Investing in quality furniture usually comes to people as an instinctive understanding, a misty eyed lusty notion, or a concept for those that are concerned with their “things.” However, an investment in furniture is really none of the psychologically confusing aspects that we tend to place on it, it is simply a smart use of money.
Furniture often represents more to people than they are willing to admit. There are plenty of people like myself, who grew up in homes with furniture so expensive and pristine that it was unusable. What’s the point in buying a couch you never want anyone to sit on? Thus, when we hit our first apartment, we accepted any old hand me down and were completely satisfied to flop down on the rustic sofa with a good book and ignore the dust wave that resulted.
Others grew up in homes that were forever accepting the hand me downs, since the five kids who were going to assault it were usually able to destroy it within two years anyway. Emotionally, when those kids grew up, many of them found personal satisfaction in owning furniture that came straight from the high end store and delivered by timely men who were able to navigate the difficult stairway without a single scratch.
As we grow up a bit more, we tend to stop trying to undo our childhoods and start living as moderately rational adults. This includes the purchase of real furniture and putting into a real live space to live that we call home. This space can be anywhere, but it is the space we consider to have permanence in our lives. When we start really building our home (and this is certainly not age specific) we start looking past those hang ups we have about our youth and begin to approach the process with more diligence and reason.
When we start investing in quality furniture, most of us lack the resources to do even an entire room at once. Many people have to choose between furnishing their home piece by piece or opting for cheaper, more accessible furniture. Quality doesn’t always have to mean expensive, but it usually isn’t far from the mark.
By investing in the quality, you are less likely to have to replace furniture pieces again. One solid piece of furniture that is beautiful, well crafted, and timeless can last a lifetime. General pieces that have been accepted from every far corner of the world often last two years at most. This means that you either have to bite the bullet eventually if you want to stop replacing your furniture, live with ratty furniture that can make even a great place to live feel like an abandoned war zone, or continuously replace your pieces with modest and inexpensive furnishings.
We’re not just talking about buying some expensive furniture; we are talking about investing in quality. There’s a difference. When we invest, we are actually hoping that by the day we die our investment will mean something, usually financially. An investment means that you hope to get more out of it than it originally cost you. While most people don’t make money on their sofas and loveseats, a particularly unusual armoire or an intricate chest of drawers, and even a sophisticated secretary’s desk can eventually yield your future bloodlines a handsome return on your estate. Depressing thought? Not really. When we leave our loved ones with what we have, we hope that they will be able to benefit from our lives.
Quality furniture makes a fabulous statement to anyone who walks into your home. It makes a statement about how you live and who you are, which is why so many of us get hung up on finding the perfect pieces within our price range. The statement we make to ourselves is just as important. When we are willing to start investing in quality furniture, we are letting our generally—in—need—of—some—stroking egos know that we are willing to invest in our own environment, which is something most of were taught not to do. When we come home to a place that is furnished in quality, and we reward ourselves for the hard work we put in, it makes coming home that much more redeeming, regardless of what happened to us out there in the world that day. The environment we create for ourselves is a vital part of our general feeling of grounded rooting that makes us feel as though we have truly come home.
If you have to furnish your home piece by piece, try to keep yourself on a financial schedule so that the furnishing is complete within two years. If once a month or once every other month you are shopping for the next extraordinary piece of furniture, your enthusiasm will remain engaged. If you only go out once every six months, you are likely to feel more frustrated at how long this project is taking, and may even begin shortcutting in order “just get something in there.” That something is then likely to hang around a lot longer, and the money you could have put toward a quality piece of furniture has now been wasted on something that doesn’t make you really happy to see every day.
Investing in quality furniture is a process. But it is one that will likely pay off in at least one area of your life, if not numerous areas. When the project is complete, you’re going to feel better about your home, your environment, and of course, the knowledge that replacing furniture will now be done out of choice rather than necessity. Have fun making your statement that lets people who walk through your home know, someone who cares about their environment lives here.