How to buy furniture for the home

Furniture is one of the chief requisites in our lives, promoting, as it does, health and happiness. Few have wealth, but all must have a home. Do we realize what a factor the furnishing of a home is, in the scheme of modern civilization? We have as much a duty in educating the home-maker in the selection of furniture as in preaching civic beauty. To create harmony in a home is to raise the average of culture and intelligence.

The home life is influenced by its furnishing, and in the home the nation is moulded.

Without pleasant surroundings the child will seek outside amusements, thence the street corners and the attractive and well-furnished saloons. If one desires a well-furnished house, one should make house furnishing a study. Homes are brought up to the standard in ratio to the study which is put upon them, it being impossible to build higher than one's ideals.

The writer has been associated with the home-furnishing business all of his business life, from clerk to buyer, and then manager of one of the largest concerns in house-furnishings. He has kept in touch with the furniture markets by visiting them semi-annually for many years, as well as familiarizing himself daily with the demands and needs of the consumer, and has been closely affiliated with the State and National Furniture Association work. Such intimate, inside connection with the house-furnishing business has convinced the writer that the average purchaser lacks so much in preparation and experience that he is prone to make purchases which are not, in the long run, satisfactory. He falls an easy prey to the unscrupulous dealer and incompetent clerk. He also fails to consider that house furnishings are things with which he lives every day, that they should be selected with critical care, and chosen so that they may become dearer with each year's association, and of a quality to be handed from generation to generation with increasing pride and love.

Thousands of people each year are duped into buying poorly constructed, unattractive and unserviceable home furnishings, and not until they experience their second or third purchasing trip do they learn to economize by buying quality goods.

There are many books on the market which give a great deal of information about certain essentials in furnishing the home, but there seems to be lacking, in most of these works, the specific directions which one needs in selecting the furnishings which have the combined qualities of attractiveness and service. Many books relative to period furniture may be had, and though period furniture is growing rapidly in demand, the average layman does not care so much about the style of furniture which was used centeries ago, and little does he consider the value of modern furniture. Numerous manufacturers of various kinds of commodities place practical and instructive matter in the hands of those inquiring, but that matter, as instructive as it usually is, naturally favors the particular line designated.

There are just as many points to be considered and looked for in buying an inexpensive rocking chair as in selecting a period suite which must carry with it carvings and other lines which were in vogue at the time of its conception.

Lack of knowledge in selecting home furnishings is false economy. A poor selection usually results, in time, in a better and wiser purchase, and a knowledge of how to select carefully and wisely at first will prove a great saving.

People of today live too fast and usually do not take time enough in studying and selecting furnishings for their house - furnishings that must last perhaps a lifetime. Owing to the carelessness of some purchasers, complete outfits have been sold in a very few minutes. It takes time to go through a large stock and make comparisons and the best selections. If time is limited, it is policy to wait until one can use the required time for this very important work.

The purpose of this book, therefore, is to qualify the house furnisher to discriminate between worth-the-money goods and shoddy or poorly constructed furniture articles, which are calculated to deceive the novice; to make him an independent judge of qualities; to tell why and how; to place the experience of years at his command and enable him, while freely exercising his individual taste, to buy knowingly and make the spending of his house furnishing appropriation yield an asset instead of an expense.

In considering that the cost of living is now an all important topic for discussion, it is most essential that everybody, especially the younger people, be advised in a degree, at least, as to how, where, and what to buy in the furnishing of their homes.

Commodities, on an average, are today little, if any higher priced than years ago, but the public demands better things and when an analysis is taken, it will be found that the high cost of living is not so much a matter of the great increase in prices as it is a growing demand for the best; not a question of the high cost of living, but as some one has said "The cost of high living."

When any article is purchased nowadays it is usually found that the quantity received is much less than in previous years, but an attractive transformation will be noticed in that the article is encased in an elaborate carton, or wrapped in tissue paper and perhaps bound in ribbon; all of these things are summed up and called "Service."

Education Is Important - Education, therefore, seems as indispensable when it comes to the important matter of furnishing- a place where one expects to spend, perhaps, the rest of one's life, as it is along any other channel. The matter of educating the public in the economical buying of furniture, that is. to use better and more serviceable furniture, has been sadly neglected. It has been stated that the annual expenditure for furniture in the entire country at the present time amounts to only one dollar and fifty cents per capita, while the amount spent for cigars, tobacco, and coco-cola is something like eight times that amount. Whether this be true or not, the indications are that the furnishing of the home, so far. has not entered into the high cost of living; instead, the money that should go into the home is spent for things that appeal to and attract the pleasure loving.

A Little Advice to Beginners - "Rut very little has been offered in really good all-around advice to beginners as to how to go about the furnishing of their new home, and yet there is nothing in the whole curriculum of commodities of which there is as little known as the buying of household furniture. The reason is easily seen, for if a girl has been properly trained. she has. by the time she reaches a marriageable age. become somewhat proficient in cooking and sewing, in the selection of her clothes, in the management of a home, but she knows least of all relative to the furnishing' of the same, while the young man knows much less. His time has been occupied in gaining- his education, or if a laborer or a tradesman, his schooling and his work have occupied his time. At the time of their marriage the furnishing of a home enters abruptly but surely into their life and they together are compelled to figure out something entirely new and foreign and in most cases without the aid of even having previously visited a furniture establishment.

To Buy Wisely Is to Buy Economically. - Young people would be better pleased with their purchases if they would make their own selection, but they are sometimes influenced by their friends or relatives against buying what they wish. Many a couple, when starting to furnish their home, has made the huge mistake of buying a quantity of the cheapest goods they could find, with the idea of purchasing a better grade later. After a few years of wear and tear they find that it would have been economy to have purchased goods of quality rather than quantity. "More quality and less quantity," therefore, should be the slogan of every purchaser.

Quality, it must be understood, should be considered in all phases. Quality of material, quality of workmanship, quality of design, quality of finish and appearance.

Production and Distribution - The great problem of trade consists fundamentally in the process of production and distribution. While these activities must be co-existent, the great commercial problem is more that of distributing than that of producing, because production is governed by the demand, or distribution. A moment's reflection will reveal the fact that the selling or distributing forces are perhaps the greatest activities in the world to-day, as every man, regardless of his profession, has something in one form or another to sell.

The Middleman "the Distributor" - The distribution of commodities in most cases is ultimately the work of a retail shop, sometimes called the "middleman." The retailer is to the home what the architect is to the building; the decorator to the interior of the home. If one will consider the quantity of goods that a single manufacturer puts out, and that this same manufacturer makes hundreds and possibly thousands of a single pattern, and that probably only a very few pieces of each design go into a community, one will appreciate more fully the value of the middleman. Through him we are able to obtain an article at the same low price as does the person who lives in a large city where hundreds of the same design are sold. Imagine the inconvenience and dissatisfaction of one having to communicate with the manufacturer for each article needed in the home. The fact that there is an army of merchants makes it possible for a manufacturer to offer an article at the minimum cost. To fill these demands enables him to make hundreds of duplicates rather than six or a dozen. It must be understood that the first article of a given kind sometimes costs hundreds of dollars, but just as soon as this article is made in quantities, the cost lowers in proportion, which gives a reduced price to the consumer.

A Word About the Cost of Furniture Making - One not engaged in the manufacturing business little appreciates the value of cost making. Is it merely some one's idea that a certain article is to bring a certain retail price and that that theoretical price is simply attached, or is there something with a more fixed basis that determines the cost of an article ? There must be - so there is. What is the worth of a large oak in a forest? One may buy it for a trifle, perhaps turn it into a household piece of furniture. That thought may lead one to believe that one's furniture will cost but very little; however, it would be found that by the time the tree is converted into furniture the investment will be ten or twenty times the price of the tree, and in the end one will have an article much smaller than the original oak. The real cost of furniture is not the wood that is in it, but the labor and service rendered during its transformation from a tree in the forest to a piece of beautiful furniture in a home. The cost of services and labor can be determined to one's satisfaction by purchasing an old piece of furniture or an antiquity, and having it refinished. Rare specimens of antique furniture have been purchased at a low figure, but when refinished and put into first-class shape it was found that the cost was greater than a new reproduction is worth and not as good, since the workmanship of the high grade manufacturers of today usually surpasses that of the past.

It is a difficult matter to ascertain the real monetary value of an article. Some claim to do so, but in truth no one knows the cost of an article except the manufacturer. Thousands of manufacturers have failed in business, owing to the incorrect estimates of the cost of production, and in consequence, selling the article at little or no profit. An article of good merit and construction was placed where experienced buyers from all over the country assembled, who were asked to name a price on the piece. Their guesses varied from ten to fifty dollars. If the educated buyer makes such widely varied answers, how could it he expected of the laymen to know the value of an article? In most instances the shopper is not really satisfied in his own mind, simply because he does not know values when he sees them, but often buys to suit his pocketbook, thus sacrificing- quality and trusting to luck tor the service, which sometimes proves unsatisfactory.

Furniture Profits Are Not Enormous - Some people entertain the erroneous idea that the profit on furniture is something enormous. This idea must be formed because the first outlay seems to be large. Would not the same profit rule apply to real estate or the house in which one lives? Figure the grocery bills for ten years only and see how that will compare with a bill of furniture that is bought once in a life time, if chosen with know ledge.

The public in general does not realize that the furniture business is a very difficult business to conduct properly and profitably. This difficulty is due to the spacious display rooms required and the large force of employes needed to conduct the sale of the goods, handling, unpacking, cleaning, etc.

Patronize Reputable Dealers - But few people know how to select goods advantageously, and if compelled to buy in large cities should be more cautious than in the smaller towns. In the cities some stores can thrive on the trade which comes into the store hut once. They never expect to see their customers again and consequently are indifferent as to the quality of the goods they sell them. Therefore, those who live in a city should go to a reputable dealer where it is known that the quality of goods and the prices are right.

There is not a reputable house that cares to sell anything except quality goods, as such goods are an everlasting advertising asset. This does not necessarily mean that quality goods are free from defects. Instances occur where glue joints fail to hold or the silvering on backs of mirrors checks or peels. Some unpreventable thing may happen to the very best grade of furniture.

It should be remembered that the furniture dealer is merely an agent through whom goods are introduced. lie should not be obliged to repair furniture free of charges after delivered and received in good order, any more than should a plumber be expected to keep a plumbing job up after it has been accepted. If an article that is purchased does not give as good service as it should, the merchant or agent should be notified and he will be only too glad to refer the matter to the factory or maker of the article, who, as a rule, will make satisfactory adjustment through their agent. Almost all manufacturers stand back of their own goods. Your interests, therefore, arc protected by any reliable merchant

American Made Furniture Is Universal - It is to one's advantage to buy goods at home. Don't be like the lady who went to Europe and brought home with her a beautiful chair. The man hired to unpack it carelessly knocked it against a door, thus mutilating some oi the carving, and under that carving was the bold trade mark oi an American manufacturer. This is but one oi thousands of cases where American made goods are purchased abroad.

Home Buying Versus Mai Order Buying - It is usually more satisfactory to buy furniture from sample than to select from pictures or a catalogue. The mail order houses are numerous these days and the unsophisticated are liable to be led astray by attractive or awn pictures and nicely worded advertisements which sometimes represent the goods to be better than they really are. Mail order houses seldom get the branded advertised lines of goods and seldom get the best class of trade, because conservative buyers go where they can see the article they want. If one is
not interested enough in what is being bought to see the goods before purchasing, and can pay cash in advance, and can wait for the arrival of the goods, one can eliminate a part of the cost of service for which a dealer, carrying a large assortment to choose from, must be paid.

In buying a household outfit from a mail order house it seldom occurs that the goods are in stock, consequently the goods are shipped from various parts of the country, necessitating a wait of from two to four weeks, sometimes longer, before the arrival of the goods.

Freight, Damages, Etc. - Freight and drayage is an item that is added to the cost of the goods, the same as an item of production. If the goods are bought of a home merchant, the price includes the freight, and the goods arc placed in the home free of any other charges. If they are purchased from a mail order house the freight is usually not considered and is to be paid by the purchaser on arrival of the goods, besides the extra trouble of unpacking and setting up the furniture. Freight alone sometimes makes a difference in price between mail order and local concerns of from five to twenty per cent, owing to the distance of shipping points.

In receiving a shipment, one should be sure to see that the goods are not broken before taking them from the freight house, and before signing a clear receipt for them. As soon as the receipt is signed the railroad company is released. If anything is broken, a break- age or damage notation as to what is broken must be made upon the freight bill, by the freight agent. After a satisfactory notation is made, the receipt for the goods may be signed. After broken parts are replaced at your expense, a claim must be filed against the railroad company, with a paid invoice of the repair expense along with the freight bill showing the breakage notation, if remuneration is expected. A settlement for damages will come as soon as the transportation company sees that the claim is just, which takes from thirty to ninety days, sometimes longer. As soon as a shipper places goods in a freight house and obtains a signed receipt for same from the railroad company, he is no longer liable, and in the event of breakage or damage in transit the settlement must be made between the railroad company and the person to whom the goods are sent or consigned.

Think Twice Before Buying on Installment Plan - It sometimes occurs that when young men are ready to establish a home they are financially limited. Up to this time they have probably lived comfortably, but have accumulated very little money, consequently they seek the installment store for their furnishings. The installment or credit business has greatly developed in the last twelve or fifteen years. There are two kinds of installment stores, although few people are aware of the fact. One is the sort that will extend a reasonable amount of credit with a certain amount of cash demanded at time of purchase, the balance to be paid within a reasonable given time. Almost every first-class store will extend such credit, although they may not advertise it. This kind of a store does a great deal of good in its community in that it sells goods of quality at a reasonable profit. The second is the store that will sell almost any amount of goods with a small payment down, with an agreement that the balance be paid in small weekly or monthly installments. They usually have an inferior grade of goods and sell at a large profit. While this kind of a store poses along with the first mentioned as a credit house, this is the one to shun. If their inferior grade of furniture is bought it will probably wear out or fall to pieces before it is paid for, or if their goods of quality is selected the price is prohibitive.