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emilysteng

Martha Stewart Bernhardt Furniture

emilysteng
17 years ago

Hi! Does anyone know about quality/construction etc of Martha Stewart Bernhardt Upholstered furniture? My parents want to buy their curved-arm wood-frame sofa set. They were wondering how it is constructed. Unfortunately the stores in their area don't carry it - they have to special order it. They happened to see it when they were shopping out of town. I guess they are worried about durability. Their REALLY old sofas wore out because the seats started sagging - I guess they were made of coils?

I don't know anything about sofa construction - what is good and what is bad. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=signature-product&id=product20167&site=

Comments (9)

  • car1218
    17 years ago

    Emily,

    I saw the furniture myself and thought it was lovely. MY only concern is that it wasn't at a very high end furniture store. The store I was at was a middle of the road furniture store. They sold mostly Lane and Broyhill sofas. Some great websites to check out are www.furniture.about.com, www.upholster.com, and consumerreports.com. They will give you excellent information. There is also some great information on this forum too. I hope this helps.
    Car1218

  • emilysteng
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi,

    that is interesting because the store we saw it at was a higher end store - not ridiculously expensive - but a little better than the mid priced stores. I will check out those websites - thanks!

  • rtobiejr
    17 years ago

    Well I just got married in November and have purchased all of my furniture from this collection (with the exception of a leather sectional that was by Bernhardt, without the Martha Stewart licensing).

    I own:

    The Grand Lake China Cabinet, four Ravenscleft Ring Back Chairs and two arm chairs, and the Grand Lake Pedestal Table (comes with a giant leaf) from the Skylands Collection,

    and in our room, is the Penobscot bed, Landscape Dresser, and Mirror.

    I love these pieces!!!! Everything has held up very well thus far, and looks terrific in the house. My uncle makes furniture and approved of these pieces-- and thus far, they have held up very very well. They are far superior to anything at Ashley Furniture, Rooms to Go-- all of which was shoddy and with much less elegant styling. All of this furniture did NOT come cheap-- I paid about 14k--to furnish the house, and I'm not done.

    But I'd rather front the money and get quality than buy some of this glorified pressboard out there...

  • islalisa
    15 years ago

    Bernhardt Martha Stewart Seal Harbor Four-Poster Bed is cracking after only 8 months. The two posters at the foot of the bed have big cracks vertically up the posters. Went by a neighborhood furniture and their floor model was cracking, too. From what I understand this is a common problem -- a design flaw. Bernhardt doesn't want to honor their 5-year guarantee.

  • sussexnjgardener
    15 years ago

    I just bought the Seal Harbor bed; however, I am returning it because it is so big that it makes my other bedroom furniture look like dollhouse furniture. I got it from Macy's--it was my understanding that Macy's had an exclusive with bernhardt for this line. I am paying a pickup fee plus 10% restocking fee to get rid of it, but it sounds like I'm getting off cheap!! That's terrible that the posts are cracking--who would have even thought you would have to worry about something like that.

  • Nancy Barginear
    15 years ago

    I bought a very expensive Bernhardt sofa and ended up giving it away. The fabric was gorgeous, but it was very poorly made. Started sagging, lumping, and looking awful. In six months time, it looked like shabby chic furniture I had rescued from a garage sale. Berhnrdt wouldn't do anything about it, but the furniture store tried to fix the problem. They didn't succeed. I would never buy another one. I had thought by buying something of that quality it would be very good. Was I ever fooled! I had drapes custom-made to match the color and decorated the room around this sofa. We had to redecorate. Absolutely no cooperation from Bernhardt - they didn't even bother to answer my letter. Never, never again!

  • cec311
    15 years ago

    All the Martha Stewart line is imported from overseas. Mostly Chinese junk. Buyer beware on this imported casegoods furniture.

  • linnea56 (zone 5b Chicago)
    15 years ago

    How can you find out which lines have imported junk? I'm looking for a dining table and it will be a big expense for me. How can you tell?