Purchase Kids Furniture You Plan to Keep

Posted on 01/27/2012 in View All ,

Topics: view all, furniture, furniture care, children's, kids

Even if you’re parenting on a tight budget, kids furniture should never be purchased as an afterthought. Children grow out of shoes just about every month. Buying name brands that have to get thrown out or donated right after the purchase seems foolish to some parents, so they only shop for footwear on sale. There’s something to be said of that for shoes, clothing, even toys, but furniture is a bit more permanent. Dads might look at a small bed frame and only imagine the imminent day their kids will need a twin, then a full, but growth spurts in adolescence don’t mark the end of a bed’s life. If kids furniture is made well, it can and should last for generations.

Few things in a child’s world are timeless. Every season there’s a new Japanese show that boys have to watch. Every year there’s a new line of toys that everyone else in class already has. Every day there’s a new interest, career ambition, or extracurricular hobby that your daughter wants to pour her whole heart into. Trying to buy bedroom décor that follows these trends and favorite movies might fulfill your kids in the moment, but after a month or year, the trend’s passé and everything needs to be repurchased. A lot of kids furniture incorporates franchises to market to children, but wise parents will avoid these pieces. Even in design, some trends are fleeting, but others have a classic permanence that will always be applicable and attractive.

Kids furniture doesn’t have to showcase a cartoon or pop singer to be functional. A Miley Cyrus bed won’t promote any more sleep than a distinguished oak frame, and it won’t be an embarrassment to your daughter in a year when she discovers better music. Pieces should be bought that won’t just work throughout your child’s life; they should be timeless enough to accommodate grandchildren decades down the road. They’re really not too difficult to find. Avoid trends and ostentatious color patterns (like Hannah Montana, your daughter won’t always love a fully pink bedroom set) and buy furniture patterns that will blend into any decorative scene. Posters will always be changing; stuffed animals will make a slow migration from a bed to shelves to the attic; but understated dressers, chairs, and bed frames tend to last.

As long as you buy sturdy kids furniture, it’ll surely survive potty training, tantrums, and even adolescence. If your children protest too much about needing a specific style or TV personality all over their furniture, you can appease them with a comforter or lampshade. The furniture itself never needs to follow trends, and even though your son will outgrow his first bed in a few years, a good frame can be stored and saved for visiting grandchildren. Shoes may last about as long as your daughter’s favorite book, but a bed retains its value even after she needs something bigger. Don’t buy a cheap furniture set just because it won’t last forever. Few things do, but a good bed and dresser will at least survive a few generations.