Furniture Hunt in Chennai : Recliners, Beds, TV Cabinet etc etc

Yeah we are young, we have a lot of ps3 games and we finally got an apartment with exclusive hall where we could place recliners, bask in happiness. So we started looking around for bed and recliners in extended village called chennai. We looked through websites, went through extensive research network, here is the summed up experience from over a dozen furniture stores. 

What we were looking for

1) Bed, Cot : We were looking for bed with modern designs less height, a big headboard, snoozer mattress  of about 10 inch thickness, ultra soft mattress like the ones in hotels, storage in bed was optional. Our room isn't that big so a cute queen size bed could fit well. Of course durability warranty matter here. More concerns for the mattress, less for the bed. 

2) Recliners : Super comfortable recliners, leather or fabric or price or brand doesn't matter. The kind of lazy boy rocking recliners which hug you, like you are sleeping in a ball of fur. The joined ones are not preferred because then we have to move it if my husband wants. So still recliners with a long warranty service brand comfort etc etc. We are kind of neurotic over this.

Here is the list of furniture shops we went to:


1) Woodpecker Furniture, Besant Nagar : This being the closest was the first one we visited. I must say justdial is kind of misleading on the whole ratings thing.

Models : The bed models were okk. Like the normal designs you see in any shop. Nothing out of ordinary catches the eye. It wasn't bad, I mean for sure if someone enters with no whatsoever website in mind, they will probably book from here. But we are paranoids and we didn't quite love it. The bean bags were fine, not super comfortable, just bean bags. 

Kurl on angelica is okk mattress if you are into lower budget, it comes at around 20k. We already have snoozer in plans, so it didn't seem like saving 10 k and enter kurl on band. 

We also saw sofa cum beds, which were pretty hard to sleep on, not even a penny worth spending on these. 

There were no recliners here, so on to next shop. 

Price : Prices were somehow more for what they were offering. Especially the bed prices. Bean bag prices were as expected, may be indians don't get to sit, sleep on comfortable stuff unless they enter the amitabh brand which can ship at an instant or just live there for 3 months. 

My Verdict : Nooooo, I didn't like the furniture, may be its good trustworthy durable blah blah, i want my room to look pretty too. So nah. Onto next shop.

2) Saagar Furnishings, Alwarpet: Our hunt for snoozer mattress took us to the shop. Its located on  a pretty convenient location. Obviously they are more courteous, dealing with huge clients etc blends that in. 

There were two mattresses there. Both of them were great, one of them was super comfortable other one was less than that, but heyy they say you shouldn't sleep on neither too soft nor too hard bed. So we settled on medium firm posture care diwan bed with 8 inch thickness. It costs around 33 k for one. If you want the bed with wheels to fit the mattress which is of low height, it costs around 35 k. AAhhh head board is missing. Sad sad. Anyways the mattress's pre order time is 15 days, their service is good, they will come to house, keep it properly. This is all for 6 by 5 bed. It can be custom made. The options are more.

Its just the second shop so we didn't place order. Snoozer mattress it is, bed we are not sure of yet. In hot humid places, they have a special mattress that mostly locals get custom made. That is another option too.

They are professional and know their world. They can also send tailors to come to your house and measure for curtains, provide for them. Its pretty awesome. I even matched a few curtains but my husband was like, there is just one curtain place so yeah may be i will wait till he buys me a mansion. 

My Verdict : Yes yes yes i think we are going to order mattress from them, may be bed too if we don't get any with head board.  They sound rich, they act rich, they smell rich but thats because they deal with rich. I like them. Courteous rich. They are giving lifetime warranty on everything. The after sales service is the best i hear. 

3) Lifestyle Home Center : This one is an exclusive 2 storey showroom in teynapet. There was major sale going on so it was crowded.

Models : Well bed designs for sure were different and good. There were the ones with head boards, without cushiony head boards, with storage space, with mattresss, without mattress. We even zeroed on two of them, the cute bed with headboard and it was for 20 k. One year warranty is what takes the thunder away. But what they say is what they will stand by. Most of the wood was compressed wood, solid wood and rubber wood. You can even find beds at 10 k if you want. 

Then we went to the recliners, the recliners were comfortable too. The one with red cloth fabric took my heart away. I sat in it and got hugged just like i dreamed. It was the best till now. The leather recliners were really comfortable too. The one with the cloth was rocking recliner and cost around 18k with just one year warranty. The other ones were in different price ranges. There was a joined one which was priced at 44k, the single leather one the best the most comfortable one at 35k. The major problem was one year warranty. With others offering at least 3 year warranty. The comfort level was awesome. I still can't get over the red one. My husband won't buy it seeing no whatsoever credibility lifestyle people want to bear. 

We also read some lifestyle reviews, some of them were awfully pissed at their after sales service. 

My Verdict : No for right now, still looking for comfort plus warranty. Why won't they give warranty why why why ? Hooked on the red one and leather one. Huh search goes on. Do you know lazy boy gives 10 year warranty. Wonder what lifestyle puts into their products. Although red one did have less cushion but at 17k you won't find better options.

3) Stanley Boutique : After lifestyle, stanley boutique was the next destination. It is in some ultra posh locality with espirit showrooms and other major luxury brands around. So we went in with the expectations of not being able to afford the comfort they will provide.

Models : I don't know why but they had less models available. Is it just the chennai store or they have done the same thing to bangalore. There was just one model that i pretty much liked. A single one at 75k with 10 year warranty. But to my amazement, their fabric rocking recliner couldn't compete with my 17 k lifestyle recliner. And this 75k was as comfortable as the 35k recliner in lifestyle. So comfort is same, warranty is more. What would you rather do, buy a two lac joined love seat and use warranty for 10 years or just go for 44k lifestyle with one year warranty. Hmm still confused. There was one more black super comfortable recliner, my husband tried it , it was simply awesome but then he told us it was custom made for some 6 foot foreigner. Okay, comfort is for them huh. Anyways we looked for sofas too and they were not good for comfort. What is it with the whole leather hype. I don't care about your stupid expensive leather dude. Why don't they keep all products as in US. Checking the websites is pretty disappointing. Chennai truly sucks even for rich.  They had really good designs for sofa, pretty rich looking and good to show off. 

My Verdict : No I don't care for leather warranty. I will get mine shipped if I have to. You still don't have the massage headphones stuff here. What is it with chennai? I am ready to pay, just show me a nice recliner for god's sake. Why can't i have at least 20 options to choose from?

4) JFA : With major recommendations from our landlord, we went to JFA. The person who showed us the models was well spoken and polite. The recliners were actually good for someone who wants a homely moma feel. You know they use the fabric stuff that is blankety like the sofas at middle class home. They were comfortable too. 22 k for single one, 50 k for double rocking recliner one. The home memore doesn't fascinate us that much, we don't want our parents to come and say ohh this is like the sofa at home, it rocks and provides leg space. 

The beds were good. Like woodpecker, family orthodox boring designs. No innovation from their side. Why can't they just go to other country websites and copy the designs. Anyways they were priced around 23 k without head board. As soon as the head board came, it was around 35k.  We didn't like the beds. 

My Verdict : No for me for lack of modern touch. The simple designs didn't quite attract me. Its okk for families, the middle class ones. Not for us. But with 5 year warranty and overly praised after sales services, it should be taken as an option just in case you might stumble upon the lucky one. Recliners are homely, not for us looking for psychotic alien features to chennai furniture traders. 


5) SimplySofas : There was this love chair at 90 k just one option, one color. The others weren't good. So not good for recliners. There were some chairs, especially the blue one but it didn't hug. Again for the rich show off kinds not looking for luxury comfort, we want more options chennai. 

Verdict : NO....no variety with so many brands listed in the shop. They had just 3 models for recliners. There was one year warranty on mechanism, 3 year warranty on fabric, after sales service is obviously good. 

6) Damro Furniture Store, Velachery : With all the bad experiences less options, we went with minimal hopes to damro furniture. Surprisingly, their recliners weren't that bad at about 60 k for two. The same homely feel surfaces. They have no leather ones available in the velachery store. So looking forward to kodambakkam store to test the most comfortable one. They can customize according to color, size, join the chairs provide space for cold drinks etc etc. So next destination is kodambakkam store. 5 year warranty on fabric, 1 year warranty on mechanism, but their after sales service is not good according to some sources on internet. 

The bed options were good, designs were similar to other ones. The one with the head board cost around 20k , the one with the hydraulic storage was 20k too. The bed with the storage cabinets was for 15k, 2500 for one cabinet extra. Their mattress was soft but the salesmen confessed kurl on was better. This is the only bed we have liked in a long time but the vertical shafts to support it were just two. Huh furniture hunting ain't for us.  

My Verdict : We could finalize the bed from here or recliner if they had more positive responses in some places. Still confused hung over. If someone could just say damro is good, we had it for 20 years. They give 3 years warranty on beds. For recliner, more options have to be looked at in kodambakkam store.

By now, the best recliner in comfort terms was in lifestyle with less warranty at 17k  with red  cloth kind fabric Or 75k single seater at stanley. 
By now, the best bed design was in damro with less hopes of lasting long at 20k.

We are going to look at kodambakkam today and may be cozy bean bags and not just brown and sarada agencies too. Verdict on these tomorrow. I am so hung up that even when i sleep, i find myself wandering around furniture shops in dreams. And those shops have all the ideal furniture at ideal prices with best warranty. 

More reviews coming up tomorrow.