Rent It: The Easiest Way to Furnish in Transit
When director Ron Howard needed housing for film editors who joined him in Greenwich, Conn., to work on the movie “Parenthood,” he furnished two condominiums with rented furniture.
Howard Rothkerch of International Furniture Rentals says other celebrities who have rented from the Hawthorne, N.Y., company, just across the Connecticut line, include comedian Rodney Dangerfield, actor Robert Redford and wrestler Hulk Hogan.
Princess Hussah Khalid of Saudi Arabia spent $5,299 each of the three months she rented furniture while awaiting custom pieces ordered for her Greenwich mansion.
A lot of money, indeed, but she got a lot of furniture, says Rothkerch, including 21 sectional pieces, 18 dining chairs and two dining tables.
The rich and famous account for only a small portion of Americans who spend more than $700 million a year to rent furniture.
The Furniture Rental Assn. of America, an industry trade group, estimates that a half-million homes are furnished with rental pieces at any given time.
Reasons for renting have more to do with convenience than with style. Most renters fall into one of several groups, according to Rothkerch: corporate transfers in temporary quarters, victims of home disasters, the newly divorced, the mobile awaiting the moving van and people with furniture on order.
According to Sally Simon, rental director for Homebuyers Assistance Corp. of Westport, Conn., corporate executives on temporary assignment are most likely to rent furniture. It’s inexpensive, convenient and fast. They can pick the minimum package for a one-bedroom apartment, pay about $100 a month and get delivery in 48 hours or less, says Simon, who handles executive relocations for about 250 companies.
Since companies usually will pay to move household goods only once for each corporate transfer, employees often will rent furniture and quarters until they find permanent homes.
“In my eight years I have never seen someone not rent because they didn’t like the selection,” Simon says. “They come because they have a desperate need. The furniture itself is secondary to the service.”
Jen and Fred Niebuhr furnished a nine-room rented home in Westport, Conn., with rentals from Cost Plus of Stamford, Conn. Now they are thinking of buying the country French and Queen Anne style pieces they selected.
“I don’t usually tell anyone that my furniture is rented, and people who know are surprised when they see it,” says Jen Niebuhr, a former interior decorator who chose to rent furniture rather than move hers from Hilton Head, S.C., “until we decide what we are going to do permanently.”
Yamini and Rupak Ved moved to East Haven, Conn., from Dubai in the United Arab Emirate, to start a business. With rented home furnishings--including bedding and appliances--selected from a catalogue, the Veds, their infant and nanny were able to move quickly from a hotel suite to a three-bedroom condo. Yamini Ved regards the $800 monthly fee as reasonable.
When IBM physicist Erling Pytte accepted a short-term assignment at the company’s Almaden, Calif., laboratory, he and his wife, Patricia, decided to rent furniture for their apartment.
Not only did they not want their furniture to take the bumps of a cross-country trip, they learned it would be easier to find tenants for their suburban New York home if it remained furnished.
Patricia Pytte rented through Breuner’s, a California furniture retail chain with a rental division.
“It took us about five minutes to decide what we wanted,” she says.
They received the furniture for a two-bedroom apartment two days after signing a contract for $260 a month.
“And they were here at 8:30 a.m., just like they said,” Pytte said.
