UPDATE:
I broke down and bought an online subscription to Consumer Reports. It was only $ 26.00 for a year. Even though they don't rate furniture on a regular basis, it gave detailed instructions on what to look for when buying the sofa and chair. This will also help us immensely with picking out our appliances and a lot of other items for the house.
DH and I have been out looking for furniture. We sold our sectional sofa that we had out in Arizona to the buyer. So we need to buy a large sofa and a large upholstered chair for the great room. The rest of our furniture that we own will fit perfectly into the space.
So yesterday, DH and I started our research. We like to shop locally and give our business to family run furniture stores. It may cost a little more than Raymour and Flanigan or The Room Store but to us it is the American thing to do. We were very fortunate to be able to do business in Arizona at a nice family run business. So we are hoping for the same kind of store here. We found one locally and almost immediately found a gorgeous sofa and chair that we love. Of course, the material I want for them is the most expensive in the line but is worth the extra $300. for the sofa and $150. for the chair. The sofa will cost us $1499. + the 300. for the material. The chair will cost us $ 899. + the $ 150. for the material. These prices are before tax and delivery.
We didn't buy it yesterday, even though they said they would be glad to order them and warehouse them until we are in the new house. We were not familiar with the brand and we have a couple of other family run stores to go to. So we came home and started researching the brand on the internet. All we found were lots of complaints about the company. I don't put a lot of faith in that because people only write complaints when they are ticked. People who are satisfied never write anything.
So I need your help before I put out a serious amount of cash for these two pieces. The brand is England and is owned by Lazy Boy although the factories are separate. If anyone has any experience with this brand, please leave me a comment. Also, I do not have a subscription to Consumer Reports Online. If someone does, could they look the brand up and let me know what they are saying about it. I appreciate any help that someone can give me on this! Thanks!
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14 comments:
if you dont mind me asking, what business did you use in Arizona? I live here in North Phx/Glendale and want to help someone here. Oh,and sure do miss your Az living comments!
Hi Grammy Suzzy,
I am happy to share. This is a wonderful family owned store.
Furniture Plus
1415 E. University Dr.
Mesa, Az 85203
Precious-
My parents had a sofa that was England brand they paid about $1500 for 2.5 to 3 yrs ago. With my sister and I out of the house it gets much less use than previous furniture when we were always home with friends over. My mom says it has not worn well at all and she's thinking about shopping for a different one next year. It looks much older than it is. :( that's just our experience though. (The couch before lasted 10 years before starting to look worn).They bought it because they always had pretty good luck with lazy boy.
Hi Precious!,
Love your blog and have enjoyed gleaning from all of your wisdom :)
I've purchashed England in the past for our family of seven plus daycare children.Its great,very strudy and cleans up well.We bought a color guard fabric.The only thing I'll do different next time is buy a strudier fabric.I went for shiny instead of sensible.
God bless!,
Lorena
Thanks Mrs. G and renajayne for your help on this.
I can't comment on the brand you are considering, but I can say that I've gotten furniture from R&F and the quality is not great. Good choice to shop elsewhere. You also might not be aware that there is a local warehouse for Ethan Allen in Buffalo, off of Elmwood (which is actually about a mile from my house). Sometimes they have warehouse sales. Also, did you look in FWS? It's not that I'm suggesting them, I'm just curious of what you might think of the place.
We have one sofa that is 20 years old -- and still holding up great. Sometimes it is worth it to spend a little more.
ps. we got 8-10 inches in our neck of the woods, how about you?
Hi Precious,
You may want to search the message boards on http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/
I've always found a ton of information there!
Hi Alex M,
Thanks for the info. We went one day to FWS and what we were looking for was a kitchen table for the apartment. What we found was high prices for cheap junk. However we did not look at great room furniture so will have to go back.
Hi Lucky,
Thanks for the link!
I opted to go with an a company that sells amish made furniture.
I don't think they sell couches, but they do sell everything else and can custom make it to fit your home. We had our dining room furniture as well as a large number of book cases built and they are fantastic.
Hi Hunie,
Thanks for your input.
Precious,
I look forward to seeing what you learn about furniture. From my experiences, I have not found any furniture that lasts. I bought a Lazy Boy sofa and chair and it came apart at the seams after 2 years.
For my latest set, I bought a leather sofa, loveseat, chair and ottoman from a furniture dealer on craigslist for $1800 total - and they are all brand new. He clears out the season's remainders when a new crate is coming in. The cushions zipper so I can restuff them as needed. This was cheaper than anything at the furniture store and cheaper than Costco.
I know here in Chandler, AZ there is a model home furniture clearance store. They sell furniture that was used in model homes. Again, I found this through craigslist.
Good luck!
Hi Christi,
Thanks for your experiences. I will be sure to let everyone know what we buy and when we buy it and why.
When I lived in AZ, a lot of builders would have model home furniture sales right at the models.But of course, that was before the housing bust and all the builders stopped building. However you are now making me curious as to what the builders here do with the furniture from their model homes. I will have to find out. Thanks!
Just thought you might enjoy this tidbit:
Last night Hubby and I received a call from the computer store stating our computer was ready and that repair was covered under the warranty we added at the time of purchase.
The cost for the repair would have been $600.00 to $1,000.00 out of our pockets had we not had the warranty!
Let us just say that Hubby and I are very happy we do not have to fork over this sort of money. This keeps us on track for our savings goal for the year (minus the installation of a new fence).
I am posting this on my blog, but thought of you as I typed it up!
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