How Often Should You Go Shopping At The Furniture Store?
Realizing the Life Span of Your Furniture and Knowing When to Let Go
Whether you’re living with heirloom furniture, first-job starter furniture, or furniture you’ve chosen as a family, at some point you will need to consider replacements. Function will outstrip form – mattresses sag, chairs wobble, wood scratches and upholstery rips – and you will find yourself browsing furniture stores for additions.
Before you leave for a furniture shop, decide on a standard for the general appearance for your home. It doesn’t have to be high, but it should be reasonable enough to uphold. Afterward, take a full inventory of your space by “test-driving” every piece. Be strict about the bar you’ve set. For items passed down from generation to generation, it helps to be mindful of emotions that may surface; try to assess those pieces clearly. The point isn’t to push everything curbside but to distinguish between items that are loved, well-loved, and loved-enough.
To further help you with this exercise is a list of furniture life expectancies; use it to narrow your shopping list before consulting web and streetside furniture stores:
10-15 years
Dining tables and office desks are built to last. However, these pieces can collect signs of wear and tear well before their “shelf life” is over. Scratches, dents, and marks from hot cookware or various spills can discolor the surfaces over time. Also, their larger frames can be a make-or-break factor when moving into smaller spaces; down-sizing could force a replacement.
10 years
Mattresses get put to work for at least six to eight straight hours a day. Yours is arguably doing the most “heavy lifting” of all your furniture pieces, so pay special attention to signs of degradation over time. If your sleep quality begins to suffer from lack of support or if your tendency to “sleep hot” has yielded some discoloration, then it is time to shop.
Eight years
Sofas will show symptoms similar to mattresses. Aside from the tell-tale sagging of couch cushions, look for uneven color in the upholstery – for example, sunlight could have muted your living room seating. Does the sofa creak while in use? If so, the bones could be starting to go.
Five years
Coffee and end tables live in high traffic areas and will see plenty of use before their time is up. Damages will run the gamut between food stains, chipped finishes, wet glassware rings, and wobbly legs. Unless given periodic care and maintenance, expect to replace these items most often.
Of course, your personal style and tastes may change and those, too, will dictate the amount of time you spend in furniture stores. There are no hard and fast rules – only suggestions.
If one or more of these items has lived out its time in your home, visit our furniture showroom or contact us to enlist our design services.
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