Heirloom furniture? Forget about it!

The WaPo asks why furniture falls apart in about three years.

Well, no, you can’t blame social media, as they cite some as claiming. It was happening long before that. I recall when a relative bought a new dining set in the early 1980s. They bought it from the factory in North Carolina, went there specifically to pick it out. They gave us, a poor college couple, their old one, made of oak. The table and chairs they gave us had already survived their four kids rough-housing, it has since survived our two kids and their friends using it for—well things tables and chairs aren’t supposed to be used for—and is now owned by another family member who is in the process of raising two children. Oh, it also survived all of our fifteen or so moves with it, plus another one or two when we gave it to Debbie's parents after we were done with it. It’s still going strong. The other one? Well, about three years after they bought it, the chairs started to come apart. Mind you, this was in the early 1980s. : (