| Buying outdoor furniture often becomes an every-year occurrence and can easily run into thousands of dollars in just a short time. Have you ever considered that the inexpensive chairs, table, or other outdoor furniture you bought just last season seem to prematurely be showing signs of wear – or maybe even already falling apart? And so, as a result, do you find yourself each spring replacing items that any reasonable person would assume should last at least twice as long?
Most outdoor furniture you find at the “Big Box” home stores and other discount retail outlets sell furniture made from production lines – and from offshore sources where unskilled labor is cheap and plentiful. Getting the finished product out the door is the main concern – not the quality of the item. Another reason quality never becomes a criterion for a finished product lies in the fact that these companies WANT the consumer to replace items every season. That’s what keeps them churning out the cheaply made products year after year after year. When something constantly breaks, it’s replaced – repeatedly – over and over and over again.
Unless the consumer finally learns that buying quality outdoor furniture in the first place can stop the cycle of endless repurchasing of the same products every single year. But where does one find such quality nowadays?
In America there still exists one sure source for obtaining remarkable workmanship at a fair price: the Amish craftsman. Outdoor furniture constructed by the Amish comes with a guarantee of good work and is built with the integrity inherent in a people who earn their living based on the premise of reasonable compensation for a job well performed. Details in their craftsmanship include things like countersunk screws instead of nails; extra bracing, durable wood finishes; hand-sanding; hand-painting … even their non-wood products come from high-grade vinyl and polyurethane materials.
It takes some consideration, but even when you initially pay more for outdoor furniture created by the skilled hands of Amish craftsman, are you REALLY paying more? If, for example, an outdoor rocker costs $45 dollars but lasts only one or two seasons, is it really less expensive than a $350 rocker that you may even be able to pass down to your grandchildren? A so-called “bargain” is supposed to save money, but when you buy cheap outdoor furniture that needs replacing nearly every year, are you actually saving money? Think about it.
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