Quality furniture, is there such a thing?

[Skoaltender]

Hey guys,

The wife and I are in the midst of purchasing our first home and are looking to upgrade our current junk we bought from Leon’s.

Is there any quality furniture anymore? Seems like everyone I’ve talked to thinks even the brand name stuff is crap now.

Anyone have any good experiences with any local stores around Edmonton?

[Jamie]

Originally Posted by Skoaltender

Hey guys,

The wife and I are in the midst of purchasing our first home and are looking to upgrade our current junk we bought from Leon’s.

Is there any quality furniture anymore? Seems like everyone I’ve talked to thinks even the brand name stuff is crap now.

Anyone have any good experiences with any local stores around Edmonton?

Absolutely there is. You just have to know what to look for.
Do your research on couches. As a hint, get something with 8 way hand tied springs. Those inverted Z springs are just crap. Middle ground seems to be the web type support. If you find what you like in a 8 way hand tied, I promise it will fit every other requirement for high end.

Look for Dove tail drawers in wooden pieces. Once again, if it has that, there is a a almost guaranteed scenario that you are dealing with high end.


You will pay for this stuff and you won't find it in most places. Drop the idea of the Brick, Leons or Ashleys.

[CaberTosser]

There are some places that have good stuff still. We custom ordered a bed frame from Ambers in Calgary ( east directly across the street from the Sunridge Costco). It was made in City of Industry California and is solid white oak, save for some quality plywood casework in the bottom drawer frames. All of the visible wood is solid. It won't suffer from a fastener pulling out of the chipboard for sure, there isn't any. I could probably park my Passat wagon on it.

Some places have great stuff that's overpriced. I really, really like the line of furniture called "Simply Amish" but holy mackerel do they ever charge a premium for that stuff. I'm a big fan of the 'Arts & Crafts" style of furniture both for its style and that its typically really sturdily built, heirloom furniture. I prefer Simply Amish to Stickley for anything with drawers because they embrace modern drawer glides, Stickley still does 150+ year old wood on wood drawer glides.

Edit: I agree with Jamie on the dovetailed drawers, that's a strong indication of stoutly built stuff.

[pikergolf]

Nothing wrong with wood on wood, as long as it is solid hardwood. Just wax it the bearing surfaces every year.

[Sneeze]

Yup, there are still lots of quality furniture makers out there.

When you find one you will know because the price will make you poo your pants.

A queen headboard and footboard won't be 600 bucks. It will be 10k.

[Dewey Cox]

Old Hippy wood furniture.

*Edit*
Looks like it's old hippy wood products.

[does it ALL outdoors]

Originally Posted by Dewey Cox

Old Hippy wood furniture.

*Edit*
Looks like it's old hippy wood products.

^^^ This. For almost everything except couches.

It's not exactly cheap but by that same token, it's not cheap.

VERY high quality stuff that will last generations.

https://www.oldhippy.ca/

[CaberTosser]

Originally Posted by Sneeze

Yup, there are still lots of quality furniture makers out there.

When you find one you will know because the price will make you poo your pants.

A queen headboard and footboard won't be 600 bucks. It will be 10k.

Our king size cost about $3400 8 years ago IIRC, all white oak. It has 2 drawers on either side and a door in the footboard to access the entire depth of the middle that the side drawers don't reach. Its a good storage area or spot for the kids to play, I can even get all the way in there, it helps with the vacuum for dust bunny hunting.

[grouse_hunter]

McElherans has some excellent quality furnishings with an appropriate price tag of course. Old Hippy is excellent as well.

[^v^Tinda wolf^v^]

I don’t think that there is. My wife bought a lazy boy sectional worth $5200 five years ago and it is literally falling apart now. Normal everyday use and not abused now that we have a little one in the house anyways lol

[buckbrush]

Like already stated, dovetail drawers is the first thing I look at. I have yet to see dovetails on a cheaply built piece of furniture.

I also agree on not shying away from wood on wood sliding surfaces, if done properly and maintained will last for ever and slide smooth. There is something to be said for some of the high end slides and hinges though.

Electronics in furniture. Electric recline ect. I have not seen many quality pieces of furniture include these. It could just be the ones I've looked at but my opinion anyhow. If your buying quality furniture it will cost lots and will be something that can be passed down.

Sorry I don't have much advice for who to go with. Also remember, if you're getting custom furniture built and it seems expensive, the craftsman has probably already shorted himself because one off projects always seem to take longer than expected.

[colroggal]

The last time I saw dovetails on new furniture was on a wardrobe I built myself. After doing it I can fully appreciate the premium price associated with quality.

Quality isn't cheap. Same can be said for appliances. We recently replaced a 23 year old fridge and a 20 year old gas range. By the dollar, without taking into account inflation, the replacements were significantly cheaper than the originals.

How much would we be willing to pay today, with the glut of inexpensive products on the market, for a dishwasher, say, if we knew it would be problem free until 2035?

Two years from now they will stop manufacturing replacement parts for my 1 year old range.

Tangentary rant aside. Look for manufacturers that offer long warranties as a benchmark for quality. My parents have furniture from Ethan Allen in Calgary that was purchased in the mid nineties that still looks and feels brand new. But it was significantly more expensive than Leon's-slash-the Brick.

Like comparing a Stoeger Condor to a Beretta Silver Pigeon.

Colin

[SamSteele]

Reside Furniture on the south side carries a line of Canadian Mennonite made furniture.