By: Stephanie Stilwell
HIGH POINT — Families spend more than $50 billion every year on children’s furniture. Deciding what kids

and parents want in furniture though is no easy task, but Pulaski Furniture is cutting out the middle man and going right to the source.

“A lot of times manufacturers think they know moms and they know how they’re using their product, so they design what they think will sell,” said furniture study author Maria Bailey. “’This is different because we actually asked moms, ‘How will you use it? Where will you put it in a room? How will your kids use it? What do you want?’”

Families spend more than $50 billion every year on children’s furniture. To help find out what kids and parents want, Pulaski Furniture decided to go right to the source.

The study has told them that both moms – and kids – want customization. Furniture-makers are listening. They are teaming up with the Build-a-Bear company to create furniture that is very easily customizable. Parents can change the color of the furniture with just a couple easy steps.

It’s a trend that Bailey says is just beginning.

“You can customize everything from your cup of coffee at Starbucks to your television with Tivo, and it’s all about customization and what brings out your personality and the bedroom is the very first stop for that,” she said.

Research has shown that not only do kids want to personalize their bear like they do in the Build-a-Bear stores, but they want to personalize their rooms too.

“We actually took children and moms, we separated them and then put them back together and we asked them, ‘What do you want? What do you want in your bedroom,’ and the things they told us are what went into designing this furniture.”

Sellers say this isn’t the furniture they would choose for kids, but this is the kind of furniture the kids chose for themselves.

As for the parents, they say buying beds and dressers that will hopefully last for awhile is what’s important to them.

The Build-a-Bear Home Collection features customizable furniture and the functionality to grow with a child.