Ready-to-assemble furniture is now gaining popularity in the furniture market. Coffee tables, bookshelves, kitchen shelves and stools are among the furniture with ready-to-assemble furniture. These furniture or ready-to-assemble furniture are mostly sold in WalMarts and some discount stores. Large companies such as IKEA have also expanded their designs on RTA and are making it available globally for consumers.
So what is it about RTA furniture? Why do some people buy it and why do some people still opt for ready-to-use furniture?
RTA furniture designs are limited. Since its assembly is left to the consumer, manufacturers have made sure that its individual parts are regularly-shaped enough for consumers to put together. Intricate parts and elaborate designs may prove frustrating to the consumer to assemble or may require more complicated tools to assemble. Also, since furniture and RTAS are imported from major furniture manufacturers around the world, instructions and translations in foreign language may pose another problem for the do-it-yourselfer.
On the positive side, they are relatively less costly compared to ready-to-use furniture. An owner of an RTA furniture will not think twice of repainting his RTAs so that it fits into the color scheme of his new home or of restyling it and modifying it according to his own taste if the old RTA look starts to get boring. However, an owner of an expensive antique, ready-to-use furniture will definitely think even more than twice of having his expensive furniture repainted or re-upholstered.
Since these are designed more for functionality rather than for its aesthetic purposes in your homes, these are therefore ideal furniture for apartments, boarding school rooms and small-sized family homes. And since they can be assembled by anybody, it can also be dismantled by anybody who is relocating or moving to a new place. They are handy. They can be disassembled, packed in flat packages and moved from place to place without having to deal with the problem of it taking up most space in the mover’s van.
RTA furniture have their own disadvantages and advantages. Knowing these will definitely save the furniture buyer a lot of time, and even a lot more money.