4 ms·

Yeah. Even at the time we knew West Elm wasn't high end, but we were at least expecting decent. We know more now (and could afford better) whenever we have to

Yeah. Even at the time we knew West Elm wasn't high end, but we were at least expecting decent. We know more now (and could afford better) whenever we have to finally replace this, but $2000 is a not-insignificant investment that shouldn't be a complete piece of crap.

elteto 3y ago
My problem is that I don’t even know where to buy _good_ stuff. I don’t want to pay $5k for a couch, but maybe I will _once_ in N years, for some large N, if I know it’s very well made and I like the design. But I have no idea where to go for this. The overlap between junk and luxury is too large nowadays.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  As with so many goods these days, I find that buying stuff made at least a couple of decades ago works best. It's much easier to tell the garbage from the treasure if you aren't buying stuff made recently.
- earleybird 3y ago
  As sibling comment says: survivorship bias as a heuristic is useful.
  - layer8 3y ago
    It's often not, because today's company is not the same as it was 10-20 years ago. The longer you want something to last, the less reliable past experience becomes.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- drchickensalad 3y ago
  Aggregated reddit searches are amazing. Leads you to the gold mine that is american leather etc, which are often rebranded to more well known brands on a model by model basis. Lots of insiders on reddit with that info too.
  - beAbU 3y ago
    Maybey cynicism broke me but I find it impossible to trust recommendations from Reddit. It's too easy for these companies to pay for astroturfing these days. I've noticed a very prevalent "hail corporate" subculture on reddit that put me off believing anything anyone said.
- pfannkuchen 3y ago
  I’ve had a consistently good experience with room and board so far and I am very anal about construction quality (as perceived by myself, anyway, I’m not a furniture expert).
- nijave 3y ago
  I've had decent success with reddit r/BuyItForLife. Seems like mostly good recommendations and not too much shilling/advertising.
  - porkbeer 3y ago
    Bifl was taken over by advertisers years ago. I would not trust anything peddled there without a lot of research.
strictnein 3y ago
West Elm's quality has definitely dropped the last 10 years. It's still not a bad place to get things like side tables, but I definitely wouldn't buy any furniture there any more, which is too bad. We had gotten a couple of nice pieces there in the past, although they're now gone. For quality modern furniture, the only game in town around me is Room & Board. The last couch we bought there was ~$6k[0]. It's a lot, but we'd honestly been eyeing it for almost 20 years and it'll likely be something we have for another 20 years or more. https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-loveseats/macalester-leather-sofas https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-lovese...

elteto 3y ago

My problem is that I don’t even know where to buy _good_ stuff. I don’t want to pay $5k for a couch, but maybe I will _once_ in N years, for some large N, if I know it’s very well made and I like the design. But I have no idea where to go for this. The overlap between junk and luxury is too large nowadays.

JohnFen 3y ago
As with so many goods these days, I find that buying stuff made at least a couple of decades ago works best. It's much easier to tell the garbage from the treasure if you aren't buying stuff made recently.
earleybird 3y ago
As sibling comment says: survivorship bias as a heuristic is useful.
- layer8 3y ago
  It's often not, because today's company is not the same as it was 10-20 years ago. The longer you want something to last, the less reliable past experience becomes.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
drchickensalad 3y ago
Aggregated reddit searches are amazing. Leads you to the gold mine that is american leather etc, which are often rebranded to more well known brands on a model by model basis. Lots of insiders on reddit with that info too.
- beAbU 3y ago
  Maybey cynicism broke me but I find it impossible to trust recommendations from Reddit. It's too easy for these companies to pay for astroturfing these days. I've noticed a very prevalent "hail corporate" subculture on reddit that put me off believing anything anyone said.
pfannkuchen 3y ago
I’ve had a consistently good experience with room and board so far and I am very anal about construction quality (as perceived by myself, anyway, I’m not a furniture expert).
nijave 3y ago
I've had decent success with reddit r/BuyItForLife. Seems like mostly good recommendations and not too much shilling/advertising.
- porkbeer 3y ago
  Bifl was taken over by advertisers years ago. I would not trust anything peddled there without a lot of research.

strictnein 3y ago

West Elm's quality has definitely dropped the last 10 years. It's still not a bad place to get things like side tables, but I definitely wouldn't buy any furniture there any more, which is too bad. We had gotten a couple of nice pieces there in the past, although they're now gone. For quality modern furniture, the only game in town around me is Room & Board. The last couch we bought there was ~$6k[0]. It's a lot, but we'd honestly been eyeing it for almost 20 years and it'll likely be something we have for another 20 years or more. https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-loveseats/macalester-leather-sofas https://www.roomandboard.com/catalog/living/sofas-and-lovese...