[Brit] US Culture Shock: I Just Bought My First [old] American House

[Hamartia Antidote]

oh I always wanted to watch that whole thing but never really had the time.

I'm not sure if it is as simple as blaming Walmart. I think it is people's obsession with getting something quick at the cheapest price.

You go to Home Depot and they sell crappy $10 front door locks. Want a nice one..well good luck.. you have to search on Amazon or go to that specialty lockstore in the middle of nowhere that sells something like Medeco. But 95% of people are perfectly happy spending $10 on a lock.

Want a furniture set...everybody runs to Ikea and buys some particle board dresser with the wood finish sticker on it. Sells like hotcakes.

Meanwhile I had to drive Gardner, an old mill town in the middle of nowhere, to buy Nichols&Stone chairs with steam bent wood. Even the furniture shops there had mostly crap. Talked to one guy and he says nobody wants to spend any money on a good furniture set anymore. Grabbed 6 chairs...and 2 years later in 2008 they went out of business.

So not sure if I want to blame Walmart over consumers.

 

[FuturePAF]

oh I always wanted to watch that whole thing but never really had the time.

I'm not sure if it is as simple as blaming Walmart. I think it is people's obsession with getting something quick at the cheapest price.

You go to Home Depot and they sell crappy $10 front door locks. Want a nice one..well good luck.. you have to search on Amazon or go to that specialty lockstore in the middle of nowhere that sells something like Medeco. But 95% of people are perfectly happy spending $10 on a lock.

Want a furniture set...everybody runs to Ikea and buys some particle board dresser with the wood finish sticker on it. Sells like hotcakes.

Meanwhile I had to drive Gardner, an old mill town in the middle of nowhere, to buy Nichols&Stone chairs with steam bent wood. Even the furniture shops there had mostly crap. Talked to one guy and he says nobody wants to spend any money on a good furniture set anymore. Grabbed 6 chairs...and 2 years later in 2008 they went out of business.

So not sure if I want to blame Walmart over consumers.

It’s true, most people are happy with the cheapest thing. It wasn’t just Walmart; but when people’s real wages didn’t keep up with the cost of living, people had to buy the cheapest thing. It started small, in the 70s but by the 90s, it was just the way it was. Also, the old timers that worked he ole hardware store are a dying breed. Many of the new guys don’t know as much to be helpful, at least in New York, from what I’ve experienced.

Remember that show, “American pickers”, what do you think of antique stores for finding sturdy, don’t make’em like they use to furniture?

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Remember that show, “American pickers”, what do you think of antique stores for finding sturdy, don’t make’em like they use to furniture?

So my parents own a very expensive and heavy mahogany dining room set (with a ~10 foot buffet table, glass dishcabinets, and others I don't know the names of). They got it for almost nothing in ~1965 because the set is so big most people can not fit it all into their dining rooms and the woman selling it absolutely refused to break up the set. My parents happened to have a house built in 1880 and its dining room is huge...the set fits easily. The woman was so happy she gave it all to them almost for free. I think they said they spent 5 times more on the mover fees than the cost of buying it.

However this set can't fit easily in the dining room of my 2005 house...which really makes me start to ponder a bit about the true nature of the furniture sales decline problem.

It's a beautiful set...although I never actually saw the real top of the table (has two middle leafs btw to make it fit 4 on each side). They were so paranoid about ruining the finish they had custom heat/waterproof table top padding made. Which when you think about is ridiculous. You get a beautiful table and you can't even see it. I told my wife we aren't going to buy a wooden dining room table just for that reason..and we ended up with a marble one.

So in terms of "they don't make them like they used to". Well that certainly is true as i had to transport 6 chairs over 50 miles because the stuff in stores nearby was crap...and a-hole Ethan Allen was charging 3 times the price ($600/chair!!) than the maker was selling in their Gardner outlet ($200). hmm spend $3600 (and wait a month) or drive 50 miles and pay $1200 and stuff it in a car.

 

[ziaulislam]

As a kid playing GTA San Andreas, I always wanted to go live in one of those towns in the Los Santos countryside. Hilly areas, Have a hunting rifle, truck and ofc, a bonafide garage. Small, quiet town surrounded by pine forests.

Then I grew up and learnt of US politics and found out that the sort of rural, backwater place I fantasized living in, is also the place I as a brown Pakistani Muslim, would be least welcome in.

Oh well...

Not really you can live and no one cares.
You are more likely to be killed or shot it in rural Pakistan then America.

And yes I have travelled all over Pakistan..

Parts of KPK south Punjab Baluchistan and rural Sindh are very dangerous for outsiders far more dangerous

If they find out you are outsider and own land ..you are the target number 1 for land grabbers.

Even in my village my own relatives have done this to outsiders

So yeah I will be fine in my village but no where else

Now if u speak a different language or religion oh God good luck. You might remember all those christians who are killed for their land .

PS
People think like of my 34 years LIFE I have spent only 5 yrs in USA so don't bring up "oh I know not of sweet Pakistan "

On contray I have been to every province of Pakistan

 

[FuturePAF]

So my parents own a very expensive and heavy mahogany dining room set (with a ~10 foot buffet table, glass dishcabinets, and others I don't know the names of). They got it for almost nothing in ~1965 because the set is so big most people can not fit it all into their dining rooms and the woman selling it absolutely refused to break up the set. My parents happened to have a house built in 1880 and its dining room is huge...the set fits easily. The woman was so happy she gave it all to them almost for free. I think they said they spent 5 times more on the mover fees than the cost of buying it.

However this set can't fit easily in the dining room of my 2005 house...which really makes me start to ponder a bit about the true nature of the furniture sales decline problem.

It's a beautiful set...although I never actually saw the real top of the table (has two middle leafs btw to make it fit 4 on each side). They were so paranoid about ruining the finish they had custom heat/waterproof table top padding made. Which when you think about is ridiculous. You get a beautiful table and you can't even see it. I told my wife we aren't going to buy a wooden dining room table just for that reason..and we ended up with a marble one.

So in terms of "they don't make them like they used to". Well that certainly is true as i had to transport 6 chairs over 50 miles because the stuff in stores nearby was crap...and a-hole Ethan Allen was charging 3 times the price ($600/chair!!) than the maker was selling in their Gardner outlet ($200). hmm spend $3600 (and wait a month) or drive 50 miles and pay $1200 and stuff it in a car.

I’m surprised the Gardner outlet doesn’t have some online presence? It would have beat the competition if its quality and price are better then what you can get in the big city.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

I’m surprised the Gardner outlet doesn’t have some online presence? It would have beat the competition if its quality and price are better then what you can get in the big city.

Certainly they had a marketing problem as I had never heard of them until i sat in one of their chair at an expensive furniture store.

 

[VCheng]

I’m from Nashville, Tennessee and there’s immigrants from all over the world that live here. Overall, you won’t find a more welcoming people than in the South.

Man, you fo sho is luckeeee to live in the town with the best Hot Chicken anywhere!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

US Culture Shock: British Verdict on the American Suburbs​

Why Do Americans Have So Much Stuff?​

 

[Khan_21]

Havent been to California/Oregon or some of the other major states but my favourite state is vermont.

Rolling green hills and lakes with sheep & no billboards in sight. Road tripping through vermont was amazing. Fall in Vermont/New hampshire and all the new England belt is a must.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Havent been to California/Oregon or some of the other major states but my favourite state is vermont.

Rolling green hills and lakes with sheep & no billboards in sight. Road tripping through vermont was amazing. Fall in Vermont/New hampshire and all the new England belt is a must.

I used to go fishing up in a lake in Vermont with this big dam in the background as a kid with some cousins who lived in the Berkshires. I always keep forgetting to figure out where that was. (maybe ChatGPT to the rescue).

Haven't really been up there since.