Everyone enjoys a comfortably furnished home where everything is just the way they want it, especially when you can do that at a fraction of the price thanks to many internet companies making it possible to have just what you want. Thanks to new materials, construction and styles, consumers can find an almost unlimited range of furniture in every style and price range. As with any investment, however, it pays to keep some basic facts in mind before you begin shopping for furniture. The purpose of this page is to provide you, the consumer, with basic information and guidelines so you can have the most enjoyment and the most value for your furniture dollar.

Company: Over 90% of online companies are catalog only or are located outside of US with nothing more than a book in their hands. Those companies usually sell product that is suitable to their marketing requirements rather than consumer needs. For example: many reputable companies will not sell to catalog vendors or companies without certain inventory levels. If you are quoted 8-12 weeks delivery time this should be your first warning sign. Be sure all contact information and phone number is always available. Remember 800 numbers do not ensure they are located in the US. Email customer service to check their response time, if you have to wait 48 hours on reply be sure you are ok with the same service in case of a problem. It is not uncommon or unusual to ask where the company is located, and how they conduct their business. It is your money after all.

Inventory: Before you purchase furniture you have to ask yourself what is the reasonable delivery time you are willing to wait. Many companies that offer quicker delivery times and overall customer satisfaction warehouse the inventory rather than using drop shippers.

Delivery: Next to deciding on your furniture this may be the most crucial step in furniture buying process. Proper packing and the right carrier can make the difference between repeat customer and damaged merchandise. Most companies who maintain a warehouse offer their own improved packaging to address this issue. According to a recent study one of the largest furniture e-tailers suspended its nationwide delivery and decided to offer referral service instead. Main reason given: drop ship damage ratio.

Discounts: One of the most tempting benefits of online shopping is discounts and selection. In general, the furniture industry has been operating on fairly high margins due to low foot traffic and non-reoccurring income. This is not the case with many online furniture companies. It is possible to save a bundle and still get the same quality furniture. Centralized warehousing and volume sales can drive prices down well below traditional retail. However, do not assume all companies are equal. Various companies will offer discounts based on quality sacrifices rather than taking advantages of lower operating costs.

Private labeling, also known as private branding has become one of the most popular ways for manufacturers to offer a vast array of product without actually producing it. Some of the best know brands today actually put their own names on a product produced by yet another company. Example: have you ever seen very same product in different stores under 2 different names and prices? In many cases this is a perfect example of private branding.

Number one question in the furniture industry is: "is this solid wood or veneer?" Well, the answer is yes. Here are some myth busters to most common furniture misconceptions. Word veneer actually does not refer to whether something is wood or not but rather the way it was made. Here are some types of veneering used today.

"Solid wood" furniture means that all exposed parts of the piece are wood. But the frame and inner parts may be made of other materials. Because timber cut from trees is not the size or shape required for furniture, bonding is used to join pieces together. In addition, this process is used to prevent warping, splitting and other issues plank wood will experience throughout the years. Frequently a plywood sheet will be surfaced with a high-grade veneer. Construction of 5-ply or 7-ply boards can offer great strength, stability and durability, so the use of plywood (as opposed to solid wood) in furniture construction is not a bad thing. Most plywood's are stronger and lighter than wood. For these reasons, manufacturers sometimes use plywood in non-visible areas of furniture construction where strength is paramount. This mostly applies to higher end furniture, as lower cost products tend to use paper veneer over particleboard.

The use of non-solid wood products is probably the most maligned and misunderstood aspect of furniture construction. As wood is porous by nature, solid wood has a tendency to expand and contract as the humidity changes. In constructing the large flat panels that make up the tops of tables or the sides of cabinets, solid wood does not offer the necessary stability. Plywood and products manufactured of ground up wood are significantly more stable and less apt to warp or split. These large flat panels will often be framed in solid wood and covered by veneers to recreate the look of one large piece of wood. MDF is often compared to Particleboard, where in reality they have very little in common. MDF is superior to Particleboard in everyway way except its price. MDF is a very dense type of wood material made from very small, fiber-like particles, particleboard has very large particles and it tends to be looser than MDF.

The beautiful grain you see on the top of a dining table or dresser is most often a wood veneer-a slice of wood selected for its outstanding character. Dating back to ancient Egypt and Rome, veneering became commonly used in the 17th Century. Today the use of veneers is found at every price level of wood furniture. The advantages of veneering are many. In covering the core panels, veneers are often applied creating patterns that add interest and beauty to the piece. Often, more expensive woods which would be impractical or fragile to use as structural parts are used as veneers. For example, Crotch Mahogany, often utilized in eighteen century designs to give that fiery look to the front of a Chippendale armoire could not be utilized structurally due to its gnarled character. The use of "veneering" is a time-honored technique in furniture construction. It involves using layers of decorative woods "bonded" on the top and bottom of "ply" construction. Veneering allows manufacturers to match fine grain wood sections and to use inlays of various woods to create beautiful designs that cannot be found in solid woods. Ply construction increases the strength and resistance to warping, and is found in all price ranges including most expensive furniture on the market today.

Some surfaces that look like wood on a piece of furniture may not be. Due to the high cost of veneering, a method has been developed that reproduces the grain of wood photographically. This wood image is then applied over the flat panels to simulate a wood surface. There are two ways to tell if what you are looking at is an engraved or printed surface. The grain will be perfect, with none of the flaws of nature, and the grain will have no variation in texture as one would expect from a piece of real wood. This process is being used primarily on the inside backs of cabinets where the manufacturers feel they can save a little without being obvious. However, on less expensive furniture, you might find engraved surfaces almost anywhere. The drawbacks of engraved surfaces are that they are not repairable and that when coming in contact with a solvent, the grain may come off. Ask your furniture salesperson, if you are not sure, which if any parts of the piece you are considering are engraved. This process is in most cases used on lower end furniture and it does have some serious drawbacks over solid wood veneering. Paper veneering is the main reason why term " veneer " has been abused for the last few years.

This type of surface is mostly used on country, mission, farmhouse types of furniture. Above styles allow use of these types of materials because its simplicity and lack of advanced carvings or pattern surfaces. Above all: imperfections, scratches , etc only add character to its already distressed and casual look. Because of tendency to "flex" it is not used or recommended on more formal types of furniture.

Furniture finish is one of the most overlooked features during a furniture purchase. Proper stain is the difference between years of shine and color depth or pealing and cracking. It has been said that a piece of furniture looks only as good as its finish. Most of the fine furniture sold today goes through a finishing process involving many steps. After the piece is thoroughly sanded, a stain is either sprayed or wiped on. Sometimes the grain is "highlighted" using steel wool. If the piece is traditional in design, distressing, or fly specking can be added using anything from a chain with bolts to a paintbrush dipped in black paint to give the piece an aged look. Hand rubbed, also known as a wiped finish is by far the preferred way of staining furniture. Sprayed finish usually will hide the natural grain and usually does not penetrate as well.

I hope you found the above section useful while making your decision. If you have any suggestions or wish to contribute to this tutorial, please submit your request: webmaster@maxfurniture.com