We are in need of family room furniture and have looked quite alot but did not find much until recently. We are looking at a Cameron Hall "Hastings Falls" sofa and Vanguard chairs. I know nothing about Cameron Hall except that the price is higher than most of the sofas we are looking at (of course I know alot depends on the fabric or leather choice), but the starting point is nearly twice the cost of other sofa's (such as Sherrill and Thomasville). We had heard that Vanguard makes mid to high-range upholstry and casegoods. We are looking for a good quality sofa and chairs that will hold up well for at least 20 years. By "hold up well", I mean the wood and interior of the sofa not the upholstry. There are just 2 adults in our home, no pets, and we entertain 5 to 6 times a month. Does anyone have experience with either of these companies? Who makes them and what is their history?

I found this thread because I just got off the phone with my wife who informed me that replacement slings for our set of six Telescope chairs will be $780.00! That is a very tough pill to swallow, and like many here we weighed this heavily against just getting a cheaper set from HD, Costco, or any number of stores. Our set is about 10 years old to date (purchased summer of 2010) and the aluminum frames, table, and umbrella have held up extremely well (we do store them inside for winter though). Ultimately, I decided to stick with these and pay the exorbitant price for a few reasons: - The rest of the set is extremely high quality. I feel good each year when I pull it out of storage - heavy duty powder coated aluminum construction that has lasted well and still looks 9/10 after a spring wipe-down. - It does bother me how much importation has changed - pushing us toward a throw-away-away-and-buy-another culture. I do feel like we enjoy additional quality on these American made items (not always the case). - Less and less stuff is American made any more. As an engineer and a maker, I miss the days when we made most of the best stuff here. This set still exemplifies that quality. It's a little thing, but something I rarely get to enjoy these days. - After 10 years, with very little degradation (other than the fabric slings), I know what to expect from this set, and feel confident that they will last another 10 years easily with new fabric. The convenience of going 10-12 years between having to think about this, or take a gamble on something potentially less durable is worth something to me. Surely, I'll be feeling the sting of this bill in about a month (so good thing I'm writing this now!), but I thought I'd share what tipped us to reinvesting in this very expensive set. Pic when new April 2010:

As hubby, tongue-in-cheek, likes to say about me, "there's nothing too good or too cheap for her". It really depends on the WHAT! Before we spend on a product, service or an experience, we like to consider what will we gain by making the spending decision. We like to be well-informed consumers (especially when something is a large amount of money) and will choose from both categories - old and new. I wonder if this is a right-brain / left-brain question ;?) I'm more of a logical thinker than emotional, so that accounts for many of my choices. I couldn't care less if someone sees me in a $2 (on sale) white T-shirt from Wal-Mart worn for working out (I even have some I bought for $1 at Wal-Mart). A $300 work-out outfit doesn't make me sweat any less or perform any better. While I'll spend a LOT for SmartWool athletic socks which feel better and out-wear cheap cotton socks any day, and I buy quality shoes for working out, and for everyday use. We had a lovely antique bedroom suite, but we got tired of the upkeep, drawers that stick, and the size of it, so we donated it to a Hospice auction. Replaced it with minimalist furniture we purchased from Aldi at a fraction of the price they were selling the same stuff for at the expensive furniture store down the street. -Grainlady

You can order Ikea online and pick it up same day from the store. They collect it for you. (It's called "Click and Collect). Not a lot to handle, and good social distancing with this method. Each item has the box size listed online, so you can figure out whether you can fit it in the car. You can buy mattresses, pillows, beds, EVERYTHING. You can return it within a year if you don't like it. Also, if you're not too far away (so it isn't prohibitive), you can get stuff delivered. Get the kids to help you assemble it all!