6 ms·
These are, unfortunately, luxury goods. I don't want them to be. There was a time when they weren't. But they're now luxury goods. The masses have to suffer Ike
by VoodooJuJu 3y ago
These are, unfortunately, luxury goods. I don't want them to be. There was a time when they weren't. But they're now luxury goods. The masses have to suffer Ikea - it's all we can afford. The above stuff is for the upper classes.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y agoThe first link I clicked brought me to a $2000 bar stool. That's nice I'm sure, but I'm out. I'll buy used.
- pseudosavant 3y agoThis is when I like to point out that you can find skilled carpenters who will make you custom furniture sized just how you want for less than that. That is what I did in my kitchen nook.
- SV_BubbleTime 3y agoThat's a good point. I have an older guy I met at a farmer's market, in my phone under Greg Shelves, it's a land line, I have to pay in cash. The problem is I never know exactly what I'm going get, but it is always nice.
- oblio 3y agoYou need to know them, or have someone you really trust recommend them. Then you need to see some samples of what they've done. And I imagine most can't show you 3D mockups of the end result.
- JAlexoid 3y agoEm.... I'm an amateur carpenter and $200 is probably the least I'll charge you for a custom side table (without drawers). Skilled carpenters charge a lot more. A bar stool will probably run you at $1000. Consider that mass produced chairs are like $100-200 a piece from IKEA.
- gregschlom 3y ago>There was a time when they weren't. I'm not sure if that's true. My impression is that furniture has always been very expensive, and it's only fairly recently (mid-20th century?) that mass manufacturing has enabled it to be cheap, with IKEA being one of the most well-known examples.
- red-iron-pine 3y agothe average person was a lot more crafty, as was the average community. a lot was built locally. but yeah cheap furniture, like in the "couple hundred of dollars" sense is pretty new.
- JAlexoid 3y agoYou can build a table out of rough sawn planks for cheap today. It's just going to cost as much labor and material as something much better from IKEA. 150+ years ago life was different and spending a week planing a tabletop was not a waste of time.
- elcritch 3y agoThere used to be much more abundant old growth forests as well, so sourcing hardwood for furniture was much more practical.
- davidgay 3y agoIIUC, Europe ran out of "old growth" forests around the end of the Middle Ages...
- mandmandam 3y agoThere was a time, about 1.6 million years, when you could bring your axe into the woods, maybe with a friend or two, cut a clearing, and build a whole house with wood furniture that your great great grandchildren would use. You could eat the abundant animals, drink the clean water, and enjoy an entire life without ever once imbibing microplastics and PFAS. It might have been a lot of work - but it was completely free. Those times are long gone, and it doesn't seem likely they'll ever return -- but that is how we lived for the vast majority of our time as human beings.
- dnissley 3y agoSuffer? Really?
- matsemann 3y agoGo to any yardsale or scour online ads: people almost pay you to take their big old wooden furniture off their hands.