Jan. 26, 2007
It’s put-up or shut-up time for homemakers who made the New Year’s resolution “2007 will be the year we finally fix our living room.” The new year fortunately comes with a incentives to keep resolve: the dealer discount, the tax return trade-off and The Big Game.
By taking advantage of sales offering several months of free financing, or no interest on the payments of a purchase, consumers use their Christmas work bonuses or spring tax returns to take a chunk out of the cost of new furniture.
“Most people might not get their tax return until March or April, if they buy it now they can pay for it with free financing and then pay for it with their tax return,” said John Cashman of West Bend Furniture & Design.
The beginning of the year is a popular time to buy furniture, as manufacturers roll out new models and dealers feature sales. Cashman said furniture manufacturers now produce changing lines of products — similar to the year-based models trotted out by automobile makers — and consumers have responded.
“Furniture is becoming very trendy,” Cashman said. “They’re lookign for color and design and style and the trends change year to year.”
Cashman said the main buzzword in furniture right now is “transitional.” This refers to a functional focus which demands a marriage of comfort and style.
Many homeowners are laying out living rooms to serve multiple purposes. Instead of making a distinction between tidy, fashion-forward living rooms used for receiving guests and the cozy, afghan-strewn “dens” used for television naps, homemakers are buying furniture that serve can serve all functions, at times within the same day.
“It’s kind of a cross breed of those puffy looking recliners with more sleeker design,” Cashman said. “The popular word is transitional, meaning it’s got that well-tailored look, it’s well-made, but still very comfortable.”
Cashman said another force driving the combination of style and comfort is sleeker design of home elements such as televisions. A homely plaid fixture, the kind your grandmother might call a “davenport” doesn’t complement a slick flat screen television with remarkable picture clarity and sound that can be hung on any wall like a work of art.
“There’s a lot of people who have really big TVs and not the right room or space for them, but they got one because everyone else had one,” said Jennifer Pufahl of Interiors by Jennifer in West Bend.
Jim Otten, owner of Kettle Moraine Appliance & TV in West Bend, suggested the future of televisions, flat screens, could revolutionize furniture layout because they do not take up floor space. Even some screens measuring around 70 inches in length can be hung on walls above fireplaces or in bedrooms, he said, which can make room for an extra armchair or end table — and an extra seat for guests.
“There’s a lot of ‘let’s get this remodeled and then I can have coffee over here and such-and-such get-togethers, because I told them I couldn ’t until the house was looking better,’” Pufahl said, echoing the female half of her couples clients.
The other half of those couples are presumably more concerned with a particular get-together.
“They buy just for the Super Bowl. They want to be sure they’ll have it delivered and set up before the Super Bowl,” Otten said, of customers seeking big-screen setups.
Shoppers buy the most televisions during Christmastime, but only slightly more than during football playoffs. Kettle Moraine Appliance also rents televisions, but the only time customers use that service is during the weekend of the big game.
New year sales are also popular for televisions, but Otten said buyers also wait until their tax rebates are cash in-hand.
“You have a ton of people that are buying now, even if they just take it for 90 days until they get their tax returns,” Otten said. “January can be kind of slow until people figure out their taxes and what they’re going to get back.”