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Furniture Regrets

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tigian

Ideal_Rock
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What piece of furniture do you wish you hadn''t purchased? Why? What piece of furniture are you thrilled with?
It seems that any of the furniture purchases DH and I have made in the last 2 years are not working out as well as I would like. I would love to see what your experiences have been with furnishing your homes. TIA!
 
I regret the chair and half we bought. It wasn''t as well built as we were led to believe
 
I regret the Ikea sofa that we bought. The cushions do not stay in (always moving out leaving a gap between the back rest and the seat) and it started falling apart only 6 months after we bought it.
I want a new sofa so badly!!!!!

I do however love the TV entertainment cabinet that we purchased at Ikea... very well made and looks great.
 
When I got out of college, my parents gave me some help with furniture shopping, but I mostly got things myself pretty cheap. I''m not a fan of the Ikea style (other than having a few random book cases, etc) so I went to Bob''s Discount Furniture (big chain in the north east). Some of their stuff is ugly and looks very "discount", but I managed to find a nice dining room set and living room coffee and end tables. I don''t plan to have this stuff forever, but I have to say I still like it 3 years later. Don''t regret it at all.

I can''t really think of any purchases I regret. I''m not a fan of the couch FI bought himself (when he lived alone) that is now in our living room ... it''s comfy, but I don''t love the style. And I hate his recliner! It''s so ''80s. And he hardly ever uses it! I''m hoping we can replace that in a few years. I''m not anti-recliner, just anti-big-overstuffed-recliners.
 
I don''t regret any of our furniture purchases, but I do regret buying to torchiere-type lamps for our living room. I hate them.
 
We were lusting after a four-poster/canopy bed from Pottery Barn for the longest time but it was waaaay out of our budget. We found something similar at a fraction of the cost at Ikea. The bed dominates our bedroom, which is pretty big, and our ceiling fan gets in the way. It really closes the space off. It''s also not the best quality. The posts wobble and the slats on the bottom are constantly falling....time for a new bad, any suggestions? We''re currently considering this one from Crate and Barrel.

PortoBedQueenS7.jpeg
 
HH--You will not be disappointed with the quality of anything from Crate & Barrel. We purchased a lot of furniture from there and love every single piece. (And DH''s family owns a furniture store, so he''s picky!)

That bed looks nice to me!
 
I actually love all the stuff we got from IKEA (dressers, bedside tables, kitchen rails/pot holders etc.).

My couches.... oh my couches. They were a graduation gift. I loved them in the store. And then I got them into my wee apartment and realized that the arms were GINORMOUS and too big for the space. Oh, and the spring/base has broken on one side, which causes a cave in. And the pillows are ripping.

But I refuse to buy new couches until we move to our next place. *sigh*

ETA: And it's not.... quite.... long enough to stretch out on. Which is obnoxious!!!
 
I don''t like the *style* of a lot of the things that we''ve bought at Ikea, but the quality is holding up well, and, well, the husband''s a Swede, so for him, it''s mecca.

I *do* regret keeping some of my old furniture as long as I have instead of just biting the bullet and replacing it - I''ve had my desk since grade school, for criminies sake! And the "Tiffany" lamp that I purchased from an online merchant recently - horrid, poorly made crap. Only buying in person from now on ....
 
I'm so happy to hear I'm not the only one disappointed with their sofa. We bought a sofa from Macys and it started to sag in about 8 months. Although we spend a lot of time on the couch, I expected it to hold up better.
 
HH,
Do you like sleigh beds?
Here is a very old photo of mine, back when I lived in a small condo.
The rattan keeps a king size bed from dominating the room.
Plus, they are versatile.
Now I have it in my house, with taupe tailored bedding, taupe walls, and crewel accents. I won''t ever have to buy another master bed, which is nice.
This line is called Largo, the style is Heritage, and is well priced.

mvbr.JPG
 
OK there was this Ikea rug that I HAD TO HAVE. It looks like shredded newspaper on the floor and it was going in the spare bedroom= my fun room.

It looks good, BUUUUUUT... the sofa bed in there is dark gray. When you step on the rug, or the cats roll on the rug then go on the couch, it leaves all of these tiny light gray fibers EVERYWHERE. It looks terrible
38.gif
I constantly have to vacuum the couch (yes, vacuum) to get the pieces off. Sigh. It was a $100 rug, thankfully got it for $50 so it isn''t a huge waste.

My favorite piece is our bed. His bed was a queen.. SLAB of concrete. Our new bed is a king, plushy... and a slice of heaven!!
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I don''t mind sleigh beds, but we really like dark furniture and I''m concerned that a dark sleigh bed (or similar style) will again, close in the space. DH and I also really like iron beds.
 
I regret not buying our Pottery Barn bed and dresser at the same time. I''m cheap. I didn''t want to buy them all at once (despite having a gift card), so I bought the bed first. When it came in I loved it and decided to get the dresser...whch was now discontinued. I bought a dresser in a similar style with the same color finish, but they don''t match exactly and it bugs me.

I also regret buying so much cheap furniture. I''ve always said "I''ll buy nice furniture when we have a home of our own", but now I have a house full of cheap furniture and will have to spend an arm and a leg furnishing a house when we buy one (and who wants to spend more money after buying a house!).
 
I somewhat regret the couches we bought 6 years ago when we got our first house. They were on clearence at Ashley for $200 each, so we couldn''t beat the price, and they are still solid, but the microfiber just isn''t holding up well, and I didn''t really like the style in the first place.

The rug I bougth at Ikea we got rid of in less than a year. It was wool, and the cats and dog liked to scratch at it and got brown fuzz all over the place.

The huge entertainment center we found on ebay is amazing, we''re not sure what brand it is, but it''s beautiful and solid. Same with the dining table we just bought through craislist
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. Guess I have better luck on the second hand market...
 
I have been using the same furniture I bought in the 1980''s. Not couches and living room chairs, but dresser, roll-top desk, brass bed headboard/footboard, upholstered settee. I bought top-of-the-line quality and workmanship at the time. They are still good looking pieces.

I also have heirlooms from my family. My great-grandmothers kitchen table (perfect condition, restored by Dad), an antique oak rocker, an antique sewing cabinet which serves as my bedside table, a vintage china cabinet. A 1930''s Lane cedar chest from my grandparents. A vintage (1940s) maple dresser from my mom''s teenage years.

I have some freebies. An oak bookcase from my parent''s former businesss. A pair of wicker arm chairs and a Lane cedar chest from DH when he was my BF. A kitchen dining set from friends who moved away.

Every one of these pieces is in great condition and will be used somewhere in my new home. We need new upholstered pieces for the living room, a bookcase or two, and a couple of tables. We will buy a new bedroom set later.

My only tiny regret is the love seat/ottoman pair I bought some 12 years ago. It is starting to look a bit shabby. So we are not allowing it in the new living room.
 

No regrets on purchases, really, although that isn''t quite fair, since I''ve hardly had to purchase anything. I''ve inherited most of my furniture. And it has been mostly plush pieces. Of the things I''ve purchased, well, they''ve only become less functional as my situation changed - it''s never been a case of poor quality or I''ve come to hate it. Usually an issue of space. That happens when you acquire a husband...


The first piece I''ve actually bought in years is this buffet. The picture does not do it justice. The finish is much finer and even than the picture. I had loads of storage and we just love it.


Oh wait...now that I think of it there is one piece I''m not thrilled with. I have a "difficult" room in my living room. Because of many factors, rearranging the furniture is out. That said, the TV has to go in front of the 100 inch window. Since I don''t want an entertainment center to block this great window, or the TV to be too high, I was only able to find a cheap (Target) very LOW entertainment table. It is black and unobtrusive due to its low-ness, and it holds the DVD player, etc, but it is ugly if you notice it for more than 5 seconds. Wish I could find something else.... Oh, and the black shows dust, and we have LOTS of dust (Oklahoma was dead center of the Dust Bowl with reason, trust me).



Bowed-Credenza.jpg
 
HH,
I have two iron beds. One is made similar to the one you are considering. Very pretty. The headboard is not all that comfortable when you prop up. You can test it out.
 
I regret that when we bought our new couch in 2004, we got the fabric one-microfiber or whatever it is, instead of leather. It''s now stained and completely impossible to get clean. Also, I''ve decided we need something a little more heavy duty..JD''s a big guy and he doesn''t just sit down. He flops down.

The recliner (My Chair of Power) is leather and it''s perfect-sooo easy to clean!
 
Date: 7/24/2009 12:07:00 PM
Author: Haven
HH--You will not be disappointed with the quality of anything from Crate & Barrel. We purchased a lot of furniture from there and love every single piece. (And DH''s family owns a furniture store, so he''s picky!)

That bed looks nice to me!
Haven - I hope you don''t mind me asking this...

Just curious... Have you ordered furniture from your DH''s family? If I had a connection like this I would order ALL
my furniture from them...given the mark-up from furnitue
So Lucky.... there are many vendors out there that carry the same type of furniture as Crate and Barrell- Pottery Barn..etc
with great quality
 
I regret my bed. Pretty much all our furniture is from ikea, so we''re not talking multiple hundreds- or thousands-worth ''wasted'' investment, but I still don''t like it. It''s this sort of curly "wrought iron" (you know, painted whatever metal ikea uses)... which I don''t mind really, but I HATE having a footboard. A surprisingly large amount
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I was deciding between it and another bed that was wood with no footboard. Wish I''d gone with the other one.

My favorite furniture purchase has been my leaning desk/bookcase set from Crate and Barrel that I bought three years ago. I see it EVERYWHERE, so I guess it''s really popular (which I''m not crazy about), but I still love it.

We also have an ikea sofa that is seriously the comfiest thing ever. I''m not crazy about its appearance, but it''s great for guests to crash on
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(hey, we''re inner-city apartment dwellers... no such thing as a "guest room!").
 
cream sofas. right before i got dogs.

WHAT was i thinking??!
 
I kind of regret getting the coffee table we did. We decided to get maple furniture for our living room, so we bought two end tables, a TV table, and the matching coffee table. At the time I was happy to have gotten nice furniture -- our first big purchase. Now though, a few years later, I wish we had skipped getting the coffee table. I wish we had chosen to buy ottomans instead (either one big one or a couple smaller ones that could be grouped together) because they would provide extra seating as well as being a place on which to rest drinks, etc. A coffee table can't do double duty like that. ETA: Here's a picture of the table.
 
Oops. Here''s the picture.

coffee table pic.jpg
 
I ''think'' I regret buying our SleepShaper Memory Foam mattress and wish we''d spent the extra and bought Tempur.

After 3 years, I''m sure that our mattress doesn''t feel like it used to and doesn''t have the same kind of support it did at first. I wonder if the Tempur holds up better or if it''s wishful thinking on my part...
 
HI:

Marble dining room table--that broke in half.....

Brass bed.

cheers--Sharon
 
Hudson- The C&B in harvard square has a bargain attic. We got a beautiful piece for 40% off that was brand new and had moved off the floor two weeks earlier because they were out of space. I was there last week and they had a few beds.

That being said, we''ve had two beds from Boston Bed Company that we really liked. We sold the first one to get something smaller (it was a queen and we have a full mattress) and were able to pay for the new bedframe with what we sold the old one for on craigslist.

We just bought a ton of furniture, and I hope we''re happy with it in years to come. We''ve phased out everything ikea that isn''t a bookcase, it just didn''t hold up!

Craigslist has been very good to us.
 
Date: 7/24/2009 7:22:19 PM
Author: mercoledi
Hudson- The C&B in harvard square has a bargain attic. We got a beautiful piece for 40% off that was brand new and had moved off the floor two weeks earlier because they were out of space. I was there last week and they had a few beds.


That being said, we''ve had two beds from Boston Bed Company that we really liked. We sold the first one to get something smaller (it was a queen and we have a full mattress) and were able to pay for the new bedframe with what we sold the old one for on craigslist.

oooh thanks Mercoledi! Just for future info, there''s also a C&B outlet in Burlington. Did you see that exact bed there? I''d totally spring for it this weekend for 40%off!


We just bought a ton of furniture, and I hope we''re happy with it in years to come. We''ve phased out everything ikea that isn''t a bookcase, it just didn''t hold up!


Craigslist has been very good to us.
 
Pandora -- I''m sure my husband would agree with you on the fake Tempurpedic bed. We have a large discount furniture chain here and this store carries its own brand of Tempurpedic mattresses. My husband pushed and pushed me into buying one and now he hates it. It''s not my favorite thing either but I don''t hate it as much as he does.
 
Date: 7/24/2009 7:26:34 PM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
Date: 7/24/2009 7:22:19 PM

Author: mercoledi

Hudson- The C&B in harvard square has a bargain attic. We got a beautiful piece for 40% off that was brand new and had moved off the floor two weeks earlier because they were out of space. I was there last week and they had a few beds.

That being said, we''ve had two beds from Boston Bed Company that we really liked. We sold the first one to get something smaller (it was a queen and we have a full mattress) and were able to pay for the new bedframe with what we sold the old one for on craigslist.

oooh thanks Mercoledi! Just for future info, there''s also a C&B outlet in Burlington. Did you see that exact bed there? I''d totally spring for it this weekend for 40%off!

I wasn''t looking for a bed, so I don''t recall, but it also changes often. It''s a bit of a hike for you, so I''d call first and ask. They mark everything down every two weeks, so we actually saw our piece on a Saturday and bought it on Wednesday when the price dropped again. The staff was really helpful and understanding, which is not always the case for C&B.
 
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