Any fool can make a complicated thing, it takes a genius to make it simple.

This is a table where the things didn't line up right when extended.   Unfortunately, it was so complicated, they forgot to allow for any adjustment.  Or as I would say, "Too clever by half."

Too bad that is not on video. Hey on the staples they just put them in from the wrong side

See this is what happens when you let people who have difficulty tying shoes play with space shuttle technology.  

 

I am, really enjoying this thread.  Makes me feel alot better about some of my more interesting solutions to problems.  Better than therapy!!!

Another too clever by half.  I guess that makes one clever.

Moving men decided to disassemble the home gym to pack it.  Put all the hardware (nuts, bolts, springs, cables, footrests, bars, etc.) in a box marked "Gym Hardware."   Then proceeded to lose it on the move.   Even if I had the box, it would have been quite the puzzle to re-assemble.

"Structural cardboard"   This is the inside support for the armrests on a recliner.   The other arm was just as bad.

15 hours ago, kmealy said:

"Structural cardboard" 

 

As long as Americans are willing to buy this stuff, I'm sure the Chinese are more than willing to "build" it

 

That table is pretty impressive.  Wouldn't fit our home style, but really impressive.

Cal, I gotta tell ya'...in some parts of the country (like my region) it's very hard to find some thing that isn't labeled "made in China". About 4 years ago my wife and I were looking for laminate flooring and I was convinced I wanted USA made stuff. We literally went to every flooring supplier in the area before we found it. It's even harder with Furniture. We have some Flexsteel stuff in the house which we we bought the brand 15 years ago or so, it was USA. Now their stuff is labeled Mexico (actually I don't mind that) or China (no more). I had always considered Flexsteel a solid name...no more to that as well.

When the store was open here, Norwalk Furniture was one of my major customers, both pre-delivery and with protection plans.   While it was "Made in USA" (the factory was about 20 miles from my daughter in northern OH), I believe all the frames were imported and they were built to order (pick the fabric you want and they'd set the springs, padding, and upholster it.)

 

During the 2008 recession, the factory closed down because they got their loans and line of credit called, so they could not afford to buy materials, and since they could not buy materials, they could not produce and sell.  Catch 22.  They had another plant in the south (maybe Alabama) that the local owner told me was for sale for $1 million.  He said there was probably $4 million in equipment there, in addition to the land, building, and trained labor force.  The local store struggled for a while, bringing in some other brands.  During that time, I bought a Key City sofa from them, being US made, but think they've closed the doors now too.   Norwalk struggled to get back in business with some local government assistance, but think they eventually folded.   The local store owner decide it was time to retire, too.   

 

For a while, I did pre-delivery repair work for a small "last mile" delivery service.  I was appalled at some of that quality.   They'd get in a bedroom set of say, 5 pieces.   Four of them had problems, and often multiple places on the same piece.   And it was not all transit damage, some of it was bad when they wrapped it up.   

 

Another regular customer franchisee went bankrupt, taken over by corporate, refranchised, bankrupt again, carried a lot of Ashley.  It was probably the worst junk I've seen.  Their Dayton affiliate said 80% of their repair work was on Ashley Furniture, though it was no where near that percentage of their total sales.

 

My early, and one of my largest customers, a local independent retailer, just closed permanently after 18 years.  Going out of business sale is this weekend.   They too, had 4 stores at one time.  Lost two (both high-end, but Chinese mostly) during the 2008 cutback (a couple of years after they just opened).  Recently down to one.   Their original store was just a few hundred yards from my house at the time.   When I stopped in to introduce myself when they were setting up to open, the (naive) owner thought they would never need any of my services because their stuff (almost all from China) was so well packed.   For a long time, they were a regular customer and I'd be there one or two days a week and occasionally out to consumers' homes to repair stuff that broke. 

So, yeah, it was really hard to see anything made in USA.   China, VietNam, and Malaysia were all very common.   La-z-boy has a big factory in MI, near Detroit, but their stuff was cheapened as well.

My ex dragged me down to an Ashely Furniture store once.  She picked out a sofa and a chair under the idea we would be back next day for pick up.  NOPE, when I came back next day they told us 6-8 weeks before delivery to store and another week to be processed.

 

Order CANCELLED.

 

Went to a local mom and pop place that actually had made in USA stuff and bought what we needed.  Saved about $500 and I still have that furniture.  Was 18 years ago I am guessing.

Ethan Allen was always a source for good furniture but the have also closed stores with the one here being one of them.

Our little village of maybe 7000 has 4 humongous furniture stores. All have started up within the last 10 years. The latest and largest opened in January of this year. There is only one that sells quality goods. The others compete with "Huge Truckload Sale" banners. And yes Ashley and, their ilk, proliferate. 

All of our furniture is ancient.  Any upholstery work we take to a local upholstery shop for recovering.  The stuff they have in the store won't last nearly as long as some of this stuff that we have.  Our dining table and chairs are drop leaf and over 50 years old.  Our living room and bedroom furniture are about 50 years old.  Bedroom furniture can simply be wiped down or stripped and refinished.  It is solid.  But, it won't be worth anything to anyone when we check out.  Folks don't want that anymore.  It's too easy to toss and repurchase.  Working for the feds rebuilding aircraft didn't pay that kind of money, so we learned to scrimp, but it works well.  Not the latest fashion but who knows, it may come back into fashion.  

2 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

All of our furniture is ancient.  Any upholstery work we take to a local upholstery shop for recovering.  The stuff they have in the store won't last nearly as long as some of this stuff that we have.  Our dining table and chairs are drop leaf and over 50 years old.  Our living room and bedroom furniture are about 50 years old.  Bedroom furniture can simply be wiped down or stripped and refinished.  It is solid.  But, it won't be worth anything to anyone when we check out.  Folks don't want that anymore.  It's too easy to toss and repurchase.  Working for the feds rebuilding aircraft didn't pay that kind of money, so we learned to scrimp, but it works well.  Not the latest fashion but who knows, it may come back into fashion.  

I have all my grandparents bedroom furniture and dining set with china cabinet that has curved glass.  Beautiful stuff.  Had to make one repair years ago.  The bottom of a drawer split and fell out, was catastrophic.  Made a new one of some 1/4 hardwood plywood and stained to match, took some time.  Has held up all these years rather well.  My wife's desk I will make, one day....   

We accumulated the traditional items after our marriage in the early 70s.  Nice china, silverware, and a few pieces of furniture.  Best is a solid cherry dining table and 6 chairs from Harden in central NY.  Still a beautiful set, but our son and DIL have no interest in any of it.  And used furniture doesn't seem to bring anything near its value until it becomes antique. 

 

Sad to see so many people going to the Chinese "truckload sale" stuff.

 

We do have a couple of Ashley pieces, and we were told it is USA made.

Edited May 24, 20206 yr by JimM
added info

3 hours ago, JimM said:

Sad to see so many people going to the Chinese "truckload sale" stuff.

Younger crowd today has never scrounged for items to use for table and chairs because paying the rent was more important.  In my 1st apartment I had a large wooden spool for cable I used as a table with mismatched chairs I got from wherever I could.   Went cheap at every corner possible to put back money for a future house.  Even when I got the house I only had one set of bedroom furniture, some living room furniture, washer and drier and an assortment of kitchen stuff I picked up at thrift stores or yard sales.  With a shop I could do side work and that got me more cash, and long nights working.  

16 hours ago, FlGatorwood said:

All of our furniture is ancient.  Any upholstery work we take to a local upholstery shop for recovering.  The stuff they have in the store won't last nearly as long as some of this stuff that we have.  Our dining table and chairs are drop leaf and over 50 years old.  Our living room and bedroom furniture are about 50 years old.  Bedroom furniture can simply be wiped down or stripped and refinished.  It is solid.  But, it won't be worth anything to anyone when we check out.  Folks don't want that anymore.  It's too easy to toss and repurchase.  Working for the feds rebuilding aircraft didn't pay that kind of money, so we learned to scrimp, but it works well.  Not the latest fashion but who knows, it may come back into fashion.  

Our "Old Stuff" is still with us. Most of that was acquired "Curb Shopping" 

Almost all the "New Stuff" we bought is long gone  junk. 

24 minutes ago, Gunny said:

Younger crowd today has never scrounged for items to use for table and chairs because paying the rent was more important.  In my 1st apartment I had a large wooden spool for cable I used as a table with mismatched chairs I got from wherever I could.   Went cheap at every corner possible to put back money for a future house.  Even when I got the house I only had one set of bedroom furniture, some living room furniture, washer and drier and an assortment of kitchen stuff I picked up at thrift stores or yard sales.  With a shop I could do side work and that got me more cash, and long nights working.  

BTDT, STDT...

We've always had hand me downs and old stuff we found at yard sales and, the like. Our decor would likely be classified as early cast offs. But, it's all very serviceable and un marred. Our bedroom set was given to us when my parents bought a new set. It's solid cherry and over 50 years old. In preparation of our move, we gave our kids two sofas we bought new. Phyl has a motorized recliner we bought new, supposedly built in SC. All our book cases, kitchen cabinets, tables and, hutches we built. Nothing matches. It's all a mishmash of styles. But, damned sturdy!

16 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

We've always had hand me downs and old stuff we found at yard sales and, the like. Our decor would likely be classified as early cast offs. But, it's all very serviceable and un marred. Our bedroom set was given to us when my parents bought a new set. It's solid cherry and over 50 years old. In preparation of our move, we gave our kids two sofas we bought new. Phyl has a motorized recliner we bought new, supposedly built in SC. All our book cases, kitchen cabinets, tables and, hutches we built. Nothing matches. It's all a mishmash of styles. But, damned sturdy!

When we got married, we had a total of $15 between us! Wedding presents paid for our honeymoon (camping) and all our furniture was handed down from my two older sisters. Almost 50 years later we still have some of that furniture! We still call our decor style "Early Hand-Me-Down". The secret is NOT to buy everything you think you need, but be happy with what you have!

John

22 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Our little village of maybe 7000 has 4 humongous furniture stores. All have started up within the last 10 years. The latest and largest opened in January of this year. There is only one that sells quality goods. The others compete with "Huge Truckload Sale" banners. And yes Ashley and, their ilk, proliferate. 

Around here, Thursday and Friday ads have this guy SCREAMING for American Freight Furniture.   Bedroom sets $599, six piece living room sets $499, THIS WEEKEND ONLY.https://www.americanfreight.com/

 

And a very finely carved, err, cast, cabriole leg.

Bad news: no way I could repair this, especially with the mounting bolts nowhere near that center post.
Good news:  Ashley shipped me a new one for $10.   Do you believe they actually had some replacements in stock!?