How much do you spend on furniture?

[HoneyBBQ]

I just received this email, and my mind is sort of blown.  Is fancy furniture the new "new car?" Look at the terms and length!!

My TV room still has a futon and end tables and coffee table DH bought at a garage sale for $100 after his divorce lol.

We could probably use an upgrade.... but and but mostly

[kittensaver]

Well call me a stick-on-the-mud, but I've never financed a piece of furniture in my life - even antiques. We've always paid cash for everything. But then again, once we buy something we rarely get rid of it . . . I think in the 31 years we've been married the only large pieces we've replaced are the mattresses and the two couches (it was more expensive to rehab and recover the couches than it was to straight out replace them). Even the occasional/easy chairs and side chairs have been either slip covered or re-upholstered. We like antiques and classic pieces so we have *never* thrown everything out and redecorated, like some of our friends and neighbor have. But as always - - YMMV.

[resolution]

DH's former employer sells high end wooden furniture; it could be upwards of $10,000 for a dining room set and hutch. A lot of people with an upscale house buy the upscale furniture to match.

My own furniture has been inexpensive. I spent $2000 on the living room: two recliners and a sofa. The dining room set cost $800 for the table, chairs, and china cabinet. Our bedroom set was inherited from DH's great aunt. The spare bedroom set was my grandmothers.

[Bonny]

I'm unfamiliar with the brand but good quality furniture IS expensive and should last a long time. What always bothered me was how junk furniture places were always so willing to finance your crappy furniture purchases. It was pretty obvious that FINANCING was where they were making their money. People who have to move out in a hurry don't usually have the time to trawl garage sales and thrift stores to put together a house. And not everyone has family willing to give up their furniture.

My DH, on the other hand, is an only child who had lots of family wanting to give him furniture. When we moved in together I brought my clothes, a nightstand, and a couple of lamps from my earlier move-out fiasco with my Ex. DH had 1200 sq.ft. of furniture. The only thing we had buy when we first together was a futon for the guest room.

Fast forward 5 years and we got the phone call from DH's father stating "The Family Furniture is on a moving truck headed to your house". This was DH's grandmother's stuff that was custom built for her 8000 sq.ft. home. We were living in a 1000 sq.ft. 1950's rancher. The dining table has 7 leaves and can seat 22 people. Unlike a lot of "Antique" furniture some of it really IS valuable given its provenance.

Over the years we have actually bought a couple of pieces; a couch in 1995 and we have replaced two beds. We still have that futon though. It's in the studio in the cabin!

[Bonny]

Oct 2, 2014 18:19:50 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Well call me a stick-on-the-mud, but I've never financed a piece of furniture in my life - even antiques. We've always paid cash for everything. But then again, once we buy something we rarely get rid of it . . . I think in the 31 years we've been married the only large pieces we've replaced are the mattresses and the two couches (it was more expensive to rehab and recover the couches than it was to straight out replace them). Even the occasional/easy chairs and side chairs have been either slip covered or re-upholstered. We like antiques and classic pieces so we have *never* thrown everything out and redecorated, like some of our friends and neighbor have. But as always - - YMMV.

Even though it has been more expensive to reupholster some of our furniture than buy replacement, I think our "old" furniture is better made.

And I still like our 1995 "mission style" couch. Even though it's not an antique, I'll probably reupholster it rather than replace.

I think our biggest challenge is going to be what we get rid of when MIL finally leave her home. That's a 3000 sq.ft. packed to the rafters house. I'm thinking we're going to need to turn the San Diego condo into a furnished executive rental.

[cktc]

My sister and I spent $1500 furnishing our college apartment. That was for two sofas, a table and chairs, and two mattresses with metal frames. That was 12 years ago, really basic stuff. Okay the sofas were nice at the time. I still have them, and they've held up pretty well, but I will need to replace them soon. 

After that I've spent $50-300 here and there. Never needed to buy too much at once so I've had the luxury of price shopping, yard sales, and hand me downs.

I could easily spend $3000 in one go if I were to start over or replace more than a few items. Just getting a thing here or there, it is easier to only pay a couple hundred, but when you need a lot, you will spend a lot.

[kittensaver]

Oct 2, 2014 18:46:28 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Oct 2, 2014 18:19:50 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Well call me a stick-on-the-mud, but I've never financed a piece of furniture in my life - even antiques. We've always paid cash for everything. But then again, once we buy something we rarely get rid of it . . . I think in the 31 years we've been married the only large pieces we've replaced are the mattresses and the two couches (it was more expensive to rehab and recover the couches than it was to straight out replace them). Even the occasional/easy chairs and side chairs have been either slip covered or re-upholstered. We like antiques and classic pieces so we have *never* thrown everything out and redecorated, like some of our friends and neighbor have. But as always - - YMMV.

Even though it has been more expensive to reupholster some of our furniture than buy replacement, I think our "old" furniture is better made.

And I still like our 1995 "mission style" couch. Even though it's not an antique, I'll probably reupholster it rather than replace.

I think our biggest challenge is going to be what we get rid of when MIL finally leave her home. That's a 3000 sq.ft. packed to the rafters house. I'm thinking we're going to need to turn the San Diego condo into a furnished executive rental.

Bonny - you can try doing what I did when I needed to clean out my aunt's house quickly (I was her executor). I took the few things that I wanted, then I called a few select friends and family to come and get what they wanted, and then I had an estate sale dealer haul the rest of it away for one flat price. It was only about $5k as I remember, but the "good stuff" had already been taken or sold previously, and it was a relief to have it all gone in one swoop. If you have a lot of expensive or high-end stuff, you can even have an antiques dealer come first and pay you for the "good stuff," then have the estate sale guys come for the rest.

[Bonny]

Oct 2, 2014 18:55:55 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Oct 2, 2014 18:46:28 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Even though it has been more expensive to reupholster some of our furniture than buy replacement, I think our "old" furniture is better made.

And I still like our 1995 "mission style" couch. Even though it's not an antique, I'll probably reupholster it rather than replace.

I think our biggest challenge is going to be what we get rid of when MIL finally leave her home. That's a 3000 sq.ft. packed to the rafters house. I'm thinking we're going to need to turn the San Diego condo into a furnished executive rental.

Bonny - you can try doing what I did when I needed to clean out my aunt's house quickly (I was her executor). I took the few things that I wanted, then I called a few select friends and family to come and get what they wanted, and then I had an estate sale dealer haul the rest of it away for one flat price. It was only about $5k as I remember, but the "good stuff" had already been taken or sold previously, and it was a relief to have it all gone in one swoop. If you have a lot of expensive or high-end stuff, you can even have an antiques dealer come first and pay you for the "good stuff," then have the estate sale guys come for the rest.

Your suggestion is a good one and makes a lot of sense. I think my problem is going to be a battle with DH and whose family's stuff is more valuable.

I'm only partially kidding about furnishing the condo. It's near UCSD and there truly is a market for visiting professors and other professionals. But since I'm likely to be limiting my pool of renters I really need to get that mortgage balance (and payments) reduced so I can afford to have longer vacant periods. You know the kind that force me to visit the place, walk on the beach, and kayak with the dolphins.

[Deleted]

I've furnished the majority of my furniture purchases - 12/18/24 months, no interest. unless it was something I desperately needed, I wouldn't finance it if there was a cost, and definitely not for 84 months. when I moved into my current house I purchased a 6 piece bedroom set, an entertainment center and 2 chairs for the basement family room, and a sofa and loveseat for the living room - over $3000.

[kittensaver]

Oct 2, 2014 19:06:51 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Oct 2, 2014 18:55:55 GMT -5 kittensaver said:

Bonny - you can try doing what I did when I needed to clean out my aunt's house quickly (I was her executor). I took the few things that I wanted, then I called a few select friends and family to come and get what they wanted, and then I had an estate sale dealer haul the rest of it away for one flat price. It was only about $5k as I remember, but the "good stuff" had already been taken or sold previously, and it was a relief to have it all gone in one swoop. If you have a lot of expensive or high-end stuff, you can even have an antiques dealer come first and pay you for the "good stuff," then have the estate sale guys come for the rest.

Your suggestion is a good one and makes a lot of sense. I think my problem is going to be a battle with DH and whose family's stuff is more valuable.

I'm only partially kidding about furnishing the condo. It's near UCSD and there truly is a market for visiting professors and other professionals. But since I'm likely to be limiting my pool of renters I really need to get that mortgage balance (and payments) reduced so I can afford to have longer vacant periods. You know the kind that force me to visit the place, walk on the beach, and kayak with the dolphins.

Ah yes, the battle over "stuff." Good luck with that one!  Any sneaky ways of convincing DH he'd rather have the cash?

I too live in a neighborhood very near a large university. This university pays a hefty rental allowance (significantly higher than FMR) - and on top of salary and benefits - in order to attract professors and their families. Because of this, many folks who relocate out of our neighborhood prefer to rent out their homes rather than sell - the university is a reliable payor and *most* university families are quite, decent, family-oriented renters. Nicely furnished homes are particularly coveted. It certainly does make being a landlord way more attractive than the average situation. I know the UC/La Jolla area well (Black's Beach in my days of youthful folly - lol ). Have fun with the dolphins

[TheHaitian]

Depends on how big of a space you are furnishing and how much furniture you need.

If you are a new homeowner and always lived with roommates you might need to furnish a full house. We did not purchase all our furniture at once but adding up everything I think we spent 10k on furniture easy.

- Bedroom set : 4k
- sofa in living room with coffee table: 1.5k (we want to purchase 1-2 chairs and the matching tv stand my wife wants that match the coffee table is $750). So might be another 1.5k
- dining room set : 3.5k

So there... ~10k for 3 rooms.

But we've had our master bedroom since 2010 and won't be switching anytime soon.

Dining set since 2012, same with sofa in living room.

Coffee table a few months.

So we didn't buy everything all at once. And you are not considering side tables, lamps, throw pillows, rug, etc.

I can definitely see new couples / homeowners spending 10k all at once furnishing their place if they just bought a house.

Sorry the whole word is not the YM crowd and most people want to graduate from the college furniture / hands me down once they go into home ownership or first place as a couple etc.

100k is pushing it, I am thinking more office building with multiple offices/waiting rooms, etc.

[giramomma]

Well, we've been married for 13 years, and we still don't have a bedroom set.

I think we've spent 2K so far on furniture. We need to replace our chair in our living room. We'll do that when the littlest understand how to handle throwing up better. She doesn't get that she's supposed to get herself into a bathroom.

We just chose to spend that money on other things, like vacation. When my DS was 5 he was like "Gee, I'd really to see a bison not in a zoo." We had extra money, and I said "OK, we're going to South Dakota as soon as you get out of school." That summer, we vacationed for 4 weeks. We went on two separate two week vacations.

The summer before we went on a two week vacation and a one week vacation (was supposed to be longer but we had to cut it early.)

The other issue is we really aren't around to enjoy our house.

I'm sure someday we'll get nice furniture, when we're around more to enjoy our house.

[Deleted]

I buy high quality furniture, but used.  So no, I've never financed it.   My dining room table was $1500 new and I paid $400 for it off of Craigslist.  My bedroom set is the same solid oak set my Mom got for me when I was maybe 17.  The kids have cheap bunk beds right now, but they're just temporary kid stuff.   I have some handmade Amish things and an antique dresser that is appraised to be from around 1880.  I paid $120 for it.  It's really solid and nice.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2014 20:17:32 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I buy high quality furniture, but used.  So no, I've never financed it.   My dining room table was $1500 new and I paid $400 for it off of Craigslist.  My bedroom set is the same solid oak set my Mom got for me when I was maybe 17.  The kids have cheap bunk beds right now, but they're just temporary kid stuff.   I have some handmade Amish things and an antique dresser that is appraised to be from around 1880.  I paid $120 for it.  It's really solid and nice.

my kids are still using the bunk beds (split apart into 2 singles so they each have one in their room) that I bought almost 16 years ago before my youngest was even in a bed.  I think I paid $1600 which included the bunkie boards and the mattress so I think it was a good choice.

[swamp]

I've never financed furniture. The only reaaly nice thing I have is the bedroom set I bought after we finished the house. I wanted a nice matching set since we had a $400,000 house in a LCOLA. 

I buy a lot of stuff at the "scratch and dent" store. Returns, small blemishes, overstocks. I got a $2500 leather couch for $800. 

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2014 20:24:39 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Oct 2, 2014 20:17:32 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I buy high quality furniture, but used.  So no, I've never financed it.   My dining room table was $1500 new and I paid $400 for it off of Craigslist.  My bedroom set is the same solid oak set my Mom got for me when I was maybe 17.  The kids have cheap bunk beds right now, but they're just temporary kid stuff.   I have some handmade Amish things and an antique dresser that is appraised to be from around 1880.  I paid $120 for it.  It's really solid and nice.

my kids are still using the bunk beds (split apart into 2 singles so they each have one in their room) that I bought almost 16 years ago before my youngest was even in a bed.  I think I paid $1600 which included the bunkie boards and the mattress so I think it was a good choice.

Yours sounds like a lot nicer set than mine.  I think I paid $300 at the farm supply store (they have some furniture)   It's been in use for 10 years now and younger son likes it, but older son prefers the queen bed that was in the guest room before the flood.  The mattresses on the bunk bed are just that thin foam.

[gooddecisions]

Have you ever shopped new furniture? It can be super expensive. I refuse to go in a Restoration Hardware or Arhause- and these are just mall stores. I'm at a point in my life where I want to love my house, so I am putting in the effort not to just have filler/functional things, but rather things that are functional, make sense for the space and look great. My inlaws wanted to everything they didn't want anymore on us, but their house never looked nice. It was just a hodge podge of mediocre stuff. My bedroom looks amazing, but I bought the Basset cherry furniture second hand. My curtains and bedding cost a lot more than I'm willing to admit. I bought a new sofa and chairs from Crate and Barrel which set me back $4000. I have a big house and I hope I will be able to get it looking great within a budget. It's much easier decorating with new furniture because you can see how everything in a showroom or catalog works together, but I'm resisting the urge.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2014 20:34:59 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Oct 2, 2014 20:24:39 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

my kids are still using the bunk beds (split apart into 2 singles so they each have one in their room) that I bought almost 16 years ago before my youngest was even in a bed.  I think I paid $1600 which included the bunkie boards and the mattress so I think it was a good choice.

Yours sounds like a lot nicer set than mine.  I think I paid $300 at the farm supply store (they have some furniture)   It's been in use for 10 years now and younger son likes it, but older son prefers the queen bed that was in the guest room before the flood.  The mattresses on the bunk bed are just that thin foam.

they're heavy as anything....and actually I think the $1600 also included the 5 drawer dresser and the 4 cube bookcase.  I expect to keep them forever.

DD's room/guest room has the old bedroom set that ex and I bought when we bought our house in '91, so that's 23 years old now and still looks good.

[ArchietheDragon]

furniture is for suckers.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2014 20:36:43 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

Have you ever shopped new furniture? It can be super expensive. I refuse to go in a Restoration Hardware or Arhause- and these are just mall stores. I'm at a point in my life where I want to love my house, so I am putting in the effort not to just have filler/functional things, but rather things that are functional, make sense for the space and look great. My inlaws wanted to everything they didn't want anymore on us, but their house never looked nice. It was just a hodge podge of mediocre stuff. My bedroom looks amazing, but I bought the Basset cherry furniture second hand. My curtains and bedding cost a lot more than I'm willing to admit. I bought a new sofa and chairs from Crate and Barrel which set me back $4000. I have a big house and I hope I will be able to get it looking great within a budget. It's much easier decorating with new furniture because you can see how everything in a showroom or catalog works together, but I'm resisting the urge.

new furniture doesn't need to be super expensive.  What I've bought in the last 3 years has come from Value City, Room Store and Target.  The leather sofa and love seat that I replaced last year was purchased 10 years before that for $1300 and was replaced with a sectional and ottoman for under $1000.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

We have purchased in the last two years:

a $3300 couch
a $1000 dining room table
$1400 worth of seating for the dining room table
a $500 couch
a $350 lamp
a $350 cabinet
$150 for two throw pillows
$100 curtains

So, that's $7,250. 
We cashed flowed all of it. 

Six years ago, DH used in-store financing to purchase bedroom furniture. It was a no-interest-if-paid-for-by deal. That was about $5,000.

[Lizard Queen]

The most I've ever spent was $800 on a leather couch and $700 on the matching loveseat. They were clearance deals. Since buying a house/getting married 7/6 years ago: a few office pieces that were really cheap at office depot: $400ish. Shelf & bench set: around $100. Changing table & hutch: $600-700?? Mattress set $700ish. Twin bed & mattress for DS: $300. Entryway bench $50. Chair from Target $120? Another accent chair $40 maybe. Outdoor furniture: maybe $350 total for a lot of pieces that. Coffee / end tables :$50

Wow, that's a lot more than I had realized. We have a ton of hand-me-downs that I'd like to replace with nicer stuff someday after the kids are less destructive.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Oh, bunk beds! My girls had my sisters' bunk beds! Those things are solid wood. Now, those beds are at my sister's house for my niece. 

[gooddecisions]

I think that image is actually for Restoration Hardware. I peaked at a catalog once. Their prices are insane. One set of finials will cost $100, then you have brackets, rings, rods and the hardware alone for one window is $500 x 10 windows and you're already at $5000 and you don't even have curtains to hang on the hardware. If you want curtains, too- another $400+ per window. So, you could easily spend $10,000 at Restoration Hardware just on window treatments.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2014 20:53:18 GMT -5 gooddecisions said:

I think that image is actually for Restoration Hardware. I peaked at a catalog once. Their prices are insane. One set of finials will cost $100, then you have brackets, rings, rods and the hardware alone for one window is $500 x 10 windows and you're already at $5000 and you don't even have curtains to hang on the hardware. If you want curtains, too- another $400+ per window. So, you could easily spend $10,000 at Restoration Hardware just on window treatments.

I have blinds from Lowes on my windows and the few that have any sort of curtains (I'm not big on curtains) either came with the house or were panels that I purchased at Target.  I can't imagine that there's anything at Restoration Hardware that you can't find at Lowes.  years ago when window treatments were in I purchased all mine at JC Penny.  I'm much happier with the minimalist look.

[jackb1117]

I have actually financed furniture. We bought our dining room table & chairs from a place that (I speculate) makes its money on selling decent furniture for slim margins and then makes its money when you miss a payment or don't make the balloon payment at the end of the term- and jacks up the APR on your account from 0% to the high 20's, retroactively. We took advantage of the 18mo interest free loan, but paid it off in full just before it came to term- would be curious to know what the % of people who don't do that looks like.

Other than that, we don't spend a lot on furniture. We have one guest bedroom we literally call the 'ikea room' since it is fully furnished from there (mostly my bachelor pad leftovers). The other extra bedroom has my childhood bunk beds (that break down into two twin beds) that I refinished. Living with a cat that has the sole mission of destroying anything not made of hard wood (although he tries to destroy that as well), it just doesn't make sense for us to invest a ton of cash into furnishings. 

Friends & family probably judge us for having put-it-together yourself furniture from ikea/target/etc., but we live here and are fine with it, so I guess I don't really give a shit- it works for us 

[TheHaitian]

Oct 2, 2014 21:03:54 GMT -5 jackb1117 said:

Friends & family probably judge us for having put-it-together yourself furniture from ikea/target/etc., but we live here and are fine with it, so I guess I don't really give a shit- it works for us 

Tell them to suck it

We love IKEA and in our house we have a few good pieces that may have come from expensive places and cost a lot of money that look great next to our put it together IKEA pieces.

[andi9899]

I don't think I have $10 K worth of furniture in my whole 4 BR house! And I have some nice stuff. I do get stuff on sale and haggle prices though. I have a pub height 6 seat dining room table with a marble top and leather chairs I paid $700 for a few years ago. I think that might be the most I've spent on a single item. And I don't buy that chit in a box you bring home and put together yourself. And I don't buy things used, so I got my stuff from reputable furniture stores. The only thing I have that is used is a jewelry armoire (I'm a jewelry hound) that my grandpa found at a yard sale and stripped and refinished. It's beautiful! And my grandpa gave it to me from his heart so it's priceless.

[Ava]

I had to buy all my furniture in one swoop when I separated from my ex-husband.
I went to Ikea and bought a bed frame and mattress. Then I went to Walmart and bought a lawn chair.
That was all I had for a few months.
I saved money, went back to Ikea and furnished the whole apartment (I was renting back then) and bought the rest of the furniture; table and chairs, a living room set, the rest of the bedroom set. I spent $1,200 total.
That was 7 years ago. I brought the furniture with me when I purchased the condo.

[jackb1117]

Oct 2, 2014 21:17:09 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Oct 2, 2014 21:03:54 GMT -5 jackb1117 said:

Friends & family probably judge us for having put-it-together yourself furniture from ikea/target/etc., but we live here and are fine with it, so I guess I don't really give a shit- it works for us 

Tell them to suck it

We love IKEA and in our house we have a few good pieces that may have come from expensive places and cost a lot of money that look great next to our put it together IKEA pieces.

TheHaitian Carl I know you are in the same general area as me- so I am assuming that you went to the Stoughton Ikea. While I am OK with the stuff we have gotten there, that place is insane. They should sell marriage counseling in the checkout line, because I don't think I have ever left there not seriously contemplating divorce