More Americans Putting Their Hands to Ready-to-Assemble Furniture
Back in the good old days, unassembled goods were with us in the form of toys: little kits of cardboard or balsa wood that gave dad a wonderful opportunity to show off his skill to the kids, making doll houses, miniature airplanes, train stations and castles and such. In the same era, S.J. Perlman, the great humorist, described the process in one of his typically acerbic stories. He started assembling a play item for the kiddies, soon plunging a full-size staple (A) into his thumb while struggling with junior’s kit, working on putting together part (B) and flap (D), or some such diagrammatic obscurity.
Furious, he called his great essay on hazards of the early do-it-yourself dynasty “Insert Flap A and Throw Away.”
Today, it’s the adults, not just the children, who are interested in assembled things, and many of the things are full-size, not toys. If you want to know where young couples with ready-made home comforts on their minds congregate you look in a few of their haunts. Antique stores with oak furniture or big-league flea markets will do. But also a major prospect are elaborate lumber centers and discount department stores.
The last named of these retail marts is the new happy home of specialty furniture and even whole rooms full of coordinated stuff on which you can exercise your manual training. In the furniture trade they call it RTA. That’s short for “ready to assemble”--a trend that appears to be taking off with shoppers.
Of course, there are consumers who will never have fewer than 10 thumbs, whose eyes cross at the glimpse of a diagram and whose stomachs grow queasy at the words: “Some Assembly Required.” For these folks, conventional furniture sources are the best recourse.
RTA furniture isn’t entirely a new idea. For at least a decade, bookshelves, bunk beds, sound and computer centers, lawn furniture (remember the Adirondack chair craze?) and other items have been gaining as “put-it-together” items.
However, there are signs that quickie RTA comforts are broadening their appeal and becoming more sophisticated. The do-it-yourself boom could still make carpenter’s assistants of us all.
And it’s just in time for the average householder to order whole rooms full of the stuff.
Marshall Erdman & Associates pioneered the coordinated RTA room in the mid-’80s, introducing a popular modernist line of white bedroom, dining room, office and wall-unit items that bolt together. The collection is called Techline and features a dazzling white melamine surface.
“We have been designing and manufacturing furniture machined and drilled to tolerances of within .02 of a millimeter for almost 10 years, or about the thickness of a sheet of heavy paper,” reports Alice D’Alessio, spokesman for the Madison, Wis., company. The company uses European-made factory equipment, contending that U.S. mechanical systems cannot achieve this quality of tolerances.
Some industry observers note that RTA customers are different in an important respect from traditional home shoppers. They are interested far more in the function of pieces than in their style.
While RTAs are obviously in a growth situation and have been piling up double-digit increases yearly, their share of the giant American furniture market still is estimated only at 5% or 6%. The marketing profile for buyers is strongly up-scale, with about one-third of all customers ranging from $35,000 to $60,000 in household income. Items are bought for primary homes, not vacation shacks or shore condos, about 75% of the time.
Here are some hints, based on personal experience, of do’s and don’ts of the less technical side of living with RTAs and loving them.
Particle board, all but universally used in assembled items, is strong, but water is its enemy in some cases. It can crumble if exposed to water or heavy dampness for long periods unless wholly sealed on all surfaces. Basement pieces are especially at risk.
Hold onto that carton the furniture came in. It probably has the 800 number of your RTA manufacturers who may be ready and able, at least on weekdays, to counsel you on assembly problems.
Chairs and stools in RTA patterns are not necessarily as comfortable as custom or even ordinary furniture, used or new. It’s better to sit in them before you buy.
All things being equal, solid wood RTA pieces are to be preferred over veneered items, just as in conventional manufactured furnishings. They may, however, be tougher to handle, cost more and be harder to find. More work is involved too, at times, if wood is unfinished.
