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Shopping furniture this Christmas Season

Dec 03, 2017 Features / Columnists, Standards in Focus

It is during the Christmas season that many consumers take the opportunity to add a new piece of furniture to their décor to enhance their homes for the holidays. The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) is responsible for monitoring the quality of furniture in Guyana, and the Bureau is advocating that consumers, when purchasing furniture, pay careful attention to quality and labelling requirements.
Furniture must be of good quality, otherwise their imperfections and defects will quickly show during usage. Further, these products are very expensive and consumers expect that they will get extensive usage from them; so the structural integrity of furniture must be sound to withstand prolong use.
The “Code of Practice for the manufacture of furniture” offers a guide to manufacturers who are desirous of producing quality pieces. Meanwhile, manufacturers must comply with the National Labelling Standards “Specification for the labelling of commodities – Part 5: labelling of furniture”.
Therefore, to ensure satisfaction with their purchases, consumers should avoid making the following mistakes when buying furniture:
· Failing to Conduct a simple but detailed check of the furniture: When buying wooden furniture, consumers forget to take a closer look to ensure that the lumber and other materials used in manufacturing are free from rot, insect holes, open knots cracks and other common defects. It is often the practice of some unscrupulous manufacturers to use defective materials and use finishing materials to conceal these defects. Whenever this is done it is the end user/consumer who loses because he/she has purchased a rapidly deteriorating or easily weakened piece of furniture.
· Forgetting to measure your furniture: Don’t neglect to measure the room ahead of buying to see if your new furniture will fit. You will be amazed at the number of furniture purchases that never make it into a home because the buyer neglected to measure the furniture or forgot to take into account hallways, doors, elevators and stairs.
· Ignoring scale: A sofa that looks just right in the showroom might look too big in your room or not big enough. It is hard to judge when you are looking at a picture or seeing it in a showroom. In addition, measure to make sure that your new piece matches the scale of the furniture you already own.
· Paying too much attention to fads: It is best to buy a piece of furniture that you will feel comfortable with for years to come. That goes for color as well as style. Fads can come and go very quickly, so look beyond a few months of excitement. Instead, buy furniture that truly appeals to you and will look good even years later.
· Forgetting to read the labels: Reading labels that are affixed to pieces of furniture available for sale is very important. Labels provide useful information on the product and can should include information such as the common name of the item, manufacturer’s distinguishing mark/code, type of materials from which the furniture is made and the type of finish used.
· Ignoring who will really be using your furniture: Before you buy furniture, make sure that you know how it will be used, and who will be using it. If you forget to factor in small children, pets, and snacking while watching TV, you could be heading for disaster. Your fabulous cream colored sofa will be no match for grubby hands, or muddy paws. An absolutely gorgeous coffee table with a delicate finish will not last too long when you have people putting up their feet on it.
For further information on this subject, please contact the Guyana National Bureau of Standards on Telephone Numbers: 219-0065, 219-0066 and 219-0069 or visit the GNBS website: www.gnbsgy.org.

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