The Furniture Capital, North Carolina
May 30, 2002 -- You may have adopted your tables, chairs and loveseats at your local furniture store, but chances are they were born in High Point, N.C.
The bulk of the furniture sold in the United States — 60 percent — comes from the High Point area, reports Good Morning America's Home Improvement Editor Ron Hazelton.
Recently, Ron accompanied a young married couple to this furniture-making mecca on their first big furniture shopping spree.
Maggie and Robert Murphy were willing to buy top-quality furniture, but with two new babies and a new home to furnish, the couple was determined to spend their money wisely. After some doing some preliminary checking online, the Murphy's estimated they might be able to save as much as $50,000 off manufacturers' list prices by making a trip to North Carolina.
Pre-trip Advice: Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
Before hitting the road to furniture central, the couple spent considerable time carefully planning a shopping trip from their home in Morristown, N.J. They made detailed room measurements, clipped scores of magazine pictures, and even spoke with some of the showrooms they were considering visiting.
"The best reasons for buying furniture at High Point are the sheer volume of product that is on display here in 70 retail stores," says Ron Stephens of the High Point visitors' bureau. "Also price savings of 10 to 40 percent — and certainly the mystique of buying furniture in the furniture capital of the world."
But shopping at stores like Furnitureland South (which calls itself the largest furniture store in the world and boasts over 1 million square feet of display space) can be a bit overwhelming for some consumers. For first-time buyers, just viewing the 150,000 pieces of furniture can take days. The store's manager actually recommends that shoppers contact their store for help prior to making the trip.
After spending about nine hours making some hard choices, the Murphys found pieces for their foyer, living room and dining room. The manufacturer's list price for the Murphy's three rooms of furniture was $118,000; they paid $68,000. That's $50,000 that stayed in their pockets.
Ron’s Tips for Selecting Quality Pieces
Choose finishes that don't obscure the grain but, rather, allow you to look deeply into it.
Look for doors that swing freely and latch securely on your pieces.
If you're considering case goods like a highboy, check the drawer construction. Better-quality pieces have dovetail joinery at the front and back of the drawer sides. The bottoms should made of plywood and there should be plenty of corner blocking around the edges. Better-quality pieces have dust panels between drawer compartment to keep the contents clean. The drawers themselves should operate smoothly without sticking or binding.
Suggestions for Keeping Furniture Looking Like New
Clean any accumulated oils or polishes off furniture with a mineral spirits. Apply it with a soft cloth and turn the fabric frequently. Finish off with long, straight strokes.
I prefer paste wax for long-term furniture care. Wax dries completely and does not attract dust. Apply it with a clean dry cloth, wait a few minutes and buff it out. For most pieces, you should only have to do this once or twice a year. In between waxings, simply dust with a soft cloth. If you like, you can lightly spray a dust attractant, like Endust, on the cloth first.
The easiest, and usually the most effective, way to touch up nicks and scratches is with a touch-up marking pen. These felt-tip markers come in popular wood colors. I like to keep an assortment of markers that match the different finishes on my furniture.
To protect the finish on tabletops, make sure you place small, self-adhesive felt protectors on the bottom of vases and other decorative objects. Ceramic pieces are especially prone to small, yet sharp, nubs on the bottoms. Try to get in the habit of picking objects up and placing them down instead of dragging them across the surface.
Ideas for Making Old Furniture Look Like New
These days, new materials and tools have made refinishing furniture easier than ever.
Generally speaking, if a furniture finish is severely deteriorated or damaged you have little choice but to remove it. Far and away the easiest way to do this is with a chemical stripper. Home improvement centers offer a wide array of strippers, many of which are formulated to be low in toxicity. Apply strippers liberally with a brush, but don't over-brush them. Doing so can cause the active ingredients to evaporate before they have a chance to work. Be patient — let the chemicals do the work. Wait until you see the surface starting to bubble, then lift off the old finish with a putty knife. Avoid scraping. If things are not coming off easily, apply more stripper, wait a few minutes and try again. Strippers that have a paste-like consistency are best for vertical surfaces like the side of a cabinet. They are less likely to drip and run.
Gel-type stains are now readily available in nearly any color you might want. The advantage of gels is that they are often easier to control and may be less likely to leave steaks or lap marks.
Coatings like polyurethane varnish are ideal choices if your project needs a lot of protection from moisture or wear. They can be found in a variety sheens from flat to high gloss. Oil finishes, on the other hand, are extremely easy to apply (most wipe on with a cloth), and impart a soft, very natural look.
Most finishes can be brushed on, but now may be the time to consider spraying. Spraying is fast, applies finishes uniformly even on carved or embossed surfaces, and avoids brush and lap marks. If you're thinking about going the sprayer route, check out the ones known as high volume, low-pressure sprayers. These units are easy to use, generate less overspray and are relatively inexpensive.