How much is too much for quality furniture?

[LouLou]

Our current bedroom furniture is very Mustaschian - my husband's childhood bedroom set that he has used for the last 28 years!  We have enjoyed our free furniture, but it is time to move on.  This furniture will be dispersed throughout the house for other purposes.  We have a baby on the way in 7 weeks, so the nursery will get the dresser.  My MIL will be staying at our place once or twice a week to help with baby, so the guest bedroom will get the Queen (full?  I don't even know) bed.

I have reviewed lower cost options for about a year - craigslist stalking, visiting second hand stores, IKEA etc.  We are doing higher priority DIY projects and with a baby on the way it is unrealistic for us to build.  (We just built out an in law suite because my mom is moving in to be our nanny!).

I found some solid wood, quality furniture to buy for our bedroom.  This is the first furniture I have even liked.   But all together, the pieces would be close to $4,000!  We would pay cash without affecting our finances.  The longevity of our current bedroom set makes me lean towards spending the cash. We would use this furniture for decades.  Husband says to just order it.

Thoughts?  I want to make sure this is a reasonable decision, instead of throwing money at a problem. 

[lizzzi]

Off the top of my head without analyzing it too closely, I would say just get it. You have the money, you like it, you will keep it forever. My husband and I got a nice bedroom set after a few years of makeshifts and junk, and enjoyed it for 20 years.  I never regretted it, and now the furniture is having its second incarnation in my daughter's guest bedroom. It still looks very nice. Just being Mustachian doesn't mean you have to have a house full of junk.

[Cassie]

20 years ago I spent 4k on a solid wood set that we are still using. YOu can afford it so buy it.

[MrsDinero]

We did it about a year ago.  We bought solid wood furniture with classic lines and trim.  One year in we are still happy with our purchases and plan for these to last us 20+ years.

I would suggest staying away from trendy shapes and designs.  Over time it can always be repainted or restained but trendy shapes are harder to change. 

[crispy]

I always remember older friends lamenting how they wished they had bought nice bedroom furniture before they had kids because they never seemed to have money after. I told my husband that I didn't want junky furniture for the rest of my life so we spent 3k on a nice solid wood set when we were newlyweds and are still using it almost 17 years later. I always try to buy used if possible, but sometimes you just can't find what you are looking for. I don't think it is a bad purchase if you plan to use it for a long time.

[ArcadeStache]

I'm a fan of the IKEA Tarva and Nornas lines of furniture. It's solid pine and unfinished and can be stained or finished however you like. It's inexpensive and pretty solid. We are buying a few pieces for our son's room which I plan to stain/finish. It's a fairly Mustachian solution which can potentially give you really nice furniture if you are handy with a brush.

[sun and sand]

I do not think that $4000 is too much at all for furniture.  I would pay it if that was what I wanted. I am happy with the $800 custom linen tufted headboard that I have.  Plus a lovely antique dresser I got for cheap and painted with cheap chalk paint.  Old treadle sewing machine with new marble top for side table.  But, this is a totally different look.  Get the furniture.

[Kitsune]

Is that 4K with a mattress, or without?

Also, i recommend buying a king bed if you can... We would up with a kid who would ONLY sleep if she was touching someone, so she slept with us for 9 months (unplanned, but necessary for parental survival). She's 2 now, and sleeps in her own bed, but she likes to crawl into bed with
 Us on weekend mornings to read books over coffee. Bigger bed is very, very useful.

[libertarian4321]

A little over twenty years ago, when we got our first house together, we both had the twin XL beds from when we were single.

I bolted the frames together, bought a $200 King mattress to put on top of the box springs, and we are still using it (we did replace the mattress once).  It works great!  The night stands are the also the ones we had when we were single (both bought used for practically nothing).

We invested the $4,000 we saved into a low cost index funds.  We haven't regretted it for a moment.

[Lyssa]

I got a solid wood bedroom set and book shelves about four and five years ago, respectively. Still enjoying those every day.

[2Cent]

Bedroom stuff might be worth investing in, but honestly an IKEA bed sleeps just as well as a solid wood bed. Just get a nice mattress. For the living room I would not buy anything expensive as kids have a habit of destroying your furniture.

[Zamboni]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

I bought big and very nice bedroom furniture once upon a time (pre-MMM days). It does still look great 15 years later, but it is very large and will be hard to use when I downsize in a few years. It's also traditional style, while my tastes have migrated to more modern styles. My plan is to give it away, hopefully to a family member.

My other half has an extremely nice 6 piece bedroom set that we got on Craigslist for $400, and I got my son's bedroom set on Craigslist also for $400. Obviously these were much better deals. Each time I had to look daily for about 2 weeks to find exactly what I wanted. We are in a populated area, though; might not work as well if you are in the country. It helps that I have a van and can pick up items on very short notice.

So these days, if I had to do it again, I would lean towards making a serious effort to finding something nice that is also used.YMMV

[Cranky]

Solid wood dressers are worth buying, especially if you aren't one for redecorating and replacing your furniture every few years.

Our dressers are probably from the 40's, and we bought them for $10 each at the church rummage sale. My dd has my mom's dressers, which they bought in 1949. That stuff holds up.

But we're not fussy about furniture styles...

[younggunner]

We bought two dressers from IKEA, though I am not sure of the style name.  I must say, we love them both!  The quality is much better than we both anticipated since we had some bad particle board type furniture from IKEA, but these ones are solid wood and seem to be very nice.  The quality I'm sure is no comparison to higher end furniture, but it's worth consideration if you want to save $

[abhe8]

I would buy the furniture. Do you have any links? I'm looking for a  bed for my master as well.

[big_owl]

We just spent $6k on two chairs for our basement last weekend.  So it's def doable lol. 

[Kitsune]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

We bought the Ektorp Ikea sofa, on sale, for under 500$, and bought an extra slipcover.

Babies are GROSS. Spit-up, diaper leaks, and then eventually bottle leaks and sticky hands... EWW. Having a couch you can strip down and wash on a bi-weekly basis (or as needed, depnding on when it gets really gross) can be a blessing.

Also, I'm MUCH less paranoid about my kids jumping on it and wrecking it. Like, yeah, they might (and probably will) but we basically bought that one in hopes that it'd last 7 or so years - long enough to have us through the baby/toddler phases for everyone and to be able to enforce basic cleanliness and sanitation in the meantime.

Otherwise? Leather couches. At least they can be wiped down.

Every single friend I have who had microfiber or fabric couches that weren't washable either put slipcovers on them for a few years or had to get the couches re-covered/replaced.

[iris lily]

I am 62 years old and have never had  a "set" of bedroom furniture, or a "set" of anything, for that matter. I have an 1880's walnut chest of drawers and our beds are on simple frames. We have built in closets, so dressers are not important here.

While I might theoretically buy an high end mattress, I wouldnt buy nice or high end new furniture for a bedroom. The fashions becomes outdated quickly. The last trend in new beds that I liked was sleigh beds, but those are already out of fashion. Now those upholstered head boards  with wings are in. They will be out of fashion in 5 years.

the only classic beds I like are spool spindle beds and some brass beds. It is difficult to Configure an antique bed to be converted to full and queen. King size? Forge it.

I just think that bedroom furniture is a waste of money.

I do have a few antique pieces I love in living areas, just not in bedrooms.

[MrsDinero]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

+4
Yes we bought expensive (for us) bedroom furniture, but we are hoping to keep our 9 year old leather living room set for another 7 years.

[Lyssa]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

+4
Yes we bought expensive (for us) bedroom furniture, but we are hoping to keep our 9 year old leather living room set for another 7 years.

Does any couch last 10 or more years???

I know both my parents and mine looked/felt pretty old after 5-7 years, irrespective of price.

[GuitarStv]

Our leather couch in the living room gets daily use and is six years old now.  No visible signs of wear at all.  We have a cheap fabric couch that gets occasional use and is nearly toast now at five years old.

[lbmustache]

I'm a fan of the IKEA Tarva and Nornas lines of furniture. It's solid pine and unfinished and can be stained or finished however you like. It's inexpensive and pretty solid. We are buying a few pieces for our son's room which I plan to stain/finish. It's a fairly Mustachian solution which can potentially give you really nice furniture if you are handy with a brush.

I will second the solid wood lines of IKEA. I have some Hemnes stuff that is still going strong 10+ years later. In general, solid wood is worth the cost because it will last forever. My parents have solid wood couches (maybe $5000) that are over 20 years old and still look good. The fabric/cushions were reupholstered about 10 years ago and even those have held up.

And I'll also second the leather couch. Well maintained, it should last for awhile.

[GuitarStv]

And I'll also second the leather couch. Well maintained, it should last for awhile.

The key is that it has to be real leather.  Not that bonded crap that most big box stores pretend is leather.

[Kitsune]

And I'll also second the leather couch. Well maintained, it should last for awhile.

The key is that it has to be real leather.  Not that bonded crap that most big box stores pretend is leather.

Yes. REAL leather. And no matter what you do, not suede.

[MrsDinero]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

+4
Yes we bought expensive (for us) bedroom furniture, but we are hoping to keep our 9 year old leather living room set for another 7 years.

Does any couch last 10 or more years???

I know both my parents and mine looked/felt pretty old after 5-7 years, irrespective of price.

One side of the couch has been worn in more than the rest, but now we rotate the sofa and love seat so it gets equal wear.  The love seat is in still almost new condition.

[Kitsune]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

+4
Yes we bought expensive (for us) bedroom furniture, but we are hoping to keep our 9 year old leather living room set for another 7 years.

Does any couch last 10 or more years???

I know both my parents and mine looked/felt pretty old after 5-7 years, irrespective of price.

One side of the couch has been worn in more than the rest, but now we rotate the sofa and love seat so it gets equal wear.  The love seat is in still almost new condition.

Some do. My parents have this absolutely amazing couch that is super comfortable, slipcovered and washable, and is still perfect after 12 years of heavy wear. That said, I think the SALE price was over 5K, so... not happening in my house, not ever.

That said, something that can help is getting a couch where you can switch around the pillows - the end ones usually get worn down more, and usually one end more than the other. Switching around the pillows every few weeks/months evens out the wear and makes it look less uneven.

[MMM98]

It is almost impossible to find American made furniture anymore.  The exception is Amish made.  Thanks to the internet it is all available to you at reasonable prices.  Let me be more specific, the price can be reasonable, some charge reasonable make up while others do not.  It is worth considering.

[MrsDinero]

It is almost impossible to find American made furniture anymore.  The exception is Amish made.  Thanks to the internet it is all available to you at reasonable prices.  Let me be more specific, the price can be reasonable, some charge reasonable make up while others do not.  It is worth considering.

We got our bedroom furniture from:  http://www.mainewoodworks.com/

We found them through a local furniture store.  It took almost 3 months for the furniture to be made and delivered but the wait was very worth it.

[iris lily]

It is almost impossible to find American made furniture anymore.  The exception is Amish made.  Thanks to the internet it is all available to you at reasonable prices.  Let me be more specific, the price can be reasonable, some charge reasonable make up while others do not.  It is worth considering.

No, there are still American manufacturers.
I recently bought from Joybird and the construction and fabric are solid. I just dont like the scale, too big, but thats my fault for not payng attention to the measurements when i ordered. Ii went for style and color.

[Drifterrider]

How long is a piece of string?

Your question is subjective.  Do you want furniture to last 10 years or 100 years or longer?

Are you rough on furniture or do you take care of things?

Do you think you might like to hand it down to other generations or dispose of it in a few years?

I bought quality bedroom furniture 23 years ago.  Still have it.  It will outlast me.  It is still just expensive wooden boxes to hold my stuff.

[OlyFish]

The best thing I ever bought was a king sized tempurpedic mattress whose cost took my breath away and alerted the fraud department at my bank. I sleep better on that damn thing than I ever had on anything else, and the daily back pain that I used to wake up with is now almost completely gone. I think it cost me more than $3000 just for the mattress.

I think as long as you can afford it without sacrifice and it is a classic style that you will like for a long time, then you already have your answer. sometimes quality items cost more for a reason. I am planning to eventually (when our IKEA dressers give up the ghost) get a really well made, Amish-constructed dresser that I can use for the rest of my life. We have a specific savings account for furniture that I put a certain amount into every month, so we can replace things as needed.

[libertarian4321]

^So true for the living room. Sofa, especially, go cheap while you have children.

Third-ing cheap couches while you have small children.

+4
Yes we bought expensive (for us) bedroom furniture, but we are hoping to keep our 9 year old leather living room set for another 7 years.

Does any couch last 10 or more years???

I know both my parents and mine looked/felt pretty old after 5-7 years, irrespective of price.

Last year, we replaced a 25+ year old Montgomery Ward couch I had bought on clearance when I was single.  It was big, ugly, and very comfortable.

The couch was still perfectly functional, but once in a while I give into my wife's occasional frivolous purchase.  My wife spent $1,000+ on a new couch. 

The couch looks so nice, I'm afraid to sit on it, for fear that I might spill something on it or in some other way damage it's pristine beauty.  Plus, honestly, it's not all that comfortable.

I really miss the old one...

[Guses]

I bought 200$ worth of wood for a 500 bottles cellar that I made myself.

With the leftovers, I crafted a solid 3x3 living room table that we really like and that will basically last forever. I would guesstimate it would be worth 400-600$ in a non fancy store.

Now that I have dipped my toes, I will be buying another 150$ worth of wood and will be crafting a 8 seating table that is expandable to 16 covers.

tl-dr: No, I would not buy a set for 4,000$.

[Miss Prim]

I couldn't find a bed that I liked or could afford for almost 25 years!  My husband and I were using a cheap set from when I was single (queen head board and dressers).  Surprisingly, for being cheap, it was very strong and well built.  I finally found what I was looking for at an Amish furniture store and bought it.  It was not cheap, but as far as I'm concerned, it is a family heirloom!  My cheap set, it has been passed around the family so many times and been painted, etc and it is still in great shape!  When my son painted it dark brown and put new pulls on it, I almost wanted it back! 

I say if you can afford it, go for it!

                                                                                      Miss Prim

[Choices]

I bought expensive last-a-lifetime furniture when I was still in debt and loved it, but it was such a huge purchase in my world that I was afraid to scratch it so didn't use it much. Then I moved, and it all got nicked and scratched in the process and the company lost our stuff for a few months.

Now, I love it even more. We've used paint and markers to camouflage the worst of the scratches and I'm no longer afraid to use it.

Bottom line: if you love the furniture and can pay cash for it without it affecting your family's finances much, go ahead. But make sure that you'll use and enjoy it. Otherwise buy cheaper stuff that you'll feel comfortable using and enjoying.

[Civex]

If it is truly quality and you like it, a few thousand dollars is not out of line in my opinion.

We purchased handmade furniture from a fairly "local" retailer 6 months after purchasing our home and while I very much balked at the price at the time, I have come to really enjoy it. The place we went through primarily makes log cabin type furniture, but they also do a rustic line, which goes well with our house. The pieces are *heavy* and even after ~18 months of use look amazing. If you can get locally made, I would be willing to pay 2x compared to the big box type stores- the difference in quality between a small craftsman and Pottery Barn/HOM/Ashley is just huge. I got on board after my dad talked about how my grandparents had the same bedroom set for ~25 years-- for something that will last a lifetime, get what you like.

---Mustachian laugh- we went to pickup our bedroom and living room set with my 15 year old, 200k mile Subaru and a borrowed trailer to save on shipping. I'm pretty sure that the sales lady threw on the volume discount ( that we didn't technically meet) because she thought she was bankrupting us. We had a >40% savings rate last year :)

[LouLou]

I had a detailed reply that I never actually posted.  Oops.

Thank you for all our responses.  I appreciate being challenged to build or buy used.  Our first instinct is to build, but this was more difficult and lower priority than the other furniture my husband has built, and much lower priority that the house construction.  I also liked those IKEA lines that were mentioned.  If I need other pieces in the future, I will get the unfinished IKEA products.

Ultimately, we bought the furniture. This was by far our biggest non-real estate purchase as a couple, so we pledged that we would use this furniture for at least forty years.  The furniture was made in the USA, and the retailer was a local family business.  A high quality, long term purchase in line with my values seems reasonable under the circumstances.

The salesperson offered us lower deposit than their policy because our purchase was so large.  She was pleasantly surprised when we could pay for the whole shebang. And we got free delivery!

[Metric Mouse]

Solid wood dressers are worth buying, especially if you aren't one for redecorating and replacing your furniture every few years.

Our dressers are probably from the 40's, and we bought them for $10 each at the church rummage sale. My dd has my mom's dressers, which they bought in 1949. That stuff holds up.

But we're not fussy about furniture styles...

This - quality furniture is good. It does not have to be expensive. $4k is outrageous to pay for furniture that you sleep on.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

I would say to get the nice furniture. We spent extra on our living room furniture and have no regrets. We enjoy well designed furniture and we will have it for the rest of our lives.  It's all mid century and high modern stuff, but the materials are durable and the design is timeless. Some of these pieces have been in production since the 1920's and are suitable for use in public spaces like a lobby in a museum. They should be more than capable of handling the light use we give them.

I watched my parents waste a lot of money on furniture over the years. They replaced stuff because it didn't hold up well or the design became dated. If they had bought nicer stuff from the start and been less fickle, they could have saved several thousand dollars.

[sstants]

I think you're hesitating for a reason, OP.

$4000 is a ton of money, regardless of what you are spending it on! I don't think this is a 'just buy it' situation either. I know you feel rushed because you have a lot of life stuff going on, but taking a second to step back and think about the 'whys' in any given situation can be really helpful. Why this set? Why do you need it immediately? Can you wait a few weeks and shop around and think about things? Is there a better/less expensive way to get something that you will enjoy and that will serve the same purpose?

I think I would try to get creative and spend half as much and dump the other 2k in a college fund for the baby. That will easily grow to 8k in 18 years and you'll still have a functional bedroom.

[2Cent]

Another nice thing in furniture shopping is that you can usually bargain quite a bit. So that $4000 set you could probably get for $2500-$3000 if you do your bargaining right.

[Monocle Money Mouth]

Another nice thing in furniture shopping is that you can usually bargain quite a bit. So that $4000 set you could probably get for $2500-$3000 if you do your bargaining right.

Good call. You can also get good deals on scratch and dent stuff or floor models if they are willing to sell them. We got some really nice furniture by using the floor model strategy.

[GorgeousSteak]

I'm honestly a bit surprised by the number of people who say they have spent that much and are condoning this.  4K just feels a little high for a mustachian to me.  I don't think bedroom furniture is all that important, you're only in there when we're unconscious for the most part and guests rarely see it.  We still bought a really nice set, but on craigslist, so it was like 800 bucks, probably 4 or 5 times that new.  We did buy one of these fancy Amish tables people are talking about for a couple grand.  We eat it every night and it has a very prominent location in our home so its value to us is higher, but still this was pre-MMM and I don't think I'd do it again, I'd stalk craigslist.

[A440]

Craigslist is great!

Maybe there is nothing wrong with a $4000 bedroom, but it is so much better when you get it barely used for much less.

We got our bed on craigslist, the matching dressers from the factory store, and a dresser in similar style on craigslist that I restained to match the others.  I think they look great!  Maybe not everyone would agree.

[Lyssa]

I'm honestly a bit surprised by the number of people who say they have spent that much and are condoning this.  4K just feels a little high for a mustachian to me.  I don't think bedroom furniture is all that important, you're only in there when we're unconscious for the most part and guests rarely see it.  We still bought a really nice set, but on craigslist, so it was like 800 bucks, probably 4 or 5 times that new.  We did buy one of these fancy Amish tables people are talking about for a couple grand.  We eat it every night and it has a very prominent location in our home so its value to us is higher, but still this was pre-MMM and I don't think I'd do it again, I'd stalk craigslist.

It's always cool if you can buy slightly used!

But I'm not entirely surprised that a lot of Mustachians are willing to buy fairly expensive furniture if it's durable and timeless (not subjected to fashion).

This is how furniture was bought and treated for generations before it became just another consumption item. As were several pieces of cooking and kitchen ware. If you love cooking and are not fortunate enough to have inherited a nice cast iron skillet it can make sense to buy one. 

The problem with consumer culture is not so much that people buy expensive things but that they replace things (expensive or not) so often. I would have no problem with apple products if they could and would be used for 20 years. What's outrageous is that these things are (and are supposed to be) replaced every other year.

[Cognitive Miser]

We spent around $4000 for our master bedroom furniture.  American (Amish) made, solid wood that we plan to keep forever.  My husband has good taste and likes to buy high *quality* items.  I'm more frugal but willing to go along if I see it as a forever-purchase.

We had more hesitation about dropping $4000 on a genuine leather couch and ottoman.  Again, American-made, and this time, the builder custom-built it to our specifications.  We'd been looking for two years and couldn't find anything that fit our needs.  We're tall and my husband has really broad shoulders.  Standard 21" cushion depth just wasn't cutting it for us, and we had it built extra-long as well for napping on.  Napping on a couch might not be important to everyone, but we're thoughtful about how we really live, and we nap on the couch.  The main reason we hesitated is because we have an unruly toddler and a second baby on the way... but we've had several friends assure us that leather is good for raising kids.  And we were SO TIRED of not having any living room furniture!  Every time we looked on Craigslist or hit up a secondhand store all we felt was despair, and every time we hit up a regular furniture store all we felt was disgust at the value and very few options presented.

We've been furnishing our home very slowly because we are so picky.  The things that end up satisfying us tend to cost more, and so we can't go on shopping sprees - we have to save for a while.  Perhaps not very Mustachian, but the important thing is the focus on VALUE or cost per use, and absolute unanimity between the two of us.  My husband isn't particularly interested in FIRE, but we can furnish this way even when he maxes out his tax-advantaged accounts, so it works for us as a couple.  When we decide that something is good enough quality, and with classic enough lines that it could perhaps be used by our grandchildren, we know we're ready to pull the trigger on a purchase.  Our house does not look like one of those modern home-blogger houses with the pops of color and the white-painted-everything.  In fact I really don't see decor like ours on any blogs :)