Gun's E-Z Own and Upholsetry Cleaning Codes

When you are out and about shopping for furniture, have you ever wondered how easy a sofa or love seat is to clean?

You can ask the sales representative how to clean or look for the cleaning code on one of the many tags that is on the furniture. But what do those cleaning codes mean? Today, I will answer that question for you.

There are four common cleaning codes in the industry. They are W, S, WS or X. Below are what each letter means.

W - Clean only with water based shampoo or foam upholstery cleaner. Do not over wet. Do not use solvents to spot clean. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and laundered.

S - Clean only with dry cleaning solvent. Do not saturate. Do not use water. Pile fabric may require brushing to restore appearance. Cushion covers should not be removed and dry cleaned.

WS - Clean with shampoo, foam or dry cleaning solvents as desired. Do not saturate with liquid. Pile fabrics may require brushing to restore appearance.

X - Do not clean with either water or solvent based cleaner. use vacuuming or light brushing only.

What happens if you clean your fabric upholstery the wrong way? Your fabric can begin to fall apart or unravel. Or you can make the dirty area worse. So you will want to read the cleaning code on the upholstery and then the ingredients of your cleaning products.

For those who prefer a professional to do the cleaning, any prominent cleaning company can clean the products for you.

We have used cleaning services before on really tough items. We had a white sofa & love seat with a cleaning code of S. Well we didn't have the proper equipment for proper cleaning and hired out to do this. Cost us over $200 back then.  That was like 16 years ago.

More recently, we had a five piece sectional that the structure was in really good shape but the fabric was filthy. We hand washed and then used a steam cleaner to pick up the dirt. This usually works, but this time around it seemed like all we did was move the dirt around. We tried three times but just couldn't get the dirt picked up. We hired the cleaners from across the road and they did all five pieces for only $189.00. They did an excellent job. After the cleaning, we sold the sectional within two weeks.

What about leather? Any good leather cleaner will work. You can go to the automotive department of your local store and find a leather seat cleaner. That will work just fine to get the body oils and dirt off of the leather.

Around here we do like the microfiber fabrics because they all have a WS code and makes it much easier for cleaning. And if you get a little line of ink from you pen accidentally on the arm of that sofa of yours, just get some warm soapy water and use a fingernail brush to clean it. Use small circular strokes and, tah dah, you will get that ink mark out. I know it works because I've done it.

I hope you found this information helpful. To the right is a sample of wear you can find the cleaning code on the model number tag. In this example you can see "W".

Remember you can follow us on Facebook and visit our website at gunsezown.com.

Thank you for reading. Have a safe and blessed day.

Gun's E-Z Own Delivery Stories

I was going to blog about Lamps, but wasn't a bright idea. (ugh) It seemed like it might have been shady, (Stop) So I tabled it. (STOP!!!)

Ok, so I got you to roll your eyes. I'm one who enjoys a good pun. (Those are nothing like a good pun.)

I had mentioned in my last blog about some delivery war stories. Today I will elaborate on a couple of those stories.

I had mentioned that I had gone through a second story window. How was it that I got to that point. This was an upstairs apartment in an older house. The sofa was a long sofa with big arms. Which does not make for a good combination for easy deliveries.

The door was on the side, so you go in the door, go immediately right then up a couple of stairs then immediately to the left and then up the stairs. We got into the door without much of a problem. There was a wall that forced us to stand the sofa up on end. Then we tipped the sofa slightly to try to get it around the corner. Well we got it started around the corner and there we sat, The ceiling was too low, the hallway was too narrow and it was not going through. (By the way, why the heck did the builders of some of these homes build a stupid low ceiling in a stairway that you can bump your head on? I guess people were shorter long ago.)

So I begin thinking how this might work. I had gone through a first story window before but never a 2nd story window. Across from the house was a retaining wall. I went upstairs and measured the window, then measured the sofa height. We had a 1/4 of an inch on each side to get it in.

We took the sofa on end and used the retaining wall to get it as high as we could to the window. My assistant then ran upstairs and grabbed onto the sofa. I was military pressing the sofa over my head until he was able to get a good hold on the sofa. We got the sofa to the window. I left my spot and ran upstairs to help my assistant. We pulled the sofa through the window with little problems. Delivery done.

One more delivery story. I like to call this the delivery from hell.

It was in August. How do I remember what month? It was your typical August day. 95 degrees and the humidity was like 90%. It took us almost three hours to finish up that day because the heat was getting to us. We were delivering a short term rental for an Xcel (NSP) contractor. This was like 15 years ago. And it was a full house of stuff. The downstairs was not a problem. But once again going upstairs was a problem.

We got the bed room furniture upstairs with little issues except things were getting really heavy. Now for the mattresses. A little tight but yes, they went upstairs. Now for the foundations. The stairwell was an up some stairs, to the left and to the left for a complete u-turn. We tried to get a queen foundation upstairs. It wouldn't fit. So back down the stairs. Then we tried a Full size (double) foundation up the stairs and it wouldn't fit.

Not to be out down by a stupid foundation I pushed a little too much and BAM, there is a hole in the the drywall. &$&$&*#*!!. So I called it a day for that foundation and back down the stairs.

I told the customer about the wall and what I had to do for a beds for them. That afternoon I ran up to the cities and got two queen split foundations. Red Wing to the distributor in St. Paul was an hour one way. Hurried  on up then hurried on back and delivered the split foundations with no problem.

What about the hole in the wall? Me and construction don't get along to well. My forte is electronic stuff. I sent Marcia, my Office manager, who had done drywall repair before, over to the house and repaired the hole.

What was my point of this blog? Just to point out that when you purchase something from Gun's E-Z Own and want it delivered, we do our best to get the job done. We DO NOT drive to your house and drop it off on the curb and tell you you, "Here you go." We place that item where you want it. Upstairs, downstairs. Ahh, but the less the steps the better. (insert a smiley face here)

Some time I will tell you a couple of Repossession stories. Although they are not as exciting as what to see on TV.

Now that I have enlightened you, (I see what you did there) Thank you for reading. Have a safe and blessed day.

Shopping for Furniture at Gun's E-Z Own

Have you ever stopped in a furniture store and the sales rep asks you some questions that you hadn't thought about.


Well in this blog, I will be going over a few questions for you to think about while shopping for furniture. 

1) How much room do I have? 
When you visit a store, everything looks like it will fit perfect, then when you get it, there is now room for walking around the furniture.

We have seen this often enough that we can give some insight. The reason items look so small in the store is because the store is big. We have 3,500 square feet of show room floor. You most likely have less then 200 square feet for your living room.

Remember when Lily Tomlin sat in that huge chair. Yup, It's like that.

One tip you can use is once you have been to the store and get measurements of furniture would like to purchase, take some cardboard and cut it into those dimensions, lay it on the floor and see how everything would fit. Don't have card board? Ask us if we have some to spare.

2) How big is my doorway?
With most furniture we need at least a 32" wide door for deliveries. Some Sofas & Love Seats have larger arms which require a slightly larger doorway, but in general, if the doorway is 32" wide, the delivery should go well. .

Now I can tell you that I have delivered items with many different obstacles and I remember of only two times in almost 20 years I couldn't complete the deliver. 

Been through a second story window, put it on a second story terrace, taking doors off, taken windows out, walked on roofs. So Gun's E-Z Own does it's best to complete the delivery. But hey, I'm getting older and it's getting tougher for me to crawl through a second story window.

3) Do I want stationary or reclining furniture?
Just something to think about. If you like to lay across your furniture for that much desired afternoon nap, I would not suggest a reclining set.

If you usually nap sitting upright and you like that fact to can recline to read or watch TV, a reclining set would be for you. 

It's kinda of like the right tool for the right job. Those naps are important you know.

4) Do I want a Sofa & Love Seat or do I want a sectional?

Why think about this? Because some people like to rearrange their living rooms regularly. With a sectional there is not much of a choice for rearranging.

If you are one who likes to rearrange, I would not suggest a sectional. A Sofa & Love set is much easier rearrange.

The advantage of a sectional is that with some sectionals you can add seats. So if you think five seats is good, and once it is delivered and you wished you had 6 seats, we can order one more. This of course depends if the model allows additional seating.


5) What kind of "Look" am I Going for?
Modern, country, urban, Victorian. Big arms, small arms, straight arms. This will help you select a frame model. 

We realize that some people don't know what they want until they see it. Many times customers have come in the store shopping and when they see it, they know it and that is what they want.

6) What color scheme do I want?
With Ashley what you see is what you get. With Klaussner, if you find a look that you like there are many different fabrics to choose from.

Most people go with earth tome colors because color scheme goes with just about anything.

7) How soon do I want my new furniture?
It depends on who the distributor is that you picked out your furniture from. With Ashley it takes about a month. With Klaussner it takes 6-8 weeks.

However, if you find something you like in the store, That is what you would get and in this latter case, it would take 1-3 days depending one our delivery schedule.

We have had some people browse the store and want to order something and get it the next day. 
Sorry to say it, but when we order something, that won't happen until transporters are invented. And I can't wait for that to happen. No more second story windows or roof tops. Score!!

I hope you found this helpful. If you have any other question you can contact us at gunsezown@gmail.com. To see what furniture we sell check out Gun's E-Z Own's website and select products.

Until next time be safe and be thankful for the day.

Gun's E-Z Own on TV's & Sports

Do you remember what it was like back in the day watching sports on a 19" TV? Some of may not remember what a big deal it was to get your first color tv. I sure do. Now TV's have all the bells and whistles, old guys like me don't know how to use.

I go back further, but Back in 1997, my family purchased a Crosley 27" tube TV from E-Z Own. We had been married for 7 years and now it was time for our first NEW TV. A 27" screen was a huge back then. The sizes went from 19" to 27" to 32" to 55". And man were they heavy. Back then the 55" rear projection TV's were available then, put for a hefty price. Over time the TV sizes became more diverse, bigger and better. The company had delivered 42" tube TV's with speakers on the side. Call the Chiropractor.

Recently, with the flat panel TV's becoming more and more popular, I kept waiting from my 27" to die. But it wouldn't. I waited and waited. I wasn't looking for a fancy TV with all the bells and whistles. Just a larger screen to watch sports and movies on. What the heck does one need a smart TV for?

Well, finally in 2014 there was a good deal from one of our distributors and that cinched the decision to upgrade. What a great deal for a 47" LED TV. 47"!!!! I'll be honest, I didn't read all the specs, my TV stand would hold a 47" TV and that is what mattered. I ordered one for the family and 3 more for the store. (They weren't on the floor long.)

The TV's arrived, I paid for ours and brought it home. Got the TV un-boxed, set it up, turned it on. WOW!!!!! What an outstanding picture. Great colors and going from a 27" to a 47", it was like being at the movies.

Looking at the remote I thought, "Wonder what this does?" Oh, cool, it has apps on it. It's a smart TV. Ok, cool not a big deal, I won't be using that. HA!

After about two months, I started using more and more of the Smart features like, Netflix, Yahoo, Amazon Plus. I watch more of that then regular TV. The guy who didn't need any Smart features now can't get along without it. This made the value of the TV even more significant.

In the mean time I watched a lot of sports. I'm into Football college and pro, Gopher Sports, especially wrestling. NCAA Men's Basketball. I do enjoy an occasional Twins baseball game. The occasional hockey game. This year the Commecialympics.

One evening the family decided to watch the Twins game. I was in awe of how clear and bright the picture was. The green color of the field was awesome.

Being a former a wrestler, I didn't learn the intricacies of a basketball game. The plays, strategies and the like. So I really didn't enjoy watching basketball on my 27" TV. The players looked liked they were just running around in circles, getting jumbled up throwing some round object up into the air and then running to the other side of the court.

With that new 47" LED TV, I was able to actually see the pick and roll, how the defense was setting up, how the offense was moving the ball around. That brought back the joy of watching the game.

Then we get to football. I'm not sure about you but when at a football game in person, I would rather be up higher in the stands as to see the whole field and watch the play for the offensive and defense set up during the action.

With a larger screen you can see most of that action and you don't have to squint. Of course the TV cameras doesn't cover the secondary during the play, just in re-plays, but boy is it fun to watch.

Two years later, I turned the TV onto a baseball game and turned to my wife and said, "Wow, I am still in awe of this picture. It is so cool."

Not everyone is into sports, but almost everyone is into clear, colorful pictures, And that is what Gun's E-Z Own carries. TV's that will give you a clear, colorful pictures.

We carry LG, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Haier. 24" up to 65". Smart, 1080p, 4K 120hz and more. We may not have them in stock, but we can order them in from our distributors. If you are looking to upgrade your TV or need a second TV, Stop in the store and take a watch.

GOOD TV WATCHING to all my readers.

Have a safe and blessed day.

Why does Gun's E-Z Own have used furniture?

Good Question. We do get asked that quite often as to why Gun's E-Z Own has used furniture on the store. Well it's not because we like to have used furniture in stock.

There are two reasons we have used furniture in stock:
1) We repossessed it
2) it was on a short term rental

Referring to #1 Repossessions. Our contracts are an Interest Bearing Promissory Note and Security Agreement. Well, what the heck does that mean?

It means because we are giving our customers a loan, we hold the product they purchased as collateral. How So? Remember we have Gun's E-Z Own Sales and Gun's E-Z Own Financing. Gun's E-Z Own Sales sells the product and Gun's E-Z Own Financing, finances the purchase with a loan to the customer. Like a car loan.

So if a customer can't or won't make their monthly payment, we will repossess the product from them.

In the State of Minnesota we have what is called Self Help Repossessions. We, Gun's E-Z Own, will go to customers place of residence and knock on doors to collect money or the property.

I am a member of St. John's Red Wing.This past Sunday the pastor was giving the Children's Message. The sermon was based on Judges 7:1-8a and related it to door knocking.. During the Children's Message, he told some knock knock jokes to the kids and then asked the kids what they expected when they knocked on the door. Since I have been doing the E-Z Own thing for almost 20 years, I leaned over to my wife and said, "Money, I expect money when I door knock." This is suppose to be tongue in cheek humor.

Honestly, most of our customers are good paying customers, so I don't have to door knock as often as I use to. But I still have to do it.

Repossessing furniture is not as dramatic what you see the Repo Men do on TV. Most customer are relieved that they don't have the financial obligation any longer because they fell on hard times. I have had people shout, threaten and be complete jerks, but that is a rarity. I can tell you some of my war stories at a later time. I have a few.

As for #2 Rentals. If you remember from a previous BLOG, We use our used/previously owned furniture first for the short term rentals and when in a pinch we fill in with new furniture. And since the renter used it, we must categorize it as used.

When you are in the store you will see to different colored price tags. The White tag is new items, the Yellow tag is previously owned items.

To the right are what you would find.

Bottom line, as a rule of thumb, we do not purchase people's used furniture nor do we do consignment sales.

I hope that answered the used furniture question in clear form. I think I have mentioned before that there are many twist and turns in running an E-Z Own store. Some can get complicated.

Until next time, have blessed and safe day.

What can I find on Gun's E-Z Own Website?

Back in 2006 I was asked by my boss at the time if I was willing to take classes to learn how to code html for our website. I told him I was interested. It was interesting learning something technical and a new language that I hadn't known before. Not quite the same as working the control room during a cable cast, but I can get my tech fix by working with coding.

So I signed up for an online course from our local technical college in Red Wing. It was a 10 week course. From start to finish, the class would give instruction, the student got "homework" using practical exercises and each class finished with a test. Believe it or not I passed the course. See that to the right, that looked like Greek to me before I started.

And now you know the rest of the story. I've been doing the then E-Z Own and the now Gun's E-Z Own website ever since.

Now if you have already been to our website, you have already seen what content Gun's E-Z Own has. I like to go by the K.I.S.S. system. Keep It Simple Stupid.

I know it's not flashy with all the bells and whistles, but I wanted to keep it simple so it was easy enough to do a quick ix to coding if needed and so that customers can navigate is easy. Find where they want to go without having to look for the sometimes, hard to find links. You know what I'm talking about. You are trying to find a specific thing and you can't find the link and then you do. And when you try to go back to find that certain link, you can't remember were you found it in the first place. Yep, been there.

Our official website address www.gunsezown.com, 

So what will you find on Gun's E-Z Own website.

Well of course the HOME page. You gotta have a home page. Currently there is a video of me explaining Gun's E-Z Own.

Then there is the ABOUT US button. This page answers common questions that we get. But if you have been following my blog, most of those questions have been answered.

And if you want to do some shopping, you can click on our PRODUCTS button. This page brings you to several links like IN STOCK items, SPECIALS, and links to our distributors' pages.

Now on our IN STOCK link, that will bring you to a google page with folders that break down the pictures categories. For pricing you will need to call the store. Give use the first six digits of the item you are interested in and we can quote you a price.

We have RENTAL INFO for those who are only looking to rent an item for 3-6 months. You will also find the Rental Customer Info Sheet, Rental Agreement, and Package pricing

Then there is the CREDIT APP. You can download this, fill it out and fax it to us at 651.388.3951. If you are savvy enough working with pdf files, you can filled it out and e-mail it to us at gunsezown@gmail.com.

Then the final page is our MAKE A PAYMENT page. You can make payments to us online. You won't be able to get a balance on your account online, remember we are just a small business. But you can call in to get a balance.

There you have it, our website in a nutshell. I hope you have time to visit our website and then stop on down to the store to say, "Hi" and see in person what we have in stock.

We are also have a Facebook page. We try to keep it light a positive. Just showing some highlight furniture some funny memes and a joke or two.

Thank you for reading today. Have a blessed and safe day.

Does Gun's E-Z Own do Rentals?

When it comes to RENTALS, Gun's E-Z Own does Short Term, Long Term and Staging Rentals. We rent the products we carry.

Be it a Apartment, house, bungalow or the dog's house, we can furnish for you for the length you need it for.

Let me explain the difference between financing and rental. Gun's E-Z Own is NOT a rent to own, we are a licensed finance company. So when you finance a purchase, you are paying for the item to own it in the end without a lien on it. Similar to a car loan.

When to rent something, it does not go towards the purchase of the product. So if you rent a $500 sofa and end up paying $200 in rental fees, the sofa retail is still $500 when you have completed the rental. Now I know you are going to ask WHY or What the....? The reason is that we MUST follow Minnesota Regulations. Rent to owns can not operate in the State of Minnesota and if we discounted the product for the rent paid, it looks like a rent to own and we could be fined heavily.

So if you think that after a year rental that you may want to purchase the rented items, you may want to consider financing instead of renting.

A majority of Gun's E-Z Own rentals are Xcel contractors that are in Red Wing for 6-12 months and want to give the furniture back and move on to their next job. Or down in Rochester, we have had several rentals of people from the middle east whom are getting medical treatment at Mayo.

Another popular rental we do is lift recliners. If you have had surgery on your knee, hip or shoulder and really won't be able to lift yourself out of a recliner, a lift recliner is just the thing. Our lift chairs will lift you to your feet so there is little stress on your affected body area. It would also be comfortable enough to take a nap in or sleep overnight in.

If you are trying to sell your home, we have worked realtors, stagers or individual home owners. We have a staging package, so if you wish to stage a home, contact us and and if you want someone with a good eye for putting rooms together speak with Marcia. Marcia has a better eye then I do. Hey, I'm a guy, I see only one shade of red, not nine. If you can't make it into the store, we have gone with pictures of the inside of the home that is trying to be sold. Then e-mail photos back and forth.

What we DON'T rent is constructions items, folding chairs, folding tables or plates, forks knifes and the like. We are strictly Furniture, Electronics and Appliances.

Back to the regular rentals, we have different packages for different needs. There is the economy one or two bedroom and the Executive one or two bedroom packages. You can see what is included in the RENTAL by clicking on RENTAL. We have only select in stock items that we will let go out on rental.

The items we rent is based on what we have in stock. If you need to rent a California King Mattress set and we don't have one, you would need to stay with a queen or regular king set.

And if this a service you need, we will do our best to see to it, your temporary stay is a comfortable one. Our contact info is 651.388.3951 or gunsezown@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful and blessed day.