No matter whether an American lives in a rented apartment, a town house, a college dorm, or their own property, one thing is certain about their living space: they have furniture in it. Even frugal or budget-oriented households have a full set of furniture, and fortunately, today’s furniture market is a highly diverse one in terms of cost, materials, style, and function of furniture pieces. In fact, some furniture is designed for customers with limited space, such as sofa beds, folding chairs, storage beds, and small desks. This is a great option for college students in a crowded dorm, for example. Older homeowners with ample space and spending power, meanwhile, may look for king sized beds and fancy dinner room table sets at local furniture stores. What is there to know about the furniture market today, and how can a homeowner keep their home looking fresh without shelling out for remodeling contractors?
The Furniture Market
Suffice it to say, furniture has a very strong presence on today’s consumer market. In fact, furniture (as a whole) ranks third among all major expenses that adult Americans have, behind only living spaces and automobiles. But buyers are looking for high quality furniture in particular, and even budget-oriented buyers will want a sturdy and reliable couch or bed. Cheap, shoddy furniture may be uncomfortable and liable to fall apart, and that is an expensive headache to deal with. Instead, over 90% of consumers agree that their furniture should last five to 10 years at least, and some beds and couches may be expected to last 15 years or even more. Amish-made wooden furniture is known for its extraordinary durability and quality, and Amish goods have been popular on the market since the 1920s. This ranges from wooden bed frames and tables to chairs, garden sheds, and even chicken coops.
A buyer can find particular furniture they want online, such as sofa beds of a certain color or material via digital catalogs. Such catalogs should feature large and clear images of all merchandise. But this is not always necessary; most buyers aren’t yet sure what they want to buy, so they can visit local furniture stores and consult the sales associates and managers there and have their questions answered. This can help a customer narrow down the field and figure out what they need from new furniture, and while in the store, the customer can also lay on or sit on furniture to test it. This is a useful reference for chairs, sofa beds, couches, and more.
Furniture in the Home
Interior decor experts recommend that the typical homeowner change and update their furniture once every five to ten years, and many homeowners indeed follow that schedule, more or less. After all, a person’s tastes and lifestyle will change over time, and their household may expand or shrink over the years, so updating furniture is a great way to adjust for all that. This is much easier than hiring remodeling contractors, and related features such as window dressings, rugs, and lamps can be updated, too. A room may get a whole new theme when its furniture is changed, anything from art deco to Mission to Victorian revival, and more. Or, the entire house can get a new theme, and all of this may impress guests who visit.
Updating furniture is ideal not only for style, but function. All furniture is designed to do something, and a room’s entire purpose can be altered via furniture changes. If an adult child moved out, for example, the parents can take that empty bedroom and transform it into a home office with a desk and chair, bookshelf, filing cabinet, and a lamp. Or, it can be made into an art room with a stool and table, drawer units, and cube storage units. It could also be made into a guest bedroom with aesthetically neutral furniture.
Some furniture has cramped living quarters in mind, such as sofa beds. Such beds can unfold to form a bed at night, and fold back up during the day. This is great for those who don’t have a dedicated guest bedroom. Meanwhile, wooden storage beds have drawers in them for storing clothes, to clear up the that space a standalone dresser would need.
