s/o curious: how often do you replace furniture such as sofas?

[SKL]

We have been living in this house 20 years and are on our 2nd sofa, only because someone rubbed the upholstery off the cushion of the first.  We have only bought 1 kitchen set and one of each appliance, except the stove/oven, which is still the original one from when the house was built (maybe 30yo?).  All our other furniture was also bought 20+ years ago, and we have no plans to replace anytime soon.

 

Is this unusual?  I hear of people doing a lot of furniture shopping and I wonder....

 

 

ETA:  I should clarify that my kids' furniture is not 20+ years old.  I bought new for them.  I bought stuff that should be useable for a long time, though.  A convertible bunkbed, large dresser/hutch, adult-sized desk with adjustible-height chair.  I expect it to last pretty much forever.  :)

[DawnM]

We replace when necessary.  

 

We bought two full sets of sofas about 20 years ago, both from the same place, but one was cloth and the other leather.  The cloth set wore down about 5 years ago, although the bones were still good.  We thought of recovering it, but the cost was almost the same as replacing it, so we opted to replace them.

 

The leather set, same make, are still going strong.

 

 

[Tsuga]

Practically never. I bought one set of furniture when we married (overseas, so the whole set, chairs, etc. TV wall unit, etc. was <$1000 all together). Sold it with the apartment as furnished (this was overseas where that was "done"). We got our $ back.

 

My current partner bought his furniture after his previous girlfriend moved out (four years ago). It was the only set of new furniture he'd ever bought and he had quite a bit of money at the time having shared a low rent and both working with only two kids. We have less money with four kids and COL going up.

 

So this all has to last. :)

 

We have his ex-MIL's washing machine and dryer from 30 years ago. Other stuff comes from the rental. If we ever have to buy it's going to be Craigslist.

 

We have also never owned new cars.

 

ETA--I realized reading other answers I need to qualify a few things.

[Upward Journey]

When the first one wears out or we unexpectedly get gifted with a replacement that's in better shape than what we already have :)

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think this is going to depend on a lot of factors.  If you have several kids and they are rough on furniture you might need to replace more often.

 

In the 15 years we've been together:  We replaced our mattress.  We bought a second couch because I disliked sitting on the first one, but we still have it.  I basically gave it to the kids.  Other than that, we've had most of the same furniture for years.

 

 

[Guest]

Our cheaper furniture has run down faster than the expensive stuff.  After I realized this, I stopped buying cheap furniture unless I find a cheaper piece that I can tell is of good quality.  We paid a lot for our appliances and they have held up well.

[Annie G]

We had furniture handed down from dh's parents.  We used that until 20 years ago when we bought new living room furniture and put the old stuff in an upstairs room. A few years ago we replaced the 20 year old set and gave it to a friend's son who was getting married. He reports it's still going strong and looks great. Meanwhile, our 3 year old stuff is showing signs of wear. I wonder if furniture isn't being made as well these days because so many people want to replace it as style trends change.   Our old set lasted through raising four kids, and they jumped on it, ate on it, slept on it, etc! 

 

This fall we ordered a piece of furniture for dh and me.  We narrowed it down to two manufacturers because we wanted something made in the USA. One had a five year warranty and the other had a one year warranty.  The one with the shorter warranty was almost triple the price and we were just unsure whether the higher price meant higher quality or not.  So we went with the longer warranty. Delivery is Friday...hope we chose something that will last. 

 

 

 

 

[Arcadia]

We replace furniture when we outgrow them in terms of functionality or when the furniture is kaput. Like younger boy cracked his IKEA wooden wardrobe door so there is a longitudinal crack but it's still functional.

 

We have an IKEA sofa bed that have survive "No more monkeys jumping on the bed".

[Guest]

Oh, and as far as our mattress, we had one from my childhood home, originally, but decided to get a new one a year or two after we were married.  We got a "good one" so it's held up for 9+ years and still seems new.  Our wood furniture that we paid a lot for looks great after many years.

[DawnM]

I will add that when we replaced our last set, we did some research and bought the brand we wanted off of CL.  We bought Flexsteel.  The sofa was originally $3,000 and we bought it for $600 just a couple of years old.  It is holding up very well.  The chairs are something else, but they were cheap enough (CL) that we don't care if they don't last too long.

[momofkhm]

We have been living in this house 20 years and are on our 2nd sofa, only because someone rubbed the upholstery off the cushion of the first.  We have only bought 1 kitchen set and one of each appliance, except the stove/oven, which is still the original one from when the house was built (maybe 30yo?).  All our other furniture was also bought 20+ years ago, and we have no plans to replace anytime soon.

 

Is this unusual?  I hear of people doing a lot of furniture shopping and I wonder....

 

We've been married going on 24 years.

 

The living room set was bought early in our marriage.  It's still in good shape.  The kitchen set was given to us with our first house, it was used.  The dining room set was given to us used.  The family room set was bought after we moved into this house, it's maybe 12-15 years old.  It's leather and one piece has a crack, others are fine.  Our bedroom set was bought used about the same time - 12-15 years ago.  Mattress was new.  The kids got beds as they needed them, they all have new mattresses within the last year.  

 

We are on our second oven, second dishwasher in this house.  We bought the fridge used, old on is in the garage.  We are on our third washer/dryer since we bought our first house.  First house was within a year of getting married.  We've been in this house going on 17 years.

 

So we don't buy furniture much.

[Farrar]

We've averaged about 6 years per sofa, but we've bought cheap. The last one I bought about 4 years ago and I paid more. It hasn't held up as well as I wanted... but it has held up better than the previous ones. I give it at least another four years. Hopefully longer.

[Joker]

We purchased our kitchen table and chairs for $200 (total for all five pieces) 18 years ago. It's still going strong. We've replaced our sofas after 15 years. The kids had been hard on them and it was time.

[Garga]

Married 22 years.  In that time we've bought 3 couches.  

 

The last one is dying and I'm ticked.  We bought it about 5 years ago and I expected it to last a good 10-15 years. However, it's a couch bed. The cushions are starting to sink and I think it's because it doesn't have the bones of a normal couch. I'm not a big woman but I sink into the couch so much that it's hard to get up out of it. I direct my larger friends to the chairs when they visit because they'd get stuck in the couch.  It's embarrassing.

 

We're going to live with it for a while but we'll have to buy a new one within the next 2 years.  This time it won't be a couch bed.  We'll move the couch bed to the playroom for the boys and the couch that's in there now (a good 18 years old) will be let go.  It's pretty raggedly since I've let the boys do somersaults on it for the past decade.

[Nemom]

I've been married almost 23 years and I am sitting on our third set of living room furniture. This is the set that I spent more on in the hopes of it being around for the long haul. It is falling apart (I swear it gets worse daily) so I'm guessing within the next year we will be shopping for new.

 

I agree that the quality of furniture has really gone down hill and it just is not made to be around for 20 years.

[Jenny in Florida]

Hmmmmm. When we were first together, we had a sofa-kind-of-thing that consisted of a wooden frame and with foam cushions that I bought used. When we got bored, I would recover the cushions. We had that for about 10 years, until we moved and decided it wasn't worth paying to bring it along.

 

When we arrived in Florida 17 years ago, we bought a futon on a sofa-like frame. About 12 years later, we bought new living room stuff from Ikea and my son claimed the futon for his room. Five years later, the Ikea stuff is going strong. Someone sleeps on the sofa at least a couple of nights a week, on average, and all of our animals climb and sit on it. Nonetheless, it's in perfectly good shape, and we have no plans to replace any of it any time soon.

 

(For what it's worth, for those who dismiss $800 as cheap for a sofa, we paid about half of that for the Ikea piece and are not the type to treat our furniture with great care, but it's held up just fine.)

[Spryte]

We don't furniture shop much either.  Our first sofa was with us for 12 years, and we replaced it only when the allergist and pulmonologist suggested/strongly recommended that we move to leather furniture for allergy/asthma reasons for DS.  It is still in use, in another home, and looks great.  Sadly, I have been less than thrilled with our (I felt) pricey leather furniture.  We've had it 6 years, but I feel it should be holding up better - the bones are great, the cushions are fine, but the leather on the seats was wearing badly.  We are actually having the cushions re-covered this week, which is a lot less than replacing the furniture itself - hopefully the new leather on the cushions will hold up better.  

 

 

[hornblower]

I dislike old stuff. We have a couple legit antique things but most other things I prefer to change... it probably works out to every 5-7 years.

If it doesn't look like something I'd buy now, if it screams last decade & tacky, it goes.

stuff like this  

:D

[Annie G]

Our bedroom furniture and dining room set (which is where we eat every day) are pieces my grandmother ordered after World War 2 ended and new furniture became available again.  Really, the only furniture we have worn out is upholstered stuff like couches, and appliances like stoves and refrigerators.  Oh, and mattresses- we just bought our third set last year.  

 

Our dryer is 22 years old and I'm convinced when it dies the replacement won't last nearly as long. Never had to repair it, and that's pretty awesome!

 

[Guest]

We have been living in this house 20 years and are on our 2nd sofa, only because someone rubbed the upholstery off the cushion of the first. We have only bought 1 kitchen set and one of each appliance, except the stove/oven, which is still the original one from when the house was built (maybe 30yo?). All our other furniture was also bought 20+ years ago, and we have no plans to replace anytime soon.

 

Is this unusual? I hear of people doing a lot of furniture shopping and I wonder....

I try to replace such things as infrequently as possible. I like for things to last and I really hate buying them again. Our Family Room set really ought to be replaced and I hope to do so this year or next, but it is appx. 15 years old. My dining set was bought used from a lady who was moving into a retirement home. I don't plan to ever replace it, though I might recover the seats eventually. I have had to replace a few appliances when they failed much earlier than I expected (Whirlpool fridge lasted five years; Whirlpool washing machine lasted six - see a theme here?) I bought new mattresses for our bed and DD's bed last year, but all of those furnishings are our first set. Dd's bed was an antique in the first place. i will say I am not fond of the style of our bedroom set. It screams 90's. However, it has great cabinets on both sides (sort of headboard/side table combo.) i love having all that cabinet space beside my bed and nightstands are not typically set up with that much storage. So i mostly ignore it. We will probably only replace it if/when we move to a smaller home. It takes up a big wall space.

[MEmama]

In 23 years together we've replaced furniture a couple times, but only to upgrade and not because items wore out. One couch did break, but that was FIL's doing during one of our many moves (and the only time he helped us). We've had our current couch 10+ years and several moves and I'm starting to think it might be time to replace it. It's in fantastic looking shape but the cushions are less than firm.

 

It's harder to say IRT appliances since we've moved so many times and just used whatever was left in each house.

[In The Great White North]

The only "furniture" in the house younger than 20 is a mattress.

 

The sofa bed, which we sleep on, kids jumped on, etc is 24.  It could be cleaned but that's about it.

[Sherry in OH]

One of our sofas is almost 18 years old.  I reupholstered it two years ago because the original fabric had worn through. Our other sofas are four and five years old.  Both are still in great condition even though we are rough on furniture.  The old sofa is a Lazy-boy sofa bed.  The other two are Flexsteel.  We also have a futon of undetermined ago.  Dh owned it when we got married.  It could use a new cover, but is still functional.    

 

Our furniture is a mix of old, but not quite old enough to qualify as antique, hand-me-downs and pieces we bought.  We try to buy quality pieces that will last.     

[Guest]

Posted Today, 04:05 PM

Married 22 years. In that time we've bought 3 couches.

 

The last one is dying and I'm ticked. We bought it about 5 years ago and I expected it to last a good 10-15 years. However, it's a couch bed. The cushions are starting to sink and I think it's because it doesn't have the bones of a normal couch. I'm not a big woman but I sink into the couch so much that it's hard to get up out of it. I direct my larger friends to the chairs when they visit because they'd get stuck in the couch. It's embarrassing.

 

See this is what makes me very nervous. Our couch MUST last no less than 15 years. If it looks like hell, DH will NOT care. I feel like I got very lucky with our couches because it was not expensive furniture and was bought off the floor at your typical Big Furniture Showroom. It isn't great, but it isn't as horrible as it could be by now. The upholstery is some magical fabric upon which you would never imagine gallons of coffee, spit-up, and breast milk have landed.

 

The pine tables have sucked for ten years. I even hand-made a cover for the coffee table that was on there for years.

[Tess in the Burbs]

dh and I were given some furniture when we married.  I know an early Ikea sofa was given away(cat marked it).  Sofas were new but damaged in one of our many moves.  So what is here now:

 

couch/chair/ottoman 10 years old.  Feels horrible.  Cloth worn out.  

Ikea chairs- brand new.  replaced sofa damaged in move. 

Kitchen table in school room.  10 years old.  

kitchen table in kitchen---it's an outdoor table bought on clearance from ikea recently.  Hope to buy new table/chairs this year.  Using chairs from old table.  old table is too big for the space. 

our bedroom furniture.  14 years.  would love to replace.  

mattress is 10 years old. would love to replace. 

 

kids room:  dd chooses to sleep on top of sleeping bag on the floor.  Her bed is 9 years old.  Mattress too.  She likes the floor.  Her dresser is 5 years old from Ikea.  DS has 8 year old mattress but new frame/boxspring.  using one of my dressers.  

 

we all have new desks.  Had to sell old ones when we moved.  

 

Sadly, whatever is new is Ikea.  And not high end Ikea.  

 

Ideally we would like new mattress/boxspring, new leather couch, and kitchen table/chairs.  

[Wabi Sabi]

We've never kept a sofa for more than 4 years. Most only last 1-2 years. That being said, we've only once bought a new sofa. It was cheap ($500), we used it for 4 years, and then sold it on Craigslist it for $300 when we were tired of it. 

We change sofas often because we're fickle and cheap. A couple of times we've been given nice sofas by family members who no longer wanted them. However, if something better comes along, I don't hesitate to off-load the current couch and take the newest hand-me-down. 

I also like to look for vintage furniture. We've had a couple of couches that looked great, but after having them for a few months decided that they didn't fit our room or style of decor well, or they were just not comfortable, so we just resell them and find something else. We bought our current living room set (sofa and 2 chairs in mint condition from the 1960s) from an elderly couple going into assisted living and paid $150 for the whole set. At that price, we can afford to use them for a year or two and then resell them to someone else once we tire of them or find something even more awesome.   :laugh:

ETA: One example- We have been slowly collecting mid-century pieces for the past 10 years or so. I desperately needed a china cabinet and found a decent mid-century one at a flea market for $80. It's not perfect, but it'll do for now. However, I constantly keep my eye out for good mid-century pieces, so if/when I ever come across another china cabinet that I like better I'll swap it out and Craigslist the $80 one. 

 

[fairfarmhand]

Living Room furniture--13 years and they still look great, but it's a formal living room that doesn't get food in there and there's not TV in there, so doesn't get as much wear. It's a Broyhill.

 

We're on our 2nd matress set in 17 years.

 

Bonus room furniture (no-name discount brand. Not cheapest stuff ever, but not the best either) was bought 5 years ago to replace the furniture given to us by my in-laws, who recieved it 2ndhand from a relative. The furniture was made in 1975. HIDEOUS stuff. It was all we had though, so I guess it was better than sitting on the floor. Current, new furniture still looks great, despite plenty of use, TV is up there in Bonus room, so it's our main gathering place for the family.

 

Washer/Dryer brought 15 years ago. They've been worked on. I bought a new HE washer and hated it. (clothes stunk, didn't get clean, and it messed up several times in the 3 weeks I owned it) so my dh fixed the pump in the oldie that was still in teh garage and I took the new HE back to Lowe's.

 

Fridge and stove are about 13 year old and still working (knock on wood) Dishwasher was replaced last summer after 12 yrs of service. Microwave is about 10 years old.

[Sherry in OH]

Married 22 years.  In that time we've bought 3 couches.  

 

The last one is dying and I'm ticked.  We bought it about 5 years ago and I expected it to last a good 10-15 years. However, it's a couch bed. The cushions are starting to sink and I think it's because it doesn't have the bones of a normal couch. I'm not a big woman but I sink into the couch so much that it's hard to get up out of it. I direct my larger friends to the chairs when they visit because they'd get stuck in the couch.  It's embarrassing.

 

We're going to live with it for a while but we'll have to buy a new one within the next 2 years.  This time it won't be a couch bed.  We'll move the couch bed to the playroom for the boys and the couch that's in there now (a good 18 years old) will be let go.  It's pretty raggedly since I've let the boys do somersaults on it for the past decade.

 

Cut a piece of plywood a bit smaller than the space under the seat cushions.  That will give support when using the sofa and can be removed when the bed is needed.  

[Joyoustxmama]

I don't think so!  My parents have had the same furniture for 20-30 years.  My mom took care of it, and it looks better than my furniture.

 

We have no plans to even entertain replacing ours, either, unless distaster strikes, until all of our boys are over the age of 16 (I have 3, youngest still baking).  I let the kids eat dinner sometimes on the couches and coffee table, and they climb and jump on it whether I "let" them or not, and honestly - I don't want to have to police really nice or new furniture while my kids are kids.  I feel like the grumpy barking mom often enough being also the teacher of dreaded subjects like handwriting or reading.

 

My house is always a slight disaster anyhow.  It's fairly clean, but cluttered with kid stuff/toys/activity areas/books/homeschool stuff, and we don't entertain much.  The somewhat well-loved furniture fits with the rest of my decor.  

 

I'll admit I do wish sometimes I had one room of sanctuary, with soft beige linen couches (we have dark brown microfiber) and flowing curtains (ugly but practical brown blinds throughout) and pretty art (no $ for that right now!) and delicate sentimental collected objects on low shelves (3 boys under 10.  not. a. chance.).

 

 

 

 

 

[Bambam]

Going on 25 years of marriage. We still have the couch and recliner that we purchased 18-20 years ago. They survived everything, but they still look good but aren't as comfortable as before. I'd like to replace, but when I go look, couches feel cheaper now. I'm afraid to replace because I want the next one to last 20 years too!

We had a water bed for 20 years, and you do replace those mattresses semi-regularly. 

 

Dining room furniture - bought quality and except for a few paint spots, they look great. For some reason, though, we only purchased four chairs. That was crazy, we should have purchased more, but there were just the two of us at the time!

 

Bookshelves - purchased unfinished solid wood bookcases and finished them ourselves. Well worth the money and time to finish them!

 

I dislike purchasing furniture, so we'll probably keep this living room set until it finally fails or looks so bad we can't stand it anymore!

[SKL]

When we moved out of the grad school dorm in 1990, an older student sold us a bunch of stuff that he'd bought used - age unknown.  It included a kitchen table, 4 chairs, and 4 sections of a sectional brown couch.  (Maybe some other stuff - I don't remember.)  We still use the table/chairs (in the largest bedroom), and the sectional couch is in the basement.  It's still comfy, but it has always been kind of ugly.  My kids jump on it and it sits in the dampness of a basement, but it seems that thing will last forever.

 

I always wanted to buy antique furniture.  I think it lasts longer and looks nicer, if you find the right piece.  But my housemates have different tastes, and I was too deep in debt 20 years ago to go buy a houseful of furniture (or even a roomful) on my own.

[creekland]

You're supposed to replace furniture?   :lol:

 

We've been married 26+ years and most of our furniture was hand me down then or bought at auctions/estate sales.

 

Our couch and one bookshelf we did buy new.  Both are still with us and I have no plans to replace them anytime soon.

 

Two armchairs/recliners are newer.  One is now 10 - 14 years old.  The other was new last year.  Both replaced old predecessors. 

 

I can't stand the waste of replacing anything still decently functional.

 

Our appliances are all used until they totally quit too - then often replaced with an auction/estate sale model.

 

We need our $$ to fund our travel junkie habit - not to have a house suitable for House Hunters! 

[regentrude]

We replace when necessary.

We bought our current Ikea sofa we pre-kids, 19 years ago.

Our bookshelves are 19 years old.

My dining table is 70 years old (belonged to my grandma), and some pieces of furniture are 40+ years old (belonged to my parents who had them when I grew up)

 

[73349]

Our pull-out couch will turn 16 this year, and I'd like to replace it--it's a bit ugly and definitely too long for the room--but we have other financial priorities just now.

 

The rocking chair is a hand-me-down from my grandmother.

 

The dining set, bought secondhand ten years ago, looks like it will last forever, as does DH's desk, which is as old as the couch.

 

DS uses DH's childhood dresser. DH and I bought new ones 7 or 8 years ago. The finish on the top of mine was ruined by a leaking glow bracelet a couple of years ago. :crying:

 

The mattresses were both new within the last 5 years.

 

The washer and dryer are 10, and have needed repair work once. The stove is more like 15, and the broiler doesn't work. The fridge is only 2, I think; the previous one died.

 

The hand-me-down microwave is our record-holder, produced in 1988 (when DH and I were too young to own appliances). It still works perfectly.

[RootAnn]

Current couch (what we call the sofa) is 17 years old. Plan to replace when last child is out of the house if we don't have grandkids visiting. ;-)

Just replaced the microwave last year that was 15+ years old. (New one is already showing signs of dying.  :crying:  :thumbdown: )

Mattresses were purchased as kids needed them, mostly. Oldest is the guest one, also 17 years old.

Needed a bigger kitchen table somewhere between child #4  & child #5, so ... 5-10 years old. Older one is in use as a school table.

Two kids' dressers were originally my great-aunts - no idea how old they are. Two other kids' dressers were originally dh & BIL's - so 30+ years old.

The movable island in the kitchen had to be replaced about 10 years ago.

Washer-Dryer are also 17 years old. (Can you tell when we got new things?)

 

We only replace when we can't fix them anymore.

[kiwik]

I just bought cheap covers for the couches. I am going to have to get new dining chairs at some point. If I can't ignore it or fix it I replace it or do without.

[Laura Corin]

We've had the same kitchen table for about 20 years, but have replaced the chairs twice (first ones rusted in Hong Kong; second set the pads came off and the chairs were damaging the floor).  Our first marital sofa lasted about fourteen years - we sold it with the flat when we left China; one of our armchairs is about twenty years old, but it's in poor shape.

 

After we moved into this house, each of the appliances that came with it died, one after the other.  The only one that we replaced that didn't actually die was the range (when we redid the kitchen).

 

L

[The Girls' Mom]

Hard to say because of different factors.  We've been married 22 years.  Most of our furniture purchases have been upgrades or filling in larger houses.  We started with a 20 year old sofa and a tube style console TV that were given to us.  Over the years, as we could afford it we bought used and new furniture.  Our last sofa purchase was 6 or so years ago.  We moved into a house that our sectional would not fit in, and it was getting shabby.  We've replace our bed one time..although it is getting close to needing replacing again.  

[Ausmumof3]

We haven't bought a lot of furniture. DHs mum married not long before we did and we were gifted the second hand furniture as she was merging households. It was well maintained but fairly old fashioned and cheap in style. We did buy a new bed which is still in perfect knock though the mattress could be replaced. A few years ago we were gifted a second hand dining table. When we moved states we gave away some of it as it would have cost more than replacement value to relocate. An opportunity to buy a second hand couch came up a while ago which we took also we were gifted a dining table second hand. Unfortunately the chairs kept falling apart so we bought a new dining table which I love. The couches are fraying thanks to kids sitting on the arms. I am just going to stitch some arm things over them and wait till the kids are older before we replace it.

So we've pretty much only bought three pieces of new furniture.

 

All our baby gear was passed on or second hand except the pram. We bought a queen bed for guests which is now ds bed. Dd got a new bed. We bought one bookshelf. And one super cheap set of ikea drawers to fill a temporary need.

 

All up we've bought 6 pieces of new furniture... The rest is second hand or hand me down.

[IsabelC]

I would have to say that replacing sofas isn't a priority around here!

 

When we first got married we didn't have any furniture except a bed (and we hadn't even bought sheets for the bed, I remember the first night we slept on two single bed sheets placed across the bed  :lol: ). We found a super cheap secondhand lounge suite, then around the same time somebody gave us one, so we gave the other to our neighbor who didn't have any lounge furniture either. A few years later one of my SILs upgraded her lounge suite and gave us the 'old' one, which we kept because it wasn't as rubbish as our previous old one, but it still had rips so we had to put throws over the torn bits. Then 6 years ago a relative passed away and we inherited a 'new' secondhand lounge suite. Now that I think about it, we've never actually gone shopping for new sofas or armchairs. 

[mom@shiloh]

Talk to someone at a furniture store who you can trust.  We purchased our last couch and loveseat and a very reputable store in the middle of nowhere.  The store was the only business in the small town and people would come from miles around to shop there.  The store had been around a long time and had a wonderful reputation in spite of being in the middle of nowhere.  I include this info as a means of underscoring how important a store's reputation is.  They're not going to lie to you to make the quick sale.  They're in it for the long haul, which is exactly what you want from your furniture.

 

The woman at this store explained all the different furniture makers and told us what was going to last.  For example, Ashley Furniture is quite well known, but they only build their couches to last about five years.  If it's in a room without much use, it might last longer, but she took one look at all our kids and told us we didn't want an Ashley couch.  Many people only want a couch to last five years because they want something new.  

 

I don't even remember what brand we decided to go with, but I do remember that she told us where each manufacturer ranked.  We went with the 2nd highest one.  That was ten years ago and the couch and loveseat look just as good as the day we bought them and I fully expect them to last another 20 years or so.  We have ten children and lots of house guests so they get lots of use!  

[mom@shiloh]

Married 22 years.  In that time we've bought 3 couches.  

 

The last one is dying and I'm ticked.  We bought it about 5 years ago and I expected it to last a good 10-15 years. However, it's a couch bed. The cushions are starting to sink and I think it's because it doesn't have the bones of a normal couch. I'm not a big woman but I sink into the couch so much that it's hard to get up out of it. I direct my larger friends to the chairs when they visit because they'd get stuck in the couch.  It's embarrassing.

 

We're going to live with it for a while but we'll have to buy a new one within the next 2 years.  This time it won't be a couch bed.  We'll move the couch bed to the playroom for the boys and the couch that's in there now (a good 18 years old) will be let go.  It's pretty raggedly since I've let the boys do somersaults on it for the past decade.

We have two hide-a-bed couches and they don't do this.  They are very solid and are both at least 15-20 years old.  We purchased both of them second hand.  We purchased a Lazy Boy hide-a-bed new many years ago and in about 18 months all the upholstery was wearing out.  I mistakenly thought that Lazy Boy was going to be good quality.  Never again.  

[Sherry in OH]

We are going to look at dishwashers this evening.  Dh was home last night when I ran the current one.  He finally experienced the puddle I’ve been accused of exaggerating.   He doesn’t think the dishwasher is worth fixing.   

 

He asked my criteria for a new one.  Umm … quiet and doesn’t make puddles.  Which leaves out the boys hand-washing the dishes.

 

All of our appliances are the same age.  All except the refrigerator are contractor grade and were installed by the builder.  Does this mean everything else is going to fail soon?  I expected the washing machine to fail long before the dishwasher.   

[SKL]

We have two hide-a-bed couches and they don't do this.  They are very solid and are both at least 15-20 years old.  We purchased both of them second hand.  We purchased a Lazy Boy hide-a-bed new many years ago and in about 18 months all the upholstery was wearing out.  I mistakenly thought that Lazy Boy was going to be good quality.  Never again.  

 

I agree.  We bought a cheap one around 1990 and the sitting part is as solid as the day we bought it.  (But the bed part sunk in a lot after we let someone heavy sleep on it.  We still use it but the bed is not comfy.)  The only thing I don't like about it is that it's very heavy.  Have to hire two men every time we want to move it from one room to another.

 

[cjzimmer1]

Appliances and furniture are two different animals in my book. 

 

Appliances made today are designed with a short life span.  It doesn't matter if you buy high end or low end, it's designed to fail (average life span will depend on how heavy you use it).  Appliances made 30-40 years ago were made to last so it's no surprise that your old stuff is still going strong and my modern stuff has died multiple times.  We've been married 18 years and lived in this house for 17.  I'm on my 3rd dishwasher, and my second stove, fridge, washer and dryer and my 3rd or 4th microwave.  I only replace when they are no longer functioning (my stove had only 2 of the 4 burners working and the oven died, the freezer side of my fridge/freezer was warmer than the fridge, the dryer overheated and was leaving a burned smell on clothes etc).  Modern appliances cost almost as much to fix as it does to replace so usually there isn't much sense in trying to fix them.

 

Furniture on the other hand can still be bought with quality.  We have two couch sets.  One we had custom made because I wanted a specific fabric.  There are in great shape cloth wise.  The arm of one of the couches is flat because I always lean on that space, and the spring under one of the recliners has disconnected so it makes a terrible creaky noise (but still works okay).  I would totally pay to have them fixed if I knew where to take them because the fabric still looks brand new. I expect to have this set another 20 years.

 

The other set is a cheapy set my grandmother bought after my grandfather died.  She didn't have much money but had always wanted new furniture and my grandfather would never spring for one.  When she died, I inherited the set.  We've had it for about 15 years, and it probably should have been dumped 5 years ago but we don't have the money to replace it and since only the kids use it we don't worry about how bad it is.  BU

 

t yeah, I do know people who buy new furniture ever 5 years or so.  they say they are "tired" of looking at the old one.  I think they have too much money to burn.  But then I spent the money to get what I wanted the first time and still love the print/color so why would I want to replace that.

 

[flyingiguana]

We inherited almost all our furniture from my inlaws in the 80's -- originally purchased in the 70's or long before.  I guess some of it is "antique".  It was bought when my in laws first married or was handed down to them by their parents or grand parents.

 

And we bought a bed in the 80's.

 

That's all we have -- except for the kids' beds, which we got as hand me downs.  And some ancient desks I got at rummage sales.

 

I've been wanting a new sofa, as our vintage sofa from the 70's is a bit sunken in the seats.  But now you're making me think it would be silly to trade it in for a newer model that would only last a few years.

 

Our appliances are mostly 20+ yrs old.  We replaced the range, only because we could no longer buy parts for it.  But we might have replaced all the appliances a long time ago if my husband didn't fix things.  If we had to pay for parts AND labor we might think about replacing as the cost might be similar.

 

The down side of that is that my husband only gets round to fixing things when work is slow.  So we went 2 months without a dryer this fall.  If it hadn't been fixable, we might have just not bothered to replace.  But...  I can't hang clothes outside due to allergies, so the drying operation was taking up more of our house than my husband liked.

[Janie Grace]

We have been married 16 years and have bought one couch, about 10 years ago (hand-me-down stuff before that). It's high quality (NC-made) and it looks great, though it does have some stains that I can't remove completely. We will replace it when we are out of the dirty little kids phase... probably 5-8 yrs from now.