Friday, April 16, 2010

Limited possibilites

When I was a child I didn't think too hard about how furniture and fabric come about. I assumed that everything was easily instantly customizable. I don't know why I thought this - I had been to a fabric store myself, and I knew there weren't infinite varieties. Maybe the sheer variety of types of furniture and blankets I'd seen convinced me that a high variation was possible.

Now that I'm actually kind of shopping for things like furniture and bedspreads, it occurs to me how limited I am in my choices. While the internet adds a lot of options, it also adds a lot of shipping and a lot of "maybe the photo just looks good." Maybe custom designs are possible, but prohibitively expensive. It feels weird to invest time and energy into buying things that reflect my personality that others will buy. I guess that's the price of mass production, and maybe that's why some people like quilting (so they really can make their own designs).

2 comments:

krebscout said...

I have gone through this exact train of thought, too.

What's the solution? Learn every skill ever and DIY?

Andrea Landaker said...

http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/XGN.aspx?DeptID=70752&CatID=72428&cmCatLevel=3&shopperType=G&CmCatId=EXTERNAL|59211&

has semi-custom furniture for not too expensive, but you still have to pay shipping. We ordered a chair from them a little while ago, so we'll see how good it is. :-)

There's also inexpensive furniture covers you can get if you really like the style of a piece but not the color.

But, yeah, whatever furniture you get is probably also sitting in some other trendy couple's living room. :-D