Mar 28, 2015

Renting furniture not Kitchens

This blog is/was about my tryst with modular kitchens. But the tryst now seems to extend to other furniture required for the new house. Since the only essential furniture missing from our collection is a wardrobe, we have been trying to look at options. As usual, I am not fond of most of what I see around. The ones that catch my fancy are going to eat into the budget for other items. Also there is the dilemma of "to hire an interior designer or not". Since I am aware that few areas of the house will have complicated carpentry and decor, I am in favour of hiring a designer who can deal with the carpenters and anybody else. However, many interior designers  prefer a full turnkey project as opposed to working on few specific areas. So the conflicts continue and dear partner thinks the easy way out, is to invest in nothing at all till we are decided and have greater liquidity.  I haven't disagreed but that hasn't stopped me from doing my homework or getting aggressive with my short-term investments.


Renting a bed from Furlenco
Copyright : Furlenco
Nevertheless, quite some time back, I  came across a 'startup' for renting out furniture, Furlenco, when it was possibly still named as RentUrDuniya . These days, the term startup seems to be used very freely and I am not too keen when people use this term to define new companies that provide existing solutions with a user interface. However, the world doesn't care for my opinions or for Neil Blumenthal's opinion ( co-CEO and co-founder of Warby Parker) . Neither do venture capitalists and their assorted ilk who pour in truckloads of money to hedge their investments and make sure that they do not miss out on the next big thing. 

Irrespective of definitions and reasons behind funding, what actually matters in the real
Renting dining furniture from Furlenco
Copyright : Furlenco
world is whether something is useful and I think Furlenco is. It helps to solve a common problem in  cities like Bangalore which is home to increasing number of students, professionals and expats. If they do things correctly and deliver great customer experience from start to end in terms of product and service they should turn out to be very successful. Right now 
Furlenco offers limited furniture in Living, Dining, Bedrooms and I am hoping they increase the categories and specifics ( remember I needed a wardrobe). I thought I read about an experience centre or something like that but I can't seem to find that info again. However, the pricing is worth testing it out and if the furniture turns out 90% like what it appears on the website then, my not so low expectations will be met. 

Pepperfry
Copyright : Pepperfry
The catty comment on the gap between seeing the furniture on websites vs seeing the furniture in real life is from my own experience. After furniture buying moved online, lazy souls like myself heaved a sigh of relief. Nice furniture at okayish prices, in fact some seemed to be a steal at the prices they were advertised. So I spent time gazing on UrbanLadder, Pepperfry and FabFurnish. Recently I managed to visit a small retail store of FabFurnish and realized with deep sadness in my heart, that a lot of the furniture on display aren't as nice as they appear on the websites. A lot, not all. Any bias towards UrbanLadder is due to their well-designed website which has limited number of options ( choice overwhelms and confuses users ) and also because I feel they have taken the time to scale up well too.

Anyhow, I am digressing. Coming back to rentals, Furlenco isn't the first company to offer rentals. There are plenty of shops in Frazer Town, Shivajinagar where you can do the same. If you prefer shopping online, then some companies like Home Essentials,  RentalWala ( not only furniture), Rentongo, RFC Rentals, Rentech Designs also provide an interface for customers. I am yet to come across modular kitchens that are rented out though I don't see why some enterprising team/company can't make it work; especially since modular kitchens on display can be bought off ( and at discount ) if they match your general layout or if you can make it work.

If you have used any furniture rental company, it would be helpful to know about your experience.

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