Shopping

Furniture Shopping and False Economics

By: Joseph Akintaju on March 3, 2013 @ 10:53 pm.

Search around on the internet for “cheap furniture” or “furniture bargains” and you’ll find a lot of websites and sellers promising you low cost items, everything from cheap coffee tables to whole beds on a budget.

These might be really appealing to you, after all you just want something to sleep on or put your clothes in. As long as it looks ok in your room, it doesn’t really matter, right?

The thing is, the internet has made it possible for all sorts of companies to crop up selling all sorts of things, and all this competition has meant that there are cheap options for everything. As a result we’ve become convinced that it’s always best to bag a bargain, no matter what we’re buying.

Some things shouldn’t be that cheap and I think furniture is one of them. Despite what some of the home makeovers shows tell us, it’s not a good idea to just stick some bits of MDF together with glue. Sure, you don’t have to pay hundreds and hundreds of pounds for every item, but a wardrobe for the price of a takeaway pizza? You’re not going to be getting good quality. And that’s where it starts being a false economy. Furniture is something you will always need, so when you buy something chances are you are going to want it to last a while. At least a few months, if not years.

Buying furniture made of a quality material can be really beneficial. Oak and pine are both sturdy woods, oak in particular can last a lifetime and is unlikely to warp or scratch. Woods like these look good in most interiors because they’re pale, natural and neutral so they won’t clash with your colour scheme. Oak furniture does need polishing a bit but it’s worth it for the quality. And if you’re thinking that you can’t afford to buy solid wood furniture you can get these items in sales and from reputable retailers for a decent price which won’t break the bank.

While you can tell a lot about the quality of furniture by looking at it in the store, for example looking for marks, looking to see if the joins look solid, shopping online for these items doesn’t have to be painful. Look for customer testimonials for reassurance and see if you can find any reviews on independent sites. Make sure they have a registered address in your country and you have a way of contacting them if your order is delayed, you need to cancel it or claim a refund. Sellers of oak furniture should have pictures of their own products on their sites along with useful information like dimensions and delivery information, so look for these elements to know that the vendor really knows what they’re doing.

Ultimately the main way in which you’ll save money is through only buying that one piece of furniture which you’ll then have for years, rather than buying a new chest of drawers every 6 months because the drawers come off the runners. Cheap furniture looks cheap too, it really doesn’t make a room look nice and homely. So stretch your pocket a little bit now and invest in some good quality furniture and it really will pay off in the long run.

Kat is a blogger who writes about many areas of shopping, online shopping, home and family. Visit http://www.thefurnituremarket.co.uk/.

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