces. MDF which is commonly used in Ikea is especially heavy, so much so that Ikea inserts a lot of hollow spaces concealed underneath laminate exterior to reduce weight.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#4My biggest issue is that, like so many markets, there is a "missing middle" created by this downward price pressure.
For the most part if you want a piece of furniture (ie a nightstand), there are two categories. Either you buy the Amazon/Wayfair version made of pressboard for $100-$200, or you can find a solid wood heirloom version for $2,000+. The domestic plywood or cheaper solid wood options are no longer mass produced at the scale that they used to be.
There's very little in between, even if I'm willing to pay a bit more for something a bit nicer.
I think one reason Ikea is so popular is that they ride the upper end of the cheap segment. Offering low-priced items but with reasonable instructions, a minimum expectation of quality, and at least there's a physical store to look at it before you buy and return it if it's damaged or doesn't work.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#5I had an argument with my therapist about this.
My wife just gave birth to my daughter, we moved a bookshelf my grandfather built for me when I was born into her nursery and now my office is a mess, my books and such scattered. The mess is stressing me out.
I am looking for a bookshelf to replace it, and told him I haven’t found anything I thought would last the rest of my life for a reasonable price. He insists I don’t need something that will last that long and I am just resistant to change. I just don’t want to waste my money on garbage pressboard I am going to need to replace.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#6Regarding Ikea and similar self-assemble furniture - even though the assembly instruction manual does not call for it - use wood glue when assembling. It will make it A LOT stronger and it will even survive moves. One thing that didn’t make sense to me in the article is a claim that particle board or MDF is lighter than solid wood. I don’t think it’s necessarily true - I have wood furniture made of pine and cherry th…
Use wood glue where, though? Its advice that isn't "obvious". I'm not a big furniture person, and I'm inferring you mean to do things like add some additional bind to assembled spots, e.g. when I screw in the backing for the chair I could use wood glue on the seam to give it more strength, but its not always obvious how I'm suppose to apply these Ikea "hacks" as it were.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#7Further, I read somewhere even solid wood available is no longer as good today as 50 years ago.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#8Hmm. I'm pretty sure as long as people are willing to give away vintage sofas on Facebook Marketplace because they don't know any better, I'm not going to buy a $11,000 new designer sleeper from DWR. It's not Ikea that's competing with the stuff designers want to make.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#9Regarding Ikea and similar self-assemble furniture - even though the assembly instruction manual does not call for it - use wood glue when assembling. It will make it A LOT stronger and it will even survive moves. One thing that didn’t make sense to me in the article is a claim that particle board or MDF is lighter than solid wood. I don’t think it’s necessarily true - I have wood furniture made of pine and cherry th…
Use wood glue where, though? Its advice that isn't "obvious". I'm not a big furniture person, and I'm inferring you mean to do things like add some additional bind to assembled spots, e.g. when I screw in the backing for the chair I could use wood glue on the seam to give it more strength, but its not always obvious how I'm suppose to apply these Ikea "hacks" as it were.
On any interlocking joints. On ikea stuff that's typically dowels, dados, and mortise and tenons.
I also like to glue those weird locking screw inserts.
Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long
#10I had an argument with my therapist about this. My wife just gave birth to my daughter, we moved a bookshelf my grandfather built for me when I was born into her nursery and now my office is a mess, my books and such scattered. The mess is stressing me out. I am looking for a bookshelf to replace it, and told him I haven’t found anything I thought would last the rest of my life for a reasonable price. He insists I do…
It sounds like your therapist is letting their personal opinions into your session. I'm not an expert, but that sounds like a professional no-no.