Assembly Required
Mood:  incredulous
Topic: The American Way
Well today I was browsing through a Sears Catalogue that came in the mail yesterday. There was lots of nice stuff in there, stuff that I might actually buy if I had the money. Yup, page after page of beautiful stuff. But it was expensive! And right there, in every description, was the dreaded "assembly required".

You know, I really resent that I have to assemble almost every piece of furniture I buy. What ever happened to the good old days when you could go out and buy furnture already assembled? There aren't too many furniture stores anymore. Mostly, people buy furniture from places just like Sears or Penneys or even Walmart because they want to save money. But do they really?

Lets just take a look at one of these pieces in the catalogue. What I have in front of me is an underbed dresser system. Its not what I'd buy, but its a good example of something people might like to have. Of course there are various ways you can construct this thing. You can have from 3 to 6 drawers, with or without a headboard, finished in oak or pine or unfinished. For my test, I'm going for the whole she-bang. So my choice would be a finished (more expensive) oak, 6 drawer unit with a California King headboard. Here's how it stacks up:

6 Drawer Oak Finished - $499.99
California King Headboard - $389.99
Total So Far - $889.98

And that's without a box spring or mattress. Add them in and add in my own blood, sweat, and frustrated labor and we're talking somewhere around $1400 to $1500 to complete the job.

Is it worth it? Nah...

So what is my point? My point is that nowadays you have to pay through the nose to have beautiful furniture, AND, then put the damn things together yourself! Better to get a bunch of pillows and just sit on the floor.....