Let's talk about furniture and household goods

[JohnR]

A chair is an item worth spending money on. There's a line of diminishing return but if you're spending less than a few hundred bucks (I came up with that arbitrarily and unscientifcally), your legs, butt, back, and neck will all hate you and conspire to make you miserable. I have a Herman Miller connection so tend to lean that way - my wife and I are loving our new Cosm chairs (which we coincidentally ordered in Feb as though we had the ability to predict the future).

[mark4]

I bought ErgoChair at the very beginning of the lockdown and I love it. I left my office chair in the office...lol.So I had to buy a new one. I happen to have a job where employee monitoring systems keep track of all my activities, so I could be on the computer for hours. This chair saved my back during the lockdown.

I got the Steelcase S-1 I think it is. Whatever their version of the Aeron chair is but the Steelcase version is a lot cheaper.

[mark4]

We have a townhouse with a small yard (about 25 x 15) and a garage. I find I need almost all the same tools I did when we had a house, except for tools for sprinkler repairs.

But for sure you should have enough tools to hang pictures and mirrors (get a stud finder as well), replace a washer in a faucet (or you'll end up paying $200 to a plumber to do a 15 minute job), and touch up the paint on your walls when needed. If you're not afraid of working with electricity, you should be able to replace a wall outlet--especially if your house is old. The outlets get worn out and won't hold a plug. If you can do that, you'll probably want to replace light switches yourself--We Mo and others make smart ones now and they're fun to have.

You'll probably also want to do minor drywall repairs from time to time. Sometimes you have accidents and dent your walls with a door knob or a piece of furniture--or when I was younger--it was anger issues, I'm sad to say.

Yeah I have a decent set of tools and we had a bathroom faucet basically fall apart a month or so ago. Pedestal sink, and I'd bought a faucet for our upstairs bathroom at Home Depot because that one was leaking a little, and there was too much corrosion to get it to stop, so it needed to be replaced. Then, when I got that home, I looked up some online reviews of it and they were so-so, so I bought a different faucet for the upstairs sink and had a plumber install it. Then when the downstairs faucet went bad I was like I can either call a plumber, which I don't want anyone in the house right now that doesn't absolutely have to come in for obvious reasons. So, I went down to the basement and got that faucet I bought a few years back and forgotten to return. I figured, I can install it myself and call the plumber if it doesn't work out, or call the plumber. Installation was pretty easy and so far no leaks and I'm pretty sure it would have started leaking by now if I'd done something wrong. I don't think of myself as handy but that's given me more confidence to do more stuff around the house.

[Mitrani]

I bought ErgoChair at the very beginning of the lockdown and I love it. I left my office chair in the office...lol.So I had to buy a new one. I happen to have a job where employee monitoring systems keep track of all my activities, so I could be on the computer for hours. This chair saved my back during the lockdown.

[mark4]

I have a solid oak roll top desk that my grandparents inherited when they bought their house in Jamestown, NY back in the (I'm guessing here) mid-to-late 1930s. It was in the basement when they moved in. When they moved out (or my Grandmother moved out I should say - my Grandfather had passed) me and my dad dragged it up out of the basement and took it home to Michigan, where it went into my room, and has followed me to the DC area now that I'm an adult or at least fooling people into believing I'm an adult, and own a house. It was obviously built as a standard work desk for an office. It has no ornamentation and is a little utilitarian/industrial looking but the wood grain is beautiful and it's in great condition. It's fantastic but the only way to get one is at an antique store or estate sale or something. It's really heavy...I think I'd need to hire some guys with more muscle than I have to get it upstairs from the main level where it is at present, if we actually wanted to move it up there.

The other thing is a leather couch from Joybird. The model we got was the Briar. It looks like they've changed the colorways since we bought but ours is closest (or maybe identical) to what they're currently calling Santiago Caramel. I'm pretty sure that was not the name of this colorway when we purchased but it looks the exact same shade of medium caramel brown. Looks great and is developing a nice patina from wear over the two years we've owned it. It's really comfortable...I have a bad habit of falling asleep on it most evenings. At full retail it's reasonably priced for leather furniture IMO but we hit a sale. I'd buy it again for sure.

[mebejoseph]

I feel like it's crazy but sometimes I just hear a subject mentioned (something I would never have any reason to look up or otherwise reference on a device... like, border terriers or Kind bars) and suddenly I start seeing it show up in ads or in my Instagram feed.

Yes--I do not have any computer mics on at all (but cell phone of course has a mic). Sometimes I'm talking to my wife and we decide to look up the subject of our discussion on google. Dozens of times I've typed in a few letters and it auto fills the exact subject we were thinking about.

The only explanation I have for this is that often our discussion in based on a television show we were watching. As in, "oh--that guy who played CHARACTER--I wonder where he was born." Maybe so many other people wanted to know the same information that google can make a good guess.

OR--they listen on our cellphones.

[Dun]

I feel like it's crazy but sometimes I just hear a subject mentioned (something I would never have any reason to look up or otherwise reference on a device... like, border terriers or Kind bars) and suddenly I start seeing it show up in ads or in my Instagram feed.

I’m thinking this might be all router based. Like if you looked it up on one item, all items know. A friend sent me link to a ridiculous shirt and I didn’t say anything. Just got up and showed my wife my phone screen. Laughed, maybe said a deadpan “wow” and closed the link. Next day her Facebook had the adds for it.

Something we did was create a new, not linked to any personal info or money email, and set up the smart home stuff with that. Not sure if that is enough


I’m looking around at couch materials but not sure what to choose for desert sweat. I’m almost thinking an outdoor sofa...

[LesserBlackDog]

I feel like it's crazy but sometimes I just hear a subject mentioned (something I would never have any reason to look up or otherwise reference on a device... like, border terriers or Kind bars) and suddenly I start seeing it show up in ads or in my Instagram feed.

[DocDave]

Kind of a silly question, but are you at all concerned about smart devices collecting data on your household?

https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-s...-me-1822429852

Definitely not a silly question. The convergence of big data, not to mention the power concentrating in to five main companies (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) is definitely not good for consumers. Throw in the abuse of user privileges and the sharing of data between businesses for their profit and you have a recipe for disaster.

Take a look at Google and their acquisition of Nest. When they first bought Nest they claimed Nest would stay a separate company from Google and that Google would not co-mingle and aggregate data. Now? Google has rolled Nest in with Google Home appliances and there is no data distinction between the two. All of your data is going in to one big melting pot.

[mebejoseph]

Kind of a silly question, but are you at all concerned about smart devices collecting data on your household?

https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-s...-me-1822429852

I do have some concerns about privacy and that's why I've limited my smart devices. I don't have any type of voice activated smart devices. We don't have Alexa or anything like that. We don't have any cameras. We have a few lights on WeMo. We have a smart climate control system I operate from my phone. We have the whole-house music system. Of course we have the typical streaming entertainment. I also have a couple of fitness apps on my phone.

I think the biggest privacy "leak" we have comes from all the computers we have, not the smart devices. We are always on the internet looking up something for work or shopping or home improvement or just for fun.

Plus--I keep my calendar on a computer and on a central calendaring system we have for our law firm management. The "internet" knows when and where all my appointments are.

Am I really going to worry about the world knowing what time I turn on the A/C, if I'm searching on google for "psilocybin mushrooms chocolate recipes" or "best remote control vibrator"?

[rd27]

We have a townhouse with a small yard (about 25 x 15) and a garage. I find I need almost all the same tools I did when we had a house, except for tools for sprinkler repairs.

But for sure you should have enough tools to hang pictures and mirrors (get a stud finder as well), replace a washer in a faucet (or you'll end up paying $200 to a plumber to do a 15 minute job), and touch up the paint on your walls when needed. If you're not afraid of working with electricity, you should be able to replace a wall outlet--especially if your house is old. The outlets get worn out and won't hold a plug. If you can do that, you'll probably want to replace light switches yourself--We Mo and others make smart ones now and they're fun to have.

You'll probably also want to do minor drywall repairs from time to time. Sometimes you have accidents and dent your walls with a door knob or a piece of furniture--or when I was younger--it was anger issues, I'm sad to say.

Kind of a silly question, but are you at all concerned about smart devices collecting data on your household?

https://gizmodo.com/the-house-that-s...-me-1822429852

[mebejoseph]

Good points, thanks. I can probably ask the handy man at work to teach me how to do those safely. And ooh I probably want a smart switch for the ceiling fan

Youtube has hundreds of home repair videos.

[Dun]

...replace a washer in a faucet (or you'll end up paying $200 to a plumber to do a 15 minute job), and touch up the paint on your walls when needed. If you're not afraid of working with electricity, you should be able to replace a wall outlet--especially if your house is old. The outlets get worn out and won't hold a plug. If you can do that, you'll probably want to replace light switches yourself--We Mo and others make smart ones now and they're fun to have...

Good points, thanks. I can probably ask the handy man at work to teach me how to do those safely. And ooh I probably want a smart switch for the ceiling fan

[mebejoseph]

Probably a separate thread, but as we are just buying a townhouse- I would love to hear non-professional opinions on what is worth tooling up for home repairs and what is worth it just to leave to professionals. Especially with limited tool space options

We have a townhouse with a small yard (about 25 x 15) and a garage. I find I need almost all the same tools I did when we had a house, except for tools for sprinkler repairs.

But for sure you should have enough tools to hang pictures and mirrors (get a stud finder as well), replace a washer in a faucet (or you'll end up paying $200 to a plumber to do a 15 minute job), and touch up the paint on your walls when needed. If you're not afraid of working with electricity, you should be able to replace a wall outlet--especially if your house is old. The outlets get worn out and won't hold a plug. If you can do that, you'll probably want to replace light switches yourself--We Mo and others make smart ones now and they're fun to have.

You'll probably also want to do minor drywall repairs from time to time. Sometimes you have accidents and dent your walls with a door knob or a piece of furniture--or when I was younger--it was anger issues, I'm sad to say.

[rd27]

My recommendation for a new place would be to feel it out first. It’s tempting to just fill with new furniture but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized you will move stuff around and your tastes may change. Remember those ginormous sectionals from the early 2000s? If
You bought one of those now a days you’d be severally limited. We try to use craigslist, FB etc for furniture. It’s much cheaper. Allows us to try new things etc.

My one new recommendation would be a sofa.
Crate and barrel makes some great sofas that last. Good cushions with timeless designs

It also depends your style and how you use the space we love to entertain and I have to ensure everything has a home. So we look for multi purpose items like ottomans that can store and double as seating etc.

You're right. I've changed styles several times and purchased things from all over that I didn't love completely and have had to replace all of them. Better to be sure you're getting something you like.