Quality furniture (bedroom) manufacturers

[Autoeng]

I'm looking to buy a new bedroom suite but am tired of looking at crap. I'm looking for solid wood that is made to last. What I have been seeing is particle board with sticker applied veneer in the $1,300 for the set range.

I don't have money to throw away so I want this set to last. The bed I sleep in now is almost 100 years old. I have another complete set (Davis Cabinet Company) that was made back in the early 1970's and is made like furniture should be made. I'm local to Berea College Crafts but I think they are over priced (just the bed is $2,500 range).

What stores or brands could I be looking at to save myself the aggrevation?

 

[CMF]

Here you go!

Durham Furniture.

Charles

 

[vacationlover2]

I love Hooker furniture.

 

[noson7982]

Crawford furniture

I like Crawford Furniture

http://www.crawfordfurniture.com/

 

[zinger1457]

Seeing that your from Kentucky I would recommend that you take a weekend trip to Greensboro/Highpoint NC. There are several furniture malls in the area and you'll have a chance to look at quality furniture from several different manufacturers.

 

[laura1957]

Just bought a new bedroom set in November - Thornwood furniture. They have dealers all over. It is solid wood and I love it.

 

[CMF]

Seeing that your from Kentucky I would recommend that you take a weekend trip to Greensboro/Highpoint NC. There are several furniture malls in the area and you'll have a chance to look at quality furniture from several different manufacturers.

No need to make the trip. Go to your favorite pricey local furniture seller, get the info for the pieces you like, and order the furniture from Green Front Furniture. You will save thousands. A trip to NC to furniture shop can be overwhelming and exhausting.

Charles

 

[tlwmkw]

We bought from Lexington. Very solid and well made in mahogany or cherry. We have dark stained cherry and are very happy with it. They aren't cheap but they aren't ridiculously high priced either. You can look at the various collections online. I second the recommendation of Green Front furniture- they are in Farmville, VA and are great to deal with. We've bought furniture and oriental rugs from them.

 

[Chrisky]

There is also Kincaid. They make solid wood furniture.
http://www.kincaidfurniture.com/index.cfm. We've had one of their diningroom sets for 15 years now and just love it.

 

[Twinkstarr]

I like Crawford Furniture

http://www.crawfordfurniture.com/

My bedroom furniture is Crawford. Had it 14 yrs and still looks great.

 

[Beaglemom3]

Seeing that your from Kentucky I would recommend that you take a weekend trip to Greensboro/Highpoint NC. There are several furniture malls in the area and you'll have a chance to look at quality furniture from several different manufacturers.

I did this and recommend it. For me, I have to see it in person; touch, feel and sit in/on it. I'm not very creative, so when I see the room displays, it's an "aha !" moment.

B.

 

[Twinkstarr]

No need to make the trip. Go to your favorite pricey local furniture seller, get the info for the pieces you like, and order the furniture from Green Front Furniture. You will save thousands. A trip to NC to furniture shop can be overwhelming and exhausting.

Charles

That's what my mother did with her dining room set and this was in the early 80's and she saved thousands.

You do have to be careful, my sister got an ear full from a salesperson about checking the stuff out locally then calling NC to get it cheap.

Bridal shops do the same thing, they take the tags off of dresses, won't let you take a picture. There are a bunch of online retailers that can save you $800+ and throw in free shoes and veil on top of the $ savings. So the locals don't want you coming in trying on dresses then ordering them from someone else.

 

[pjrose]

We have Ethan Allen and love the quality - BUT that's from before the company was taken over by an Asian company, so I don't know about their quality now.

One thing to consider is the type of wood. We went for pine in a Shaker style and love the look, BUT it scratches and dents easily, and the pieces our kids could reach need to have their tops refinished. Oak and, I think, maple or cherry would have been much more durable, and I wish we had gone one of those routes.

 

[Elan]

I don't know what style you're after, but what about Stickley?

www.stickley.com

If that's too expensive, then maybe Canal Dover?

www.canaldover.com

 

[somerville]

Henkel-Harris

 

[pwrshift]

I think there was a thread on this subject a year or so ago ... you might try a search.

My bedroom is Thomasville and I still love it after 3 years. Very well made in my opinion. Pricey.

Brian

 

[nightnurse613]

Don't overlook a local furniture auction. All of my family buys their furniture this way. You have to check each piece out-some are still brand new in boxes. I just paid $150 for a couch I saw locally for $850. It depends on whether the auctioneer buys close out models. Ours buys entire stores for pennies on the dollar and passes the savings on.

 

[pcgirl54]

I have been looking for a bedroom set to replace our solid wood Kling collection that is 30 yrs old and is excellent quality. I cannot find a good quality set either. The furniture stores have mediocore sets. A sales rep told me that most sets are made in Asia even Ethan Allen.

I also need a set with a bureau that is not 42 inches tall or more since I am short. He said because people move so much and replace more often that sets are not made as well as when I bought. There is so much veneer junk that will easily chip.

I have not heard of some of the names posted except for Stickley,EA and Kincaid.
I have also bought wallpaper thru American WP and Blinds by copying the code from the wallpapers books then gettting a discount just like furniture.

We have 3-4 outlets in central Ma but I would love to visit the NC outlets someday myself. Family members have bought this way and saved thousands.

 

[M. Henley]

Just a Suggestion

Don't overlook Sams Club. You can orderr and have shipped to your local store for free.

 

[Autoeng]

Thank you for all the replies. I did a search and found the older threads which had some good contact info in them. I pasted this below for those that might stumble upon this thread.

http://www.furniturelandsouth.com

http://www.lexfurniture.com

http://www.highpointfurniture.com

http://www.boyles.com

http://www.furnituredirectly2u.com

http://www.basista.com

http://www.outletfurniture.com

http://www.greenfront.com

 

[jlr10]

My first job was as a duster in a furniture store. (Yep. Someone has to dust that furniture!) I also worked in their warehouse. Our highest quality manufacturer was Thomasville. They used solid wood and did dove tailed construction on their drawers, and they stood behind their product.

We lived without real bedroom furniture for 2 years after we got married as we wanted good quality. Once we had enough to purchase furniture we bought a Thomasville cherrywood bedroom set. They didn't do the dove tail construction anymore but it still looks great 21 years later. It wasn't cheap but it has sure been worth the cost in quality and durability.

 

[John37130]

Recommended reading

We just went through the exact same process. We were planning to buy a new king size bed, and we wanted to know which brands were best. I did a web search, and I found a great article on about.com titled "Which Furniture Brands are Best? Comparing Furniture Companies." The article was based on a book written by Leonard Bruce Lewin, a 42-year veteran of the furniture industry. The name of the book is "Shopping for Furniture: A Consumer's Guide." It was published in 2004.

The article was very good, and it gave a one paragraph summer of the author's conclusions for each brand. Unfortunately, the article isn't available on-line anymore. However, I checked and you can get the book on amazon for about $10. It would probably be a good investment.

Good luck!

John

 

[Rose Pink]

Then there is the argument that one will get tired of/ bored with the same furniture and want something different in ten years so only buy moderately priced furniture. If it falls apart in 10 years you have a good excuse to get something new and different. I have a great four poster cherry queen anne bedroom set. Had it for years and years. I'm kinda tired of it. I just had to have it. It was expensive but I just had to have it. I mean, I really just had to have it! Tastes change. I wonder now why I just had to have it?

 

[jlr10]

Then there is the argument that one will get tired of/ bored with the same furniture and want something different in ten years so only buy moderately priced furniture. If it falls apart in 10 years you have a good excuse to get something new and different.

This is a valid point, which I considered, but the original post was a request for furniture that would last. So that's how I based my answer. Sometimes I think a new bedroom set would be nice, especially since we moved to a a different house that had a smaller master bedroom. But our furniture is very traditional and not trendy so it doesn't really look dated. I found that just changing the paint and drapes made everything new again.

 

[Glynda]

High Point

I live near High Point and Hickory and visit often. If you want to see a huge inventory of furniture, sit on it, touch it, by all means go there. However, it is no longer the cheapest way to actually buy furniture. Write down the necessay information and then get on the web and get quotes. I've found Lexington Furniture Co in Lexington, KY and Elite Interiors in Myrtle Beach to have been the cheapest on what I was looking for.

Also, once a year (June) in Hickory, NC, Boyles Furinture Company holds a huge sale in the convention center. It's a three day event and people come from around the country to buy. It can be chaotic and there is no time to ponder whether you want something as it will be snatched from you but there are some real bargains there. If anyone is interested in attending this, let me know as I can give you some information and helpful hints.

I also vote for Henkel Harris but they are expensive.