To avoid overpaying
for furniture, ask the right questions and brush
up on some furniture knowledge. Here's what to
look for:
Inspect
the sofa's frame and cushions
When you approach the piece ask yourself
if it will fit your home. Is it comfortable?
There are four components to sofas: the
frame, the spring system, the cushions and the
tailoring.
If the frame is hardwood, ask
if it's kiln-dried, which takes the moisture
content out of the board. To check the quality
of the frame, we recommend feeling the thickness
of the board on the side of the sofa at the
bottom. It should be 1¼-inches thick, anything
less and it could squeak when people move around
on the couch.
"The salesperson should be
able to explain the springing system. That's the
first question you should ask," At Interwood we
have a trained team to answer all your queries .
Eye the
tailoring
Also look at how well
the sofa's fabric is tailored. To do this, check
to see if the seams are even and if the piping
(the tube-shaped edging) lines up.
When
you've found the ultimate in quality, the fabric
pattern flows. Like wallpaper, it should wrap
over the entire piece, including the back skirt.
The pattern should start on one segment and
continue on to the next, and there will be a
seam in the center of the sofa's back.
Ask if it's
top-grain leather
When buying
leather, it's important to listen to the sales
person. If he presents it as a leather match or
says it is leather-like, then it's not leather.
The only way you can tell the difference is by
looking at the base of the sofa to see if it's
dyed all the way through.
"There are
unscrupulous retailers who will try to sell it
for more and will get away with it,"
Check the drawers
and veneering
With bedroom sets,
dining room sets, tables and the like, look at
how all the pieces are proportioned in relation
to each other. On pieces with drawers, notice
how they are hung. "If they are tilted, that
indicates the quality of the manufacturer very
quickly." Take out the top drawer and check to
see if the inside feels rough. Rough drawer
interiors indicate a lower quality. And a better
piece of furniture will have dust panels that
stop you from looking through from one drawer to
another.
Look at the corner of the
drawer, and see how well the veneers match on
the corners. Veneering is a synthetic process in
which decorative woods are applied on top of
solid cores of material such as, plywood,
particle board or medium-density fiber board.
Find out who's the
backing the
warranty
Manufacturer's warranties
on wood furniture typically cover splitting and
cracking for one year. On upholstered furniture,
the warranty covers the frame. Better quality
furniture will have warranties of up to five
years on the spring system and cushions.
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