Last month, Derrick and I sold our place and bought a new home. Moving day is finally this weekend and I can’t wait because we’ve been trying our hardest NOT to buy furniture before moving in. And of course, I caved. But hey, at least I can share with you a couple buying tips I learned as I was caving in.
Let me start off by telling you that Derrick and I have a constant impulse to buy chairs. If there’s ever a better reason to be with someone other than love, it’s your compatibility for furniture and home decor. Trust me, I’ve seen many couples fight over leather couches and colour schemes. But Derrick and I? We both love chairs, bright living spaces, Danish teak where affordable, and classic pieces from designers like Eames and Starck. But I digress. Our impulse to buy chairs is unstoppable.
So that brings me to Point #1: Costco sells some decent furniture online.
A while back, we bought 2 knock-off Starck ghost chairs from Costco online. It was on sale. AND we needed some decorative chairs. The resemblance between it and the real thing is pretty good. And although we would rather have the real thing, we will when we win the lottery.
Point #2: Make sure the chair fits underneath the table.
What’s more annoying than buying a chair with armrests that bump into your table? Our condo had a workstation with deep drawers that get in the way of armrests. That’s what happened with the Costco office chair we bought on sale. Not very ergo-friendly. So we replaced it with a knock-off glossy red Panton chair from Home Delight. It was also on sale. AND we needed a decorative chair to add a punch of colour to our living space. It’s also not ergo-friendly, but it looks cool. So who cares?
Point #3: Used furniture can prompt conversation at dinner parties.
About a month ago, we bought an original, yet lonely, coral-orange Eames fiberglass chair on consignment from Full House Consignment. It was originally used at the old Vancouver library downtown (where CBC headquarters is now today) and even has an original piece of gum stuck to the bottom. Perfect. We would have bought more but they already sold out of the others that went with it. Someone bought 3 chairs and didn’t buy this coral-orange chair. I guess lucky for us because we got the 4th… on sale.
Point #4: Sometimes the knock-off isn’t THAT much cheaper than the real thing.
Until a couple years ago, IKEA ruled Vancouver in the cheap modern furniture segment. Now that NOOD is here, living in style sans MDF (medium-density fibreboard, a cheap replacement for real wood), can be done courtesy of China. I learned from a co-worker that the reason they can get away with selling knock-off furniture is because the design is 40% different than the real thing. How sneaky. As for how they measure that 40%, beats me! It was 40% or something to that effect. Don’t quote me here.
So the reason I bring up this point is because Derrick and I are thinking of buying a set of matching Eames chairs for our future dining and kitchen table – to match our lonely chair from Full House. NOOD sells their version (red & white only) for approx $134 on sale, regular $199. We were wandering Inform Interiors for fun and learned that the real version is only $209, and in 10 colours! Lesson learned - do your homework. Try Craigslist too if you have time. Some nice gems there.
Point #5: Enroll in Woodworking, not Glee Club.
As much as Glee makes choir seem fun, woodworking is a super handy skill for those without vocal talent. That’s probably one of the most useful things I learned during the Display+Design program and one of the biggest regrets I still have today – being a choir nerd (not by choice). Although we would love to make our own furniture, we just don’t own any of the tools. But fortunately for us, we are getting some hand-me-downs – some Danish-like teak chairs made by my uncle’s brother waaay back in high school woodworking class. With a bit of cushion refurbishing… score! (btw, the below picture isn’t the exact chair but it’s slightly similar. Just less fancy framework.)
Point #6: Just because it’s on sale, doesn’t mean it’ll fit through the door.
Okay maybe this didn’t happen to us, but this recent incident with a friend always makes me giggle. Let’s just say that there was a really good reason why IKEA had this particular couch on sale.
At the risk of becoming the first MoMA in Vancouver for chairs, I hope you learned a few pointers. I’ll be disappearing from the blogosphere a bit next week to finish our move, so I’ll leave it up to Cassie to entertain you all. Enjoy your weekend and happy furniture hunting!
Cheers,
> Christine
{ images from Costco.ca, Inform Interiors, Wotever, Gossip Rocks }
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post Christine! Had no idea your chair addiction was this bad
Haha thanks! If you ever go furniture shopping, let us know. We would love to tag along
Thanks for the tips! Happy moving day!
Thanks! We’ll have you over soon
Hey, I recognize that chair. Hope you get lots of enjoyment from them! Thanks for taking them off our hands. It’s always good to recycle, reuse and reduce!