Don't Fence Them In
"We move so much, and our furniture is so cheap, that it’d be foolish to overly attach ourselves (financially, psychologically) to a piece of it. When I moved, I never had enough money to pay for good, non-schemey movers; my furniture steadily acquired dings and dents; some parts were lost, others broken..."
“'A lot of what is in our homes seems very temporary — like, this piece will do for now, until I have money/a place to live for more than a year/find something better,' one 27-year-old woman from Chicago said. "I think a lot of us do want heavy, well-made objects with history, but it just doesn't quite line up with budget and life stage. Stuff kind of weighs you down, too, and that's something I think a lot of young people are looking to avoid...'”
"The thing about Ikea stuff — like Target or Walmart stuff — is that even if you keep it in your life, you could, feasibly, leave it behind at any moment: to move, to travel the world, to pursue a lead on your dream job, to follow your bliss. That attitude toward stuff is made possible, of course, by the lack of larger things weighing you down: It’s easy to be blasé about furniture when you’re delaying marriage and parenthood and home ownership, either by choice or by necessity..."
"...we also care less about things like 'furniture sets' — i.e., buying large groups of furniture that match, are meant to be kept in one room, and cost thousands of dollars. That’s the kind of stuff that’s made of real wood, and is bought on payment plans at old-school furniture stores you’ve probably never set foot in...":
“"I tend to look for furniture that is either very cheap and can be easily replaced, or can be rearranged to fit different spaces. (No sectional sofas or large dressers here — what if our next living room is smaller or our bedroom walls have more windows?)'"
"...I thought I was being original, but I was incredibly typical..."
"...the HENRY: high earners not rich yet. People who’ve been in the workforce long enough to pull in larger salaries, potentially partnered with someone with an equally sizable salary, but still paying off loans, figuring out saving, realizing they can do things like drop a grand on an item of furniture, even if they don’t own a house":