Think Long-Term When Shopping for New Furniture by Christine Brun on Creators.com

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Think Long-Term When Shopping for New Furniture

Many believe that the days of conspicuous consumption are over for good. In some ways, this is a relief for those of us who are serious about the importance of home to the human spirit; of how a family place should function and the role that aesthetics plays in serenity.

When I first began as an interior designer, people were still interested in quality. Young married couples would receive a sturdy bedroom set or a dining room set from a relative as a wedding present and expect to keep that for their entire married life. Through the early years in my practice, I began to notice that people weren't as concerned with quality until we evolved into a society with mantras of "Buy cheap"; "If it breaks, throw it away"; and "When you're tired of something, give it away and start over!" My grandmother, who paid off her little home in Los Angeles during the Great Depression, would have been stunned by the stupidity of that philosophy.

All the more reason for the appeal of classic furniture with roots in the 1940s and 1950s, when resources were limited and longevity was important. Enter a family-owned New England furniture company with roots in the exploration of classic craftsmanship found in the simplicity of Shaker style.

Thomas Moser began his business in 1972, building one of a kind furniture items in an old Grange hall in New Gloucester, Maine, and today employs just under a hundred people. According to one of Thomas Moser's four sons, David, a furniture designer and director of retail operations, "We have grown weary of exercising our ability to buy whatever we want whenever we want, treating purchasing as some type of recreation. The consumption frenzy is dying down and is losing its novelty, and with that comes a realignment of values and reconnecting to the human experience. A sense of permanence, identity and belonging mark our time here and are fundamental in the hierarchy of needs. We need furniture, and we need to project a sense of self through style."

Using American black cherry from the Allegheny Plateau of Pennsylvania, the trees are harvested at 75 to 100 years of age.

The company feels strongly that the pieces made from these venerable trees must last as long as the tree took to grow, and it guarantees that its furniture will last for the lifetime of the purchaser. When properly harvested, these treasured trees can be a renewable resource.

"Ellipse Living" is the series pictured; it reveals the essence of Danish modern style that marked, according to David Moser, "a clear transition from the rigidity of traditional form and social order to a progressive, forward-thinking optimism. It was and is clean and timeless and exemplifies pure simple form. I believe that objective in modern design is to achieve quiet grace through the economy of means. Stated another way, it offers more for less to as great an audience as possible."

A long, useful life for a good piece of furniture might include a few refinishing sessions or a couple of re-upholstery episodes. However, if the bones are solid, furniture like the Ellipse collection can easily last three lifetimes.

Find a graceful, simple style you like that is appropriate for a modestly proportioned room and live with it. Furniture like this will fit in most small living rooms without worry. Over the course of 30 to 40 years, you'll find it to be a money-saving proposition when you begin with excellent quality.

Notice, too, that you can attach a myriad of color accents to such pieces by using decorative throw pillows, artwork, area rugs and accessories. Anything goes with essentially simple lines, from European traditional art to folk art to pop art. The benefit of basic style packaged in superior quality is flexibility and longevity.

Not having to buy new furniture every 10 years is a money-saver in anyone's estimation and seems to be one of the benefits to rejecting waste.

Christine Brun, ASID, is a San Diego-based interior designer and the author of "Small Space Living." Send questions and comments to her by email at christinebrun@sbcglobal.net. To find out more about Christine Brun and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.