A friend of mine moved out of his parents house just recently and he had no furniture to put in his new apartment.
Not surprisingly, he also had no real budget for furniture to put in his new apartment.
This is where I came in.
I take a certain pride in being a bargain finder.
The trick is to find the best balance between price and quality.
Failing that, buy the cheapest one that isn't a piece of junk.
Words to live by.
One thing that everyone should be able to see for themselves is most cheap furniture is made from sawdust and glue.
Sure, it might look like wood.
It used to be wood.
It's not wood, though.
They took all the throw-away wood, ground it up and mixed it with some sort of chemical that keeps it all stuck together.
Then they press it into the shapes they want and put it in a kit that you need to assemble.
The assembly isn't the problem.
In fact, the "engineered wood" isn't always a problem either.
The problem is much more subtle than that.
In short, there are no real standards for this new wood product.
If they were building houses out of it there would be load bearing tolerances and all sorts of things they would need to specifically know (and tell you) about the material before they could use it or sell it.
Since they're just building desks, dressers, and media cabinets they don't have to.
Heck, they could build chair beds from this stuff if they wanted to.
They don't usually because when it breaks and you fall out and get hurt they don't want to be sued.
What you need to do is either avoid engineered wood products altogether, or recognize that some fake wood is better than others.
As a general rule, the company with the better material will probably also have sturdier designs and be easier to assemble, but don't quote me on that.
Go and look at the drawers.
The cheapest drawers won't even have a solid bottom, they will have a bottom that's made of a material sort of like really firm cardboard.
If you see that, avoid.
Also, pull the drawers out and fiddle with them.
If they have any problems sliding, you probably want to avoid the piece.
Finally, literally shove the furniture and observe how it moves.
All furniture will wobble somewhat, and taller (and lighter) furniture will wobble more, but it's not the size of the wobble that matters so much.
Look at the joints and see if any pieces seem to be fitting too loosely.
Get a feel for how much abuse the unit can handle.
You may not plan on abusing your furniture, but furniture that can stand some abuse will also wear better over the long term.
Not surprisingly, he also had no real budget for furniture to put in his new apartment.
This is where I came in.
I take a certain pride in being a bargain finder.
The trick is to find the best balance between price and quality.
Failing that, buy the cheapest one that isn't a piece of junk.
Words to live by.
One thing that everyone should be able to see for themselves is most cheap furniture is made from sawdust and glue.
Sure, it might look like wood.
It used to be wood.
It's not wood, though.
They took all the throw-away wood, ground it up and mixed it with some sort of chemical that keeps it all stuck together.
Then they press it into the shapes they want and put it in a kit that you need to assemble.
The assembly isn't the problem.
In fact, the "engineered wood" isn't always a problem either.
The problem is much more subtle than that.
In short, there are no real standards for this new wood product.
If they were building houses out of it there would be load bearing tolerances and all sorts of things they would need to specifically know (and tell you) about the material before they could use it or sell it.
Since they're just building desks, dressers, and media cabinets they don't have to.
Heck, they could build chair beds from this stuff if they wanted to.
They don't usually because when it breaks and you fall out and get hurt they don't want to be sued.
What you need to do is either avoid engineered wood products altogether, or recognize that some fake wood is better than others.
As a general rule, the company with the better material will probably also have sturdier designs and be easier to assemble, but don't quote me on that.
Go and look at the drawers.
The cheapest drawers won't even have a solid bottom, they will have a bottom that's made of a material sort of like really firm cardboard.
If you see that, avoid.
Also, pull the drawers out and fiddle with them.
If they have any problems sliding, you probably want to avoid the piece.
Finally, literally shove the furniture and observe how it moves.
All furniture will wobble somewhat, and taller (and lighter) furniture will wobble more, but it's not the size of the wobble that matters so much.
Look at the joints and see if any pieces seem to be fitting too loosely.
Get a feel for how much abuse the unit can handle.
You may not plan on abusing your furniture, but furniture that can stand some abuse will also wear better over the long term.