Saturday, March 13, 2010

Teen Furniture

Why do companies like Brodart, Demco, and Gaylord think that teens want to sit in things like this:
That's just creepy.

I have been agonizing about teen furniture for weeks now. The move is basically done, but the teen area remains undecorated, because I can't decide what to do with my little budget. I may go to Ikea. My friend says that RISD has Ikea furniture in one of their lobbies. If it's good enough for RISD, right?

The problem is, I have this checklist: must be durable, easy to clean (probably not cloth or glass), attractive to teens, different from what we already have, appropriate for lounging or doing homework, not too expensive, small enough to suit the space, accommodating to groups or individuals, etc., etc. And all the sites recommend bean bag, butterfly, and gaming rocker chairs. All of which I think are more teeny-bopper than teen.

I wish some design TV show would come and remodel our teen area for free.

Oh, here's the other thing the catalogs recommend for teens: pub or bar height seating.
Why? Teens' #1 daily goal is not to look dumb, and everyone looks dumb trying to climb up onto bar height seating. In fact, my teens seem to gravitate to the kids' tables, which are about 2 feet high, either because they love to go where they are not supposed to or because the low seats maximize their ability to slouch.

Maybe I'm being unkind. Maybe they like the kids' seating because they're nostalgic, or because they're not used to their big bodies?

Maybe I will just buy them kids tables.

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