Who Makes Quality Furniture?

[woodguy00]

Pop used to say, "It's all wood, except for the glue that holds the sawdust together."



I retired from a family owned and operated furniture business. There's still top quality furniture available at reasonable pricing, both case goods and upholstery.



Find a good small store in your area that cares about their reputation.



Some of the best values in solid wood case goods are made and finished by small Amish manufacturers. The same is true for small family owned upholstery manufacturers, I don't know of any Amish upholstery however.



Well made upholstery pieces will run about twice the price of generic brands (think Ashley and La Z Boy for instance). Solid wood Amish case goods will cost about 1.75 the generic brands, and last generations.



Please stay away from Chinese etc particle board, "ready to assemble" construction. Also look for "hand tied" coil spring upholstery with hard wood frames.

Good info. Thanks

 

[Jerry1]

There is always Stickley.

https://stickley.com/OurStickleyStory.cfm?SubPgName=Main&BodyTxt=On

 

[Out of Steam]

There is so much good used furniture around, especially dressers and dining rooms, that it's probably easier to buy quality pieces used than new.

Unless it's very lightly used, I don't have much interest in other people's upholstered furniture though.

 

[brett]

It is difficult to find good product. We recently purchased a high end Thomasville entertainment stand. The shelves are veneer on top of fibre.

Daughter spent a long time to shop for a real wood bedroom set.

I think that the best buys for quality wood furniture are to shop for private, used deals. One issue...much of the older, better quality wood furniture is designed for larger spaces. Especially the DR furniture. Several years ago we were downsizing and could not give away a very large DR set that had a large buffet and a seperate cabinet/dutch cupboard. It is worth the effort and you will certainly get much more value for your money.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

It is difficult to find good product. We recently purchased a high end Thomasville entertainment stand. The shelves are veneer on top of fibre.

Daughter spent a long time to shop for a real wood bedroom set.

I think that the best buys for quality wood furniture are to shop for private, used deals. One issue...much of the older, better quality wood furniture is designed for larger spaces. Especially the DR furniture. Several years ago we were downsizing and could not give away a very large DR set that had a large buffet and a seperate cabinet/dutch cupboard. It is worth the effort and you will certainly get much more value for your money.

+1, When we moved to our new home, My mother had old furniture. I told her "Ma , Im only taking sentimental pieces." New house, new furniture. She was all for it. I had many people (dealers) want to pick and choose the great pieces. and leave me with the modern stuff to throw out/donate. The last guy that came from the Bronx, I told him "Sir, this is a package deal" you take the whole house or nothing. He walked around and said "listen when is the closing?" I said in 3 days. "$700 bucks and I take everything your mom isnt taking". "Sold"! Then of course the people that didnt lift a finger to help with the sale or the move were crying how she sold the house too cheap, or she let them steal her furniture.. I went on his website maybe a month later, he had my mothers sowing machine listed for $775. I hope he got it too. He took a big load off my shoulders.

 

[Music Lover]

Depending on where you live, these "built to last" pieces can be found at estate sale and auctions.
_B

I remember a topic a while back that quoted the article: "No one wants your parents stuff". A lot of that "stuff" includes well made furniture. One of my friends furnished 90% of his first house from estate sales for pennies on the dollar.

 

[Marita40]

There's a wonderful antique store in Stillwater, MN, the third floor of which is floor to ceiling Victorian and Craftsman oak furniture. There was a big craze for it years ago, when people like Barbra Streisand were collecting Arts and Crafts furnishings. Now, not so much. It is just a sea of heavy, well made, tiger striped oak: ornate bedsteads, elaborate dining sets, desks, tables, chairs, stands. I've bought several things there and I love to go visit. Believe me, you've never seen such quality furniture, if you like that style. Most young people won't touch it; it is the polar opposite of IKEA.

 

[zinger1457]

There is always Stickley.

https://stickley.com/OurStickleyStory.cfm?SubPgName=Main&BodyTxt=On

I have a Stickley living room set that is about 10 years old and it is excellent quality furniture and from what I've seen usually has a good resale value because of it's name and reputation. Not that resale was ever a big consideration when I bought it since I don't intend to ever sell it. When I purchased my Amish bedroom set a few months ago I also looked at Stickley but it would have cost 2X as much for an equivalent set from Stickley. IMO the quality and craftsmanship of the Amish built furniture I received is every bit as good as Stickley.

 

[Scuba]

It's even harder to find quality modern furniture. Even in So CA, the only place we could find what we wanted is very expensive European furniture stores in West Hollywood/Beverly Hills.