Working overseas (that is to say outside the US or Japan) I have been fortunate enough to always have an apartment provided with furniture. This is definitely nice economically speaking and means I don’t have to lug furniture around the world with em. But it does always represent a compromise in style and color, etc. Not that I am such a stylish or fashionable person but sometimes I have thought how nice it would be to have a bed, a couch, a table that I chose.
When I was in Tokyo this past week I passed some time by looking at furniture. Otsuka, a major furniture dealer, has a big showroom in Shinjuku so I dropped by to have a look. It was really nice to check out sofas and tables and chairs and beds that I like. The nice salesperson explained the finer points of the pieces I looked at and I could really see the difference in quality between furniture that you get at Ikea and that which you get from a real furniture dealer.
And then he gave me the estimate for everything I thought I might like to buy someday. Let’s just say you could buy a nice car for the same amount of money. While I can always use the excuse that I would be able to use the same bed or sofa for a long time and that depreciated over the usable life it’s not such a big investment, still….furniture is freakin’ expensive. I haven’t had sticker shock like that in a while.