Consider Quality
In the age of disposable home decor, many people feel like quality furniture is either impractical or inaccessible. In a market increasingly dominated by overpriced and under-built goods, you may be surprised by how much further your money can go with furniture that's built to last.
Continue reading to learn more about furniture quality
Solid Wood
Wood Veneers
Furniture Grade Plywood
After centuries, solid wood remains the top choice for furniture. With its inherent strength and natural beauty, not only will solid wood furniture endure, its aesthetic properties are unmatched. While solid wood is more sensitive to humidity and temperature than engineered alternatives, it can bear the heaviest weight and decorative surfaces can be refinished time and again. To learn more about solid wood furniture, visit our Amish Furniture page!
Many furniture designs, particularly ornate European styles, require the use of real-wood veneers to create inlays, such as parquetry, mosaics, or banding. In other cases, veneers may be used to achieve a more curated design than solid boards might allow by using exotic woods impractical for framing use. Wood veneers are very different from synthetic or printed veneers.
Furniture Grade Plywood is stronger than MDF, made of cross-grained strips of wood laminated together to make durable boards. The best furniture grade plywood has 13 layers, is typically 3/4 inch or thicker, and so is a cut above common plywood or OSB that you can find at your local home improvement store. Furniture grade plywood is actually more stable than solid wood, which is subject to movement with changes of temperature and humidity, though it is still less strong and dense. Furniture grade plywood is a good choice for framing components, though it is rarely used for exposed, decorative components.
Found in much of today's furniture, MDF (not particle board or OSB) provides an alternative to materials like furniture grade plywood and solid wood. While not as strong as furniture grade ply or solid wood and rarely seen in bench-made items, MDF's stability makes it a reliable choice for veneered products that need a stable substrate to ensure the veneer doesn't detach.
So What?
Basic materials play a huge role in the quality and longevity of your furniture! Low density wood products like particle board don't have the longevity of alternatives like solid wood. Oftentimes, better materials are accompanied with better construction techniques and standards.
Poor construction can result in screws that don't stay put, surfaces that discolor or detach, or frames that simply can't hold their weight. And there's a lot more that distinguishes quality and disposable furniture than the wood components.
If you're tired of replacing furniture you bought a year ago, it's time to consider quality.
Chair and Sofa Quality
This chair frame is built with solid hardwood along with support rails, dowels, and screws, all of which ensure that the chair is structurally sound for years to come. Solid wood frames remain the standard for bench-made upholstery, while 13-ply furniture grade engineered frames are the top choice for efficiency and stability.
This image shows an eight way hand tied spring system and a steel band seat base. Large helical coils are hand tied together with polyester cable, with eight points of contact on each spring, undergirded by steel bands for increased durability and support. This spring system is the time-tested choice for hand built goods. Nevertheless, there are a variety of other seating systems available that also provide lasting comfort and durability.
Foam quality plays a significant role in the longevity of your cushions. Low density foams are going to wear down more quickly. The cushion in this chair is high density, has spring coils, a layer of down, and is wrapped, providing soft support and minimizing the loss of resiliency over time.
Recliner Quality
Like a stationary chair or sofa, the spring seating system is very important with reclining furniture. This chair features a one-piece banded steel spring chassis, offering greater support for the seat and even weight distribution for the frame.
The mechanism is the part of a reclining chair or sofa that is responsible for all of the movement. These are typically made of steel, though the gauge differs with the quality. Overbuilt and well-engineered mechanisms are going to have a higher weight capacity and are usually accompanied by better manufacturer warranties.
Many reclining products feature powered mechanisms, headrests, and lumbar adjustments. The quality of the motors, remotes, and wiring connections supporting these functions matter, as do the warranties for them. Inexpensive motors won't stand the test of time and they aren't always easy or affordable to replace.
Fabric Quality
Cottons, linens, blends, microfibers, velvets, chenilles, tweeds, polyesters, nylons, acrylics, and the list goes on. There are nearly innumerable fabrics available in the global upholstery market, all with their unique strengths and weaknesses. Basic quality is very important, but so is application. A great fabric used in the wrong scenario is going to disappoint. Working with an honest and knowledgeable decor specialist is key to avoiding picking upholstery that's ill-suited to your needs.
Hallmarks of fabric quality are high tear strength, backing thickness, rub count, and colorfastness, among others. Leather is assessed differently. Another key to upholstery quality is the tailoring. Clean lines and taut fabrics require both skill, careful design, and competent quality assurance. You also need to consider fabric feel. Some of the most durable fabrics, like those used in high-quality outdoor furniture, can withstand serious abuse, but they may not provide the supple hand-feel you want for your living room. You want a fabric crafted to your priorities.
Leather Quality
There are a lot of misleading categorizations thrown around concerning leather quality. For example, some sources will tell you that full-grain leather is the best of the best, full stop. However, full-grain leather is top-grain leather (leather with the topmost layer intact). So, what's the difference? Full-grain leather has an unprotected top layer while top-grain leather's outer layer may have been lightly corrected, embossed, or protected. Does that mean full-grain is always better? No! There are plenty of full-grain leathers that are of poorer quality than top grain alternatives.
Leather quality depends more on things like how clean the hide is, what kind of cow it came from, the finishing processes, and the skill of the tannery producing the leather. Oftentimes, embossment and mild correction are more about style and function than raw quality. At a dealer like Eller & Owens, you will find products with natural full-grain and top-grain leather options. Furniture products, which are typically subjected to heavy use, are good candidates for natural or full-grain leathers only if you're ok with your piece aging noticeably with use, as full-grain leathers lack protective coatings that you can find on some top-grain leathers.
"Genuine" leather is another misleading categorization. "Genuine" means nothing more than "it came from a cow." Some of the poorest leathers are "genuine." "Genuine" bonded leather is made by shredding leather scraps and gluing the resulting pulp together. "Genuine" split leather is made by taking the lower layers of the hide, sanding them smooth, and putting a coat on top. In both cases, you may be getting "genuine" leather but these leathers are not well-suited for furniture applications.
There are lots of ways to tan, dye, and finish leathers. Some tanneries do it differently than others, but there are some shared basics. Aniline leathers are typically full-grain or "natural," colored with transparent dyes to preserve the natural characteristics of the hide. Semi-aniline leathers use pigmented dyes and/or mild protective coatings to reduce imperfections and increase durability against stains and scratches. Protected leathers use more heavily pigmented dyes and stronger protective coats than semi-aniline finishes, resulting in maximal stain and scratch resistance. Correction and embossment may also be used for semi-aniline and protected leathers.
Casegood Quality
While basic materials are important when determining the quality of items like dressers, credenzas, and display units, there are other important construction specifications, like the thickness of drawer-boxes. Thinner drawers are not as sturdy as drawers with greater thickness. The same can be said of drawer-fronts as well, as some drawer fronts are made from multiple pieces or with thinner boards.
English dovetailed drawers, like the one pictured, have long been considered the gold-standard for drawer construction. There are other dovetail styles of similar quality, but it's also important to consider other factors like hardware, drawer glides, and finished surfaces, even if you see dovetailed drawers.
The structural integrity of a casegood also depends on the major loadbearing components, like the carcass, rails, and braces. Are these components made of solid wood? How thick are they? Are they held together with hex key bolts, wood screws, or more advanced joinery? Are the side and back panels made of solid wood? Are exposed surfaces well-finished or are they made of plastic-like veneers?
Bed Quality
The most noticeable components of most beds are the headboard and footboard. As you know, basic materials and design matter since the headboard and footboard are responsible for holding up much of the bed's weight. A headboard or footboard built with weak materials will result in a bed that's prone to wobbling or, worse, breaking.
The rails are the wooden boards running the length of the bed, connecting the headboard and footboard and the brackets are what couples it all together. Rails take the full weight of your mattress and all related movement. If the rails are thin or weak, and the brackets and bolts aren't stable enough, the rails can twist, warp, and snap over time.
Legs ground the bed and support its full weight. If your mattress sits on an adjustable base, the bed's structural integrity isn't as crucial, but you still need to account for any force the headboard, footboard, and rails are subject to.
Table and Chair Quality
What makes or breaks a dining table? Strong legs, firmly attached to the table top, and a good finish. Because dining tables are primary eating surfaces, they are exposed to foods, liquids, and clanging silverware. A strong, moisture resistant finish is a must for a long-lasting dining room.
While we could wax endlessly on great dining chair design, one of the most surprising features of quality dining chairs is the comfort. Don't think a dining chair can be comfortable? Think again! Carefully designed and hand-built chairs have subtle contours and curves that help take the pain out of long dinner parties.
Value That Lasts
Not only is reliable furniture good for you, it's good for the environment. The less furniture you have to replace, the less you have to buy. The less you buy, the less gets made. The less you have to dispose of, the less ends up in landfills. The sum total of less disposable furniture in our world is a less wasteful furniture industry and a less wasteful end consumer.
