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Why new furniture doesn’t last long

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Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#161

Post by helij »

neuronerdgirl wrote: post #144
LastTrain wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People used to spend a lot more, per item, on clothing. The real culprit in this case is that we have become accustomed to things being cheap.

We have also come to accept wildly poor standards for clothing construction because of our disconnect between expense and quality. Can you imagine brushing off those little snags you get in your tshirts after one wash as "just how these things are"if you had paid the real modern (local labor) cost for them? As a sewist I would estimate that the labor and materials cost for one well-made, good material t-shirt would b…

The issue is that even if you pay well above $50 there's no guarantee that the t-shirt will actually be any good after 10 washes. I have two t-shirts from 15 years ago that are still going strong. Whatever I buy these days becomes 'home' t-shirt fairly quickly.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#162

Post by uuuuuuuuuid »

MarkMarine wrote: post #123
habitue wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the missing middle comes from plywood / mdf just being more predictable than wooden boards so it's easier to automate / optimize manufacturing on. So one step up from that becomes "real wood" and suddenly you need a human spending a ton of time paying attention to the grain, and idiosyncrasies of the wood etc. Labor costs shoot through the roof for even relatively simple furniture

Plywood furniture is garbage. Plywood cabinets, ok there is a good use for the material. It’s just a shortcut for not having to account for wood movement, but the veneer they put on modern plywood can be scraped through by looking at it wrong. It’s undersized (3/4” is not 3/4” thick) to save money, it’s only got a couple layers, and half the time the middle layer looks like pressed sawdust. Baltic Birch is the only d…

This is a great suggestion. I found a woodworker locally and paid $500/end table and $3000 for a dining room table, all solid walnut. Absolutely heirloom quality, my kids will inherit these pieces if their aren’t careful.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#163

Post by hypercube33 »

lbwtaylor wrote: post #40
stetrain wrote: post #4

My 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 pr…

And part of the problem is that it is so hard to tell if the middle priced goods are worth it. For example: - is it real wood but cheaply finished so the wood wears quickly and needs refinishing quickly. Seen this problem so often at priced places like crate & barrel. - how do you tell good quality veneer from bad? - showcase pieces of higher quality than what's delivered to your house. Room & board with their real w…

I live next to one of the largest furniture manufacturers in America and going to the showroom says everything - the furniture is routinely broken there and it's rotated out as fast as they can make new models. we own one of their sets of couches from the late 1990s and it's finally giving up but the new stuff is built absolutely for profit margin and to not hold up at all.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#164

Post by notsurenymore »

stetrain wrote: post #4

My 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 pr…

I try to buy old stuff at thrift shops. You can get nice solid wood pieces pretty cheap.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#165

Post by RoyalHenOil »

dirtyid wrote: post #83

Real wood furniture got bad / expensive. Lots of decent mid level sheet steel and plastic furniture options now. Not to everyones taste, but they'll last decades + multiple moves. Woods probably more sustainable, but access to nice / old quality wood isn't.

For midrange furniture (not as nice as vintage hardwood furniture that will last for generations, but not as crappy as cheap laminate furniture that is lucky to last a decade), pine is a great middle ground and very sustainable.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#166

Post by RoyalHenOil »

tschwimmer wrote: post #101
blueridge wrote: post #90

I share this list of furniture makers anytime a post about modern furniture comes up. I usually get dinged for posting luxury goods, and am told I must be detached from reality. Here it is anyway: If you're in the market for buy-it-for-life solid wood furniture: https://www.thejoinery.com https://vermontwoodsstudios.com/ https://hedgehousefurniture.com https://57stdesign.com https://www.57thstreetbookcase.com/ (all b…

I'm sorry but I browsed the first two of these and they're 10x the price of Ikea while almost certainly not being 10x the quality. I randomly picked a modern-styled wooden dresser[0] comparable to the Ikea Malm 6 drawer dresser and it's 12x the price. There are clearly no shortage of companies willing to sell you very high margin wood furniture but I agree with the other commenters that there is a missing middle that…

I am in this same position. I don't want to spend a fortune, but I also don't want my furniture to be wobbly or peeling laminate in a few years. Secondhand offers some good options here, but you can't necessarily find exactly what you're looking for. Apart from that, the market is surprisingly barren in this area.

I got into woodworking for this reason (using mostly secondhand tools and YouTube). I make myself midrange furniture out of pine and plywood. It's not as fancy as expensive hardwood furniture, but it still cleans up very nicely with some time spent painting or shellacking.

It looks (and feels!) so much nicer than Ikea's laminate offerings, and it should easily last me the rest of my life and then some. Plus, I get to make it exactly the way I want it.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#167

Post by RoyalHenOil »

foobarian wrote: post #17
blueyes wrote: post #2

TLDR: 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.

Honestly, I wish it were plywood, it's actually MDF or other kind of pressboard.

Yes, plywood is fantastic. I wish I could buy furniture made from plywood. I only ever see it in vintage pieces.

It's all MDF these days. MDF can be pretty good in some applications, but I mostly see it being used inappropriately: it is laminated poorly (so it peels eventually), it is not properly sealed against moisture (so it warps and discolors over time), and it is used to secure fasteners (so the furniture becomes wobbly and eventually fails). If these same pieces were made out of plywood, they would last 10X as long.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#168

Post by sdfghswe »

Of all the problems in current day society, this isn't one of the worst. Consumers are talking with the money, and they're saying they prefer the cheap stuff. This isn't one of the worst problems, because no one but the consumer is affected.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#169

Post by jakubmazanec »

stetrain wrote: post #4

My 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 pr…

But the quality of Ikea products is worse than was 10-15 years ago. I actually bought a few items last year to replace the same furniture I bought in 2010. The veneer is now so much thinner (it seems as thin as a cigarette paper) it breaks and rips after just a few months. Without wood glue everything is wobbly. Terrible - but still slightly better than other cheap furniture.

Re: Why new furniture doesn’t last long

#170

Post by RoyalHenOil »

zihotki wrote: post #50
foobarian wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I wish it were plywood, it's actually MDF or other kind of pressboard.

I wonder why you consider it a problem. Mdf and variations are much more stable, don't warp due to humidity. For non-premium furniture it's a perfect choice.

MDF warps and swells worse than any other furniture material I've ever seen. If it's not well sealed against moisture (and laminate alone is not sufficient), it will eventually develop severe flaws if exposed to water or kept in a humid environment.

Regular wood (and to a lesser extent plywood) will warp somewhat over time, though rarely enough to affect the function or appearance of the piece. It will swell with humidity, but it won't be permanently disfigured by it. Also, it won't become prone to catastrophic failure because people occasionally spill drinks on it.

MDF doesn't have to have these issues; it can be used correctly. It's just very rare to see that in a lot of cheaper furniture.

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