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THE ft ALTON Saturday September 1990 Page 3 YOU CAN ACHIEVE TOTAL INDOOR AIR COMFORT for your home with trill wholehouse humidifier and a high efficiency air cleaner Waves of change are now evident Many of the waves of change about to surface in the new mum now barely a away already are evidence Just as manufacturers and retailers of furniture for the home are lining up their modus to meet the challenges of the 1990 so today s more knowledgeable more sophisticated and more confident consumers are becoming more discriminating about how they spend their money In response to the consumers In tensifymg search for information about the products she buys for the home the Ontario furniture manufacturing industry is offering advice on how to differentiate one upholstered furniture design from another Upholstered furniture is a mysterious product they admit because the inner construction the frame springs padding and filling are hidden from view It t easy for the consumer shopping for upholstered furniture to determine what she is getting for her money when just about all she can see is the fabric cover It may be important to know a high end sofa or chair has a hard wood frame and hand tied but it is equally important to know how these features affect the per formance and appearance of the design Most mid priced upholstered fur that is a priced from about 800 to SI 200 or chair from about to essentially ton of the same basic structural components But the quility of the components how they art put together can make a big difference in the appearance comfort and per formance of the furniture There is a good possibility that a topof upholstered furniture design will have in all hardwood frame But the consumer should know for long term performance the hardwood whether used exclusively for the frame or as a component should be at least threequarters of an inch thick The general rule is the more expensive the furniture the thicker the wood is likely to be up to frames for better product But not all high end upholstered furniture has its frame made com pletely of hardwood The frame may have components made of other types of wood or composite materials For example some fur frames are made of a com binatlon of hardwood and plywood shaped and joined together to establish the form of the finished piece Plywood used in the right way and in the right places can give a good performance However it should be used in less critical areas which receive less stress Pointing out that density ranges from 1 pounds per cubic foot to pounds per cubic foot industry ex maintain the minimum accep table density for a seat cushion is pounds per cubic foot while 1 pounds per cubic foot is adequate for back cushions since backs don t have to bear much weight A lower density foam in a seai cushion could soften through use while medium density high resilient foams have a longer life span Shredded polyurethane foam rather than a solid block for back cushions can help reduce hiring costs on the furniture but over time it could compact and set tie causing the cushion to appear empty at the top and hard and lumpy at the bottom The foam is wrapped in polyester batting to give the cushions softly rounded edges well filled comers and a gently curving crown The bat ting serves the important purpose of preventing the foam and upholstery fabric from abrading one another and preventing the foam from breaking down which could cause the fibric to wear out prematurely In some high end furniture designs down is used to wrap the foam to strengthen the luxury and quality image If it is poss to see the sharp edges of the foam through the upholstery fabric if e cushion edges feel hard when you sit down or if the fabric seems to pucker at the corners there is a possibility the foam was not wrapped in polyester batting as a costcutting measure In new furniture the consumer should inspect for interior casings in the cushion if the polyester batting is sewn in as well as the quality and quantity of the batting All of these enhance the resilient feel and have a positive af feet on the long term use Finally if there are soft casual back pillows or throw pillows on the piece of upholstered furniture you are thinking of buying you might want to check the amount of polyester that went into them Try flattening a pillow then fluffing it up with your hands If the cushion readily regains its original shape it can be assumed the pillow contains adequate filling DO COME TRUE When you find your DREAM HOME in the HALTON HILLS HOMESTYLE REALTORS Our HOMESTYLE Real Estate Guide reaches over homes every week including Georgetown Acton Erin and the surrounding rural communities EXCEPTIONAL RATES SUPERIOR SERVICE GIVE US A TRY Call Kim Haryott at 8772201