Ashley Furniture

So the wife and I are looking at some new furniture and we wondered into an Ashley Furniture homestore and found something we liked and the price wasn't too bad either. So I was wondering if anyone had experience with their furniture? I mean I don't figure it will last a lifetime but I would like to get more then 5 years out of it. Everything that I've read online talks primarily about their sales people being pushy but haven't found much about the actual quality of the furniture.

Any help would be much appriecated in this area and Thank you very much in advance!

The wife and I were recently shopping for a new kitchen table, coffee table, end tables, and loveseat. We found some stuff we liked at Ashley but after I inspected the furniture a little more throughly then first glance, I noticed most of it was particle board with a wood laminate on top. Like you said in your post, the salesmen were also pushy and a little shady on their prices (we went one day and were quoted one price, went about a week later and were quoted a price about $200 more).

We ended up going over to American Signature and getting a lot better deal and the furniture is solid wood. Will it last 10 years? Probably not. But if I have a choice between a solid wood table or a particle board one, I'll take actual wood and not sawdust.

I used to work as the warehouse manager at an Ashley Furniture store in Illinois before I moved to Kentucky. Most Ashley stores are independently owned and the sales staff reflect the owners sales techniques. The one I worked at the sales people were not commission so I believe that they did not push higher sales just to make more commission. Each store sets is own pricing both for everyday price and sale price. The furniture that they sell can best be described as you get what you pay for. It is not going to be the type of furniture that you hand down to your grandchildren. The quality is middle and higher grade in my option. A lot of the wood that is used is veneered either over plywood or particle board, but so is a lot of other furniture in the same price range. Certain categories of items are built better than others but all in all good furniture for the money.

While I worked at Ashley I found out a lot about the furniture industry how things are made and repaired interesting stuff but that is another story altogether.

During our time shopping the sales guy did flip over one of the pieces were were looking at and I did notice that the wood was primarily plywood, now it looked like more then your standard 1/2 in so I wasn't overly concerned since plywood is used everywhere.

I think I'd look on Craigslist for antiques instead. Probably only cost half the price and is built to last for centuries with mortis and tenon joints, dovetail joints, etc..

jd_1138 said:

I think I'd look on Craigslist for antiques instead. Probably only cost half the price and is built to last for centuries with mortis and tenon joints, dovetail joints, etc..

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Are you married? I've bought furniture and learned to say, "yes dear."

I would never buy anything that my wife didn't pick out and absolutely love. Why would I want to spend good money to ****-her-off? I can ****-her-off for free!

My experience with Ashley proved-up the independent ownership. I have two homes and went to the location of my first home to buy furniture for the second. Since I thought it was a national chain, I thought they'd just ship from the nearest warehouse. I got a whole song-and-dance about shipping to my home only one day per month and about extra charges. Another store, closer to my second home advertised "next-day" shipping for free.

Pbalkan said:

Are you married? I've bought furniture and learned to say, "yes dear."

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+ infinite
Our first trip was to a local store that has by far the best reputation in the area but we like none of the furniture. Our second trip was to Furniture Row and that was all cheap stuff. Ashley didn't seem bad but I was reading reviews online and they were not impressing me. I just realized that most of them were from 2006 and the recent reviews are pretty good. So I told the wife "yes dear" we can get the furniture.

Thank you for all your help!

I own two Ashely couches. You get what you pay for. Ashley is VERY cheap, and you get cheap furniture. We wanted cheap furniture because we have a young child, and figure if she ruins it, no big loss.

I don't expect the couches to last much more than five years. The cushions get pretty soft -- the foam they use is cheap.

If you're attracted by the low price, it's not a bad bargain. Just don't expect the furniture to last more than a few years.

We bought my son his first bed from Ashley's (full size) and it is garbage. Cheap. We'll sale it in a garage sale or craig's list if we ever move. Pay the money and get pieces that will last a lifetime. My two cents.

I have an ashley couch. Nothing great, but not total junk. I have a puppy who has peed on it 3 times. The cushion cover comes off easily enough to wash. When we move into our new house next month, we're going to slip cover it, then eventually move it upstairs into the guest room. I expect to get my money out of it, but I"m not expecting it to last forever.

Bought our family room couch and chairs from Ashley. Super cheap. They were cheap to begin with but didn't even last the year it took to pay them off.

We still have them after 3 years just because we have a baby now and don't want to buy anything new. The cushions are flats as pancakes now and the furniture has started to creak. Didn't even notice until we had already bought it that the cushions could not be flipped as they do not have the fabric on the underside.

I wish we had spent the money at a nicer store like Basset furniture, etc. Might be 3 times the cost but my mother in law has a 10 year old sofa from there that gets sat on every day but looks brand new. Even the chairs and stuff that we have bought from places like Pier 1 is in better shape.

bigmo said:

So the wife and I are looking at some new furniture and we wondered into an Ashley Furniture homestore and found something we liked and the price wasn't too bad either. So I was wondering if anyone had experience with their furniture? I mean I don't figure it will last a lifetime but I would like to get more then 5 years out of it. Everything that I've read online talks primarily about their sales people being pushy but haven't found much about the actual quality of the furniture.

Any help would be much appriecated in this area and Thank you very much in advance!

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I have two sofa's from Ashley, one a reclining love seat that sees daily use,the other a hideaway bed unit that sees seldom use. The love seat's cushions started going flat after year and a couple bolts of unknown origin have appeared under it. The hideaway bed sofa is doing well but then again it is being used once or twice a week max. If I were to spend again it would not be Ashley

I also have an Ashley couch. It's microfiber.
It's the most comfortable couch to have a nap on and that's why I bought it.

However, it's been about 6 years now and it's broken in/down to the point where it just hurts my back to sit on. I have to put a pillow behind me.

It's still comfortatble to have a nap on, but not to sit on.
I do like the microfiber though. Easy to clean and the cat can't dig her claws into it (dont' know why, but it's true)

Dining room set: pretty good. Not the high end they want you to believe it to be though. The furniture is solid material with a veneer, no particle board. We expect it to last a fair while. The finish is damaged easily and a table cloth is necessary.

Living room set: near nightmare. Have had several pieces repaired, and others was told "it is cosmetic" when the furniture was only 6 mo old. The veneer peels off the particle board readily. The cushions compress readily, and the metal springs are weak. We expect to replace it in a couple years.

We have had this stuff for 2 years.

Phil

Unless you buy from a custom maker or a small handful of high end places furniture like everything else in our society is throwaway stuff. I was married 34 years ago and the furniture we bought then we still have and is as solid as the day we bought it. Most of the stuff sold today comes from the far east of course. You can still buy quality stuff but if you have to ask the price you can't afford it.

When we bought our townhouse we didnt take anything with us from the apartment. We checked out all the big name places and they basically had all the same stuff just the prices varied.
Each store seems to have the same stuff from the same manufacturer in Malaysia it seemed. Just be careful when they try to sell you their protection plans or " goof proof " plans.

Pbalkan said:

Are you married? I've bought furniture and learned to say, "yes dear."

I would never buy anything that my wife didn't pick out and absolutely love. Why would I want to spend good money to ****-her-off? I can ****-her-off for free!

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Oh, yeah I'm married. She helped pick out the antiques over the years and likes them. It's fun to look at CL and go and buy nice things on a Saturday morning. They were about half the price of this new stuff made from particle board. We have an older table, chairs, end tables, coffee table, dresser, book case. We don't like ornate stuff with carvings of lions, coconuts, etc.. Our stuff is modern (probably from the 50's) and tasteful. The stuff is considered antiques but it's from the modern, clean era of design. 1930's to early 1960's is a sweet spot for tasteful furniture design.

Our soft furniture is from Lazy Boy -- recliners, sofa, loveseat. They have held up nicely over the past dozen years.