Furniture Consignment Gallery Blog

Mysteriously, a giant pine tree fell in our yard last weekend, crushing sections of a new fence we'd installed only a year ago. We didn't hear or see anything in the night, but the backyard was a mess when we awoke on Easter Sunday.

So after church, instead of our traditional egg hunt, we got to work. Our three boys swung axes. I manned the chain saw. We cut the tree into pieces and hauled it away.

Winters are notoriously tough in New England, but spring with its driving rains and high winds can be just as hard. Mother Nature or some other malevolent force seems to take pleasure in unleashing a legion of gremlins just to test our capacity for misery.

It was a week of woe. After the tree episode, our icemaker went on strike. It was new. Thanks a lot, GE. You've ruined my much-anticipated end-of-week treat: bourbon over ice on a Friday night.

Next, our cable router died, leaving us without Internet - for three days. Ouch! The demons even followed me to work. Our trucks had so many ailments they needed a full-time mechanic.

Things break. That's just the way it goes. But I'm old enough now to realize that new things seem to break more often - and more completely - than the old ones. And most of the new things are made so shoddily they aren't worth repairing.

So beware when you hear about new furniture deals that seem too good to be true. Retailers are offering aggressive promotions this spring on furniture. Samples: "Only $5 a day" or "We'll pay your sales tax" or "If the Red Sox win the pennant, your furniture is free!"

Here's the reality. That furniture might not last any longer than the installment payments you'll be making. You'll get far better quality buying the consignment furniture in our showrooms.  

Even the quality pre-owned furniture that you buy from us today could be sold again tomorow. We have a nice Pompanoosuc Mills dining room set scheduled to arrive today that was bought from us five years ago.  Quality furniture will have resale value as long as the style stays in play. 

Feel free to disregard my advice. But I'll be happy to lend you a couple of axes and my chainsaw in a couple of years when you're hauling the cheap stuff off to the dump. 

As the massive glacier of snow and ice recedes from our lawn, a new treasure appears every day. Surprise! Here's a single ice skate that's been missing for months. Yesterday, I found the football the boys got for Christmas, along with a partially chewed pizza box, sans pizza. Roxie, our toddler boxer, is the culprit. She considers everything in our house - and our garbage - to be her personal chew toy. Our front lawn is a graveyard of well-masticated items lying, like bleached bones, in full view of the neighborhood.

Thanks to Mother Nature, we had no idea the full extent of our pup's destructive instincts. Snow after snow hid the evidence. Now, we're placing bets on what might appear next during the Big Melt. I am missing my grill light er. But it's not like I need it yet. I still can't find my grill under the avalanche of snow that slid off the roof.

We aren't the only ones cleaning up a lot of debris after a harsh winter. One of our neighbors in town discovered a deer carcass in a snow bank. At least we haven't had to bury anything at our house.

At work, though, I've been tempted to get out the shovel this week. We've been witnessing a curious phenomenon in our showrooms. Suddenly, people are trying to pawn off on us the stuff they've unearthed this spring from their cellars, attics or, in some cases it seems, their snow banks.

We're talking faded pastel art prints from the 1970s, smelly rugs, and a couple of upholstered chairs that look like they'd served as cat scratching posts for a couple of decades. We had about ten cars show up yesterday full with crapola. Thanks for thinking of us, but no.

Boston is finally emerging from hibernation after a brutally harsh winter. And it isn't a pretty sight out there. So if you're looking for a place to unload the flotsam and jetsam at your home, make a beeline - for the dump. We only take the best of the best at FCG.

Our newest feature "Consignor Log-in" is exciting to us because it will allow us to give our customers and consignors the opportunity to view their consigned items and previous in-store purchases in real-time on the internet and the App. Here are instructions on how to get started!

How to Get Started

Step 1.
The first step is making sure you're in our system with the correct email, if at all. To update this information you can either call one of our 3 stores, do it in person in one of our three stores or fill out the form at the bottom of this page to be updated. Filling out the form will put your information in our digital que to be placed in by one of our staff. Please allow 24-48 hrs if you choose to do it this way.

Step 2.
Once you are entered into our system here you will receive an email like this:

Once you have received this email above it means one of our staff members have manually entered you into our system by updating your account with us. This email can take a couple hours to arrive after we have entered you depending on your device, email service or wifi speed. Please note that depending on your email provider this email may go to your SPAM folder. If you can't find it, go to your SPAM and look for "Consignor Login Information"

Step 3.
Go to our Front Page and click the "Consignor Log-in" button

Step 4.
After reading this entire page you can click on this button:

Step 5.

This will take you to our log-in page. The design may be updated in the future, but for the moment this is what it looks like. Enter your entire email in BOTH fields, Username and password. Do NOT use captial letters of any kind. Email address are not captial letter sensitive but username and passwords boxes ARE so if it doesn't match our system it won't work.

Step 6.
After you enter this the first time it will trigger another email for you to go find in your inbox that will look like this:

Click through that link to change your password. This password IS case sensitive. Make sure you make it something you will remember. We suggest at least one capital letter and one number.

Step 6.

Using your FULL email address as your Username and the new password you have just created, you will log-in to the system and be brought to this page:

That's how you log-in to Consignor Log-in for the first time! There will be another blog post about all the features and what they mean soon. I will link that here when I'm finished!

"Are you saying, sir, the name of your company is Furniture Consignment Gallery?" the customer service rep asked for the third time. "How do you spell 'furniture'?"

"How do you spell 'furniture'?" I snapped in irritation. "Well, it begins with an "f" - as in frustrated!"

Few things try my patience more than calling a customer service hotline. Yesterday, I spent twenty minutes on the phone trying to cancel a newspaper subscription. The hapless rep couldn't spell "Furniture." "Consignment"? Too much of a challenge.

She put me on hold to find "someone who could better assist me. " In her call center, that might take an eternity. Even more aggravating was the email from her company that popped into my mailbox a few hours later: "How was your customer experience? Please take our brief survey!"

These days, it seems like everyone in business is conducting a survey about the "customer experience." I got the oil changed in my car, and two hours later got an email asking me to take a survey. I got my teeth cleaned. My dentist asked me to fill out a survey.

My answer to all of them is "no."

My needs are pretty simple. I want to cancel my subscription quickly and efficiently. I want my oil changed by a trustworthy mechanic. I want the dentist to clean my teeth with no additional fuss. And then I want to be left alone.

So, companies, big and small, here's my advice. Forget the surveys. Provide your customers with good service from the moment they walk in the door or call on the phone. You don't need a survey to tell you when you're doing a good job. Your customers leave happy. They come back again. They also send friends and family your way.

That is what we strive to do every day at Furniture Consignment Gallery. You get a real staffer on the phone when you call FCG. We'll answer your questions honestly. We deliver your furniture on time. And you'll never get an email from us asking you to rate you to rate the displays in our showrooms. The "F" in FCG stands for quality furniture - not frustration.

Wafting out the window was an irresistible smell: cookies. Italian cookies, loaded with butter and spice, to be more specific. Inside, a white-haired older woman was busy trying out the oven in her new condo. She smiled and beckoned us into the kitchen. Trays of cookies were cooling on the countertop.

"Oh, boy!" I thought. "Smells just like my grandmother's house ..."

We were there to deliver some furniture she'd bought for her condo in a new retirement community. Up and down the stairs we jogged for almost an hour carrying dressers, bedside tables, chairs - and drooling over the still-warm cookies. When we were finished, she thanked us cheerily and shooed us out the door - without dishing out so much as a single cookie.

"Humph," I found myself stewing darkly in the truck all the way back to the store. "No cookies? No cookies! My grandmother wouldn't let you leave her house without eating two big meals and carrying home a week's worth of food. That woman might have had the recipes, but I bet she wasn't even Italian."

Yes, life is much easier if you can manage to roll along without expectations. On the other hand, life also serves up some unanticipated pleasures when they are least expected.

Monday was a quiet day in the showroom. Most moms were shopping the back-to-school specials, not looking for furniture. I was busy doing paperwork. A long-time customer popped in on her way to visit a friend down the street. She had just baked several dozen cookies, forgetting that her friend was gone on vacation for the week.

"Please take them," she pleaded pushing a fragrant tray of just-baked cookies across the counter at me." I just made them - and I can't eat them all."

They were frosted - and Italian - the best I've had since I lost my grandmother a decade ago. Thanks to that oven-mitt-wearing angel, I was reminded once again that life is unpredictable - and that you've got to embrace the disappointments along with the joys.

That's sort of what it is like to visit our furniture showrooms. You may not always find everything that's on your list. But sometimes, when you least expect it, you'll find a treasure you couldn't have imagined.

Yesterday, a truck filled with furniture left our loading dock and set off on a journey that will take it all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. First stop: New Jersey, where a homeowner is waiting eagerly for a set of chairs. Next: North Carolina, where an aspiring writer is getting a desk for her home office. Final destination is Louisiana, where a woman is finishing off a decorating project with an Ethan Allen cabinet she found - by searching online - at Furniture Consignment Gallery.

The Internet has made us all next-door neighbors. Buying consignment furniture online is commonplace now and, at FCG, we are seeing more and more of it. So for those readers who don't live in our home state of Massachusetts, here's a primer on how to get those great bargains you see on our website.

First, remember our furniture sells quickly. If you see an item you love, call immediately. We'll give you an honest appraisal of its condition. We'll also let you know if the piece is worth shipping. A Pottery Barn twin bed is about $400 new. We've got one for $250. But if you live in Arkansas, that wouldn't make sense because of shipping costs.

On the other hand, we have a set of Kindle chairs that sells new for about $10,000. Our price: $3,000. Now, that's a good buy. In other words, buying and shipping is a smart option when you are investing in high-end furniture.

For far-flung buyers, FCG can recommend a reputable and reasonably priced shipper. We've had years of experience with this shipper. We feel confident in our recommendation. You may find others who will ship for less, but we don't take responsibility for delays or damage en route.

Buying is easy. All it takes is a phone call. We accept all major credit cards, and we'll hold your furniture until the shipping company picks it up. You pay the shipper directly when the piece arrives at your home or office.

So whether you are in Wichita or Washington, D.C., you, too, can shop at Furniture Consignment Gallery. Bookmark our website and check it regularly - it's like a treasure hunt with new pieces every day. Why leave all these bargains to the savviest shoppers in Massachusetts?

She came into the showroom to buy a bed. Her husband is a big dude - 6'4", 260 pounds - and the bed they'd bought just a few years ago from a discount store had broken. Cheaply made, she'd been told, it wasn't worth repairing.

Fortunately, we have 21 beds at our store in Plymouth, and I knew she'd be pleased with the variety and the price. Still, it was a hassle for her - and an unforeseen expense. Like a burst pipe or a dead car battery, a bed is a necessity.

Looking around the showroom, she seemed stunned at the array of styles, the quality and the excellent condition of the beds - not to mention the prices. "You guys have awesome stuff," she said, taking a moment to appreciate it all.

Unfortunately, tales like hers are increasingly common these days. For the past decade or so, the home furnishings market has been flooded with cheap furniture. Shoddily made, many of these pieces are made from lightweight particle board then glued or stapled together. That's why so many of those so-called bargain pieces sag, crack, or fall apart after only a short time.

"We thought we were getting a deal," our customer said sadly of the bed she and her husband had bought as newlyweds. "Turns out, it was no deal."

We don't do cheap. Our showrooms are filled with stylish and pieces from some of the nation's top furniture manufacturers like Ethan Allen, Stickley, Stanley, Hooker, Hitchcock and Thomasville. These beds, tables and couches are made with care and precision using old-fashioned, long-lasting manufacturing techniques. Dowels are important. So are dovetails. Thanks to our knowledgeable staff, our customer got an education - and a bed she loved - that morning.

Later that afternoon, a thirtysomething couple strolled into the showroom holding hands and eagerly looking over the inventory. They unveiled the secret to fine furniture accumulation. "We buy one piece of Stickley furniture every year for our anniversary," the wife explained. Married ten years, they have a home that has been thoughtfully decorated over time with meaningful pieces that will last a lifetime.

That seems like a lovely tradition to me. Skip the bargain basement where couches are featherweight - because their cushions are made of inexpensive foam. Stop by one - or all - of our three stores. You'll never regret buying quality.

"Hey, kid!"

I heard a raspy voice holler across the showroom, and, though it had been nearly a decade, I recognized it right away. For those of you who aren't from Boston, everyone is a "kid"-- even a soon-to-be-40 business owner. You gotta love this town.

Out in the parking lot, I spotted his red truck and the memory came rushing back.

Years ago, in the midst of a move to a new home, he'd heaped a lot of furniture into the flat-bed and hauled it to our store in Hanover. Late in the day, after we'd closed up shop, he decided to bring one more piece: a massive pine hutch. 

By then, we'd gone home. Our doors were locked. So he unloaded the hutch behind the store. It was a warm and cloudless summer evening. He figured there was no harm in leaving his hutch outside for one night.

The following morning, he rumbled into the store. "Hey, kid," he asked. "What do you think of the hutch?"

I was puzzled. What hutch?  

"I left it by the back door last night," he said. We went outside. No hutch. By now, his face had registered emotions from skepticism to confusion to shock.  Solid pine, that hutch must have weighed a couple of hundred pounds.

After sleuthing out back, we turned up some clues:  tire tracks, boot prints, sawdust, and a bent blade from a Sawzall. The thief apparently had spotted the hutch behind the store, took off to get some tools and returned with a versatile cutting monster capable of, say, slicing through a Boeing 747. Adding insult to injury, he plugged his Sawzall into my outlet!

After hacking the hutch in two, the thief loaded it in his truck and took it home. The hutch was gone.

That was our first - and only - grand theft at FCG. Both of us were robbed. There was no money to be made for either of us on this piece. I felt badly, but he knew we shared the loss together. 

Despite the snafu with the hutch, my old customer had had a good experience with Furniture Consignment Gallery, and he was back to do business again - after we'd shared some laughs remembering the hutch-hacking.

Seeing him reminded me also that we are in a true partnership with our consignors. Most often we win together as items sell quickly and for good money. We split those sales with each other. But sometimes, things don't work out as planned and we share those pitfalls together too. I really like the fact that when you do business with us here at Furniture Consignment Gallery, we are in it together.

"Dad!" Robbie, my four-year-old, was tugging hard on my coat. I bent over to listen. His blue eyes still have a lot of baby in them, and they locked onto mine. "Dad," he said, urgently and loudly over the noise of the jubilant crowd on Boston's Boylston Street. "I have to go to the bafroom."  

Not now, I groaned to myself. We had a prime viewing spot right at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. My brother, JT, was running. Any minute now, he would be crossing the blue-and-yellow line. His journey to the marathon had been a long and arduous one. I really wanted to be there to cheer for him.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm starving." Cade, my thirteen-year-old, always seems to be hungry now that he's a teenager. I glanced over at my wife, Diana. Maybe we had a few minutes to find a bathroom and grab some hot dogs for our three boys. Besides, my parents were stationed a block or so down the course, also on Boylston Street. They'd alert me with a text if they saw my brother nearing the finish. Diana smiled and nodded as if to say "What can you do?"

Ten minutes later, the boys were munching happily on hot dogs we'd gotten from a vendor on Exeter Street. We were hurrying back to the finish line when suddenly we heard a massive explosion. The street shook beneath our feet. We stopped for moment, confused. Then, a second explosion "It's a bomb!" I shouted to Diana, as we grabbed the boys and started running for cover.

My brother was only a mile away from completing the marathon when the cops diverted him - and thousands of other runners - into Kenmore Square, where they frantically tried to call or text loved ones they feared had been hurt or killed. My family was one of the fortunate ones. We were shaken, but safe. My parents were sitting directly across the street from the site of the second explosion. They were unharmed, but they witnessed the carnage, which has left them deeply distressed.

I can't stop replaying that afternoon in my head. I am sure the terrorists who planned the attack would have been disappointed that we stepped away. After all, we were the target - along with all the hundreds of other families and friends celebrating a race that brings out the very best of the human spirit: courage, endurance, hope.

Our near-miss mirrored the paths of so many others.  The terrorists want us to be believe we should be punished for our way of life and for our freedoms, but the angels hovering at the finish line who were there to guide and protect so many of us, defy all of that logic. There are those who were not as lucky and we pray for their recovery. Now our job is to get back to business.

Ways to help the Recovery

Donate to the official charity of The One Fund Boston, Inc. to help the people most affected by the tragic events that occurred in Boston on April 15, 2013.

or you can support the Red Cross with blood bank replenishment.

For More info about donating blood in your area please click here.

Can't donate for personal/medical reasons? Click here for alternative ways to help the Red Cross.