[Soliloquy]

Originally Posted by Soliloquy

They subscribe to things and change their decor frequently vs their mothers who have had the same sofa for 40 years..

Originally Posted by Chaos Coordinator

Wait, I can’t keep furniture for forty years because *it doesn’t last that long*

I guess I need to clarify more. In my quote above I was not giving a qualitative comparison. Whether to spend more on a sofa or not is a neutral choice.

The marketplace has changed to meet consumer demands. Back when my mom was a young wife, it was expected to keep the same sofa for decades. Getting it re-upholstered every 20 years was what you did. Every city had several shops that re-upholstered furniture. Now, I don't know if you could even find such a shop. My mom didn't make a choice between a cheaper sofa that wouldn't last and a more expensive sofa that would last. There was only once choice. Many people saved up for years to buy a piece of upholstered furniture. When I was a kid, we were allowed to SIT on the sofa. That's it. We couldn't lie on it, bounce, stand, and most certainly we never ATE on it. Because it was expensive and everyone knew it had to be taken care of. Our TV was in the kitchen and we sat on the hard wooden chairs to watch it.

Somewhere between when my mom got married in the 1960s and when I became and adult, much cheaper furniture that would not last as long became available. People had choices. Cheaper, less durable furniture won out. My MIL used to work at a furniture store that sold the more expensive furniture that lasted decades. It went out of business, not because of some capitalist plot but because the customers stopped going there and went to the likes of Ashley and all the others.

You can still buy furniture that will last decades. It will cost at least 5x as much as furniture at the throngs of stores that sell the cheaper stuff. Very few people, including myself, are interested in investing that kind of money into a sofa.

I am noticing a current trend toward minimalism that may swing the pendulum back the other way toward fewer things that you keep longer, seeking out higher quality. Maybe not.

---------- Post added at 03:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:10 PM ----------

My only point in bringing up the differences in furniture between decades is that each generation has different options than the ones that came before it. And values can change. And it's very tempting to label the younger generation as ungrateful and the older generation as having had it easy, or vice versa.

My mom can be shocked that I let my kinds do all kind of crazy gymnastics on our sofa. But I am mentally and financially prepared to replace it in 10 years.

It's not about the sofa.