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Furniture is (Finally!) Shrinking...for Now

Wall Street Journal 03.21.08

2008-03-20-potterybarn.jpgGood timing - just on the eve of our annual contest that celebrates small space living, the furniture industry is getting in step. We've been seeing it happen, slowly but surely. Mass market retailers, like Pottery Barn (shown here) have finally started to focus on those of us who live in smaller spaces by tailoring specific lines to a scale that fits our non-mansion homes.


Growing demand for smaller scaled furniture seems to be finally tipping the balance back away from giant sofas, overstuffed club chairs and monolithic armoires. In the WSJ today they discuss the trend and list some very specific reasons for it...

They cite Baby Boomers downsizing to condos, first time buyers settling into urban neighborhoods AND, most specifically; homeowners whose plans to "trade up" are on hold due to the current market.

Pottery Barn launched its Small Spaces lines and according to the article, "sales have been terrific...and the company has already double the size of the assortment online". An Ethan Allen spokeswoman says that while they have always had different sized pieces, this year it is a focus.

The piece doesn't mention those, like many of us who read AT, who have chosen to live small purposefully - who simply never felt the pull of "more more more" when it came to square footage - and who now may be enjoying the wider selection of pieces that actually fit comfortably in our homes.

We don't totally dig the assumption that comes through in the article that that the bigger furniture and giant homes is what we all will want to get back to, which is backed up by the final quote of the piece by Ed Tashjian of Century Furniture. He says that Century won't walk away from big furniture because "one should never bet against the American Dream". Ugh.

Check out the full article here.

Photo: Arlington Sofa from Pottery Barn

Comments (10)

Hopefully, Ed Tashjian will be proven wrong. I want to believe that enough people are learning to favor quality over quantity in the things they consume. Whether a home, the furniture in that home, cars, meals out, etc. we can get more enjoyment from those that are better made -- well designed, reduced utilization of resources, more attention to details, higher quality materials -- than things that are bigger simply because "bigger is better."

posted by Benjy on 2008-03-21 13:47:46
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This is refreshing. Square footage limitations aside, some of us just plain don't like hulking furniture. It's not human-scaled. Rowe has started a small-scale line of upholstered seating called MiniMod:
http://rowefurniture.com/collections/minimod/default.htm

Not what I would call mod, but they show some appealing basics.

posted by farmhousemoderne on 2008-03-21 14:07:51
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Whose American dream. Certainly not mine, either. Small is better and I ended up constructing a small coffee table myself because I could not find one to fit my space. It is temporary until I find the one I want. I happily moved to a townhouse and love my space.

posted by dar on 2008-03-21 14:35:50
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I don't get it either. We're looking for a place to purchase because I really miss having studio space. After decades of renting (and some really awful landlord stories), we're looking to purchase a place no bigger then 1600 sqft which is huge to me.

posted by Renngrrl on 2008-03-21 14:43:39
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I'm rooting for a return of the small kitchen! I went from a sprawling space to a galley kitchen and find it a much easier space to work in. Simple pivots now vs. rounding a center island to get to the fridge!

posted by jkgalbny on 2008-03-21 15:29:42
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thanks for the link farmhousemoderne

posted by SD913 on 2008-03-21 16:04:51
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Do they have to call their customers, "space starved"? Ugh.

posted by seattlegirl on 2008-03-22 00:16:33
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All those 9foot ceilings, grand entrances and great rooms are everything but comfortable, so people seek out the only cosy area in the house - the basement. I am a European living in the States for 7 years now, but I have never heard about another nation spending so much time and money on their 'cellar'.

posted by bronte on 2008-03-22 16:31:32
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Hooray! I hope the smaller furniture comes to Canada. I'm always tremendously frustrated whenever I go searching for a comfy chair. We got a properly scaled 40's sofa with a curved back and scrolled arms--just my thing-- from a now dead family member--otherwise we wouldn't have anything at all. (It was probably large for the time, though).

posted by Alana in Canada on 2008-03-23 18:58:58
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Has anyone seen this PB sofa (the "Arlington") in person? I'm interested in buying it, but it's not on display in the stores and it's non-returnable... so hoping for some feedback. Thanks!

posted by rjrj on 2008-04-29 19:47:21
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