Why is it so difficult to give furniture away?

Hithere

Also, smoking was much more common than it is
If that furniture was exposed to smoke, i wouldnt want it in my home

I wouldn't either, but most furniture that's advertised will state if it comes from a smoke-free home.

As I said upthread, we had a lovely large table of my mum’s for a while, and got rid in the end because it had to be protected against marks, so the children couldn’t use it for drawing or crafts, and it had to be covered when we were eating. It took up a lot of space and restricted the way we could use the dining room. We now have a pull-out table that means when it’s not being used the room can function as a second sitting room as it folds away to quite small. It’s modern, so it suits the room as it is now styled. It’s not the same ‘quality’ as the old one, which was rosewood and highly polished, but it is much more practical and I wish we’d had it when the children were at home.

Also, a lot of people don’t have separate dining rooms these days - the trend is for open plan living.

loopylou

I suppose large dining tables are not wanted because dining rooms and dinner parties are out of fashion. It’s all kitchen suppers in the open plan kitchen/diner.

DH and I still eat all our meals in our (unfashionable) dining room in the winter months, in the summer we tend to eat in our equally unfashionable conservatory.

Am reminded of Alan Clark. "He looks like someone who buys his own furniture."
What surprises me on Freecycle is how many beautiful but large dining tables there are. People seem to have other uses for their dining rooms. ?? Home offices?

Thanks for explanation Jaxjacky.

Also, smoking was much more common than it is
If that furniture was exposed to smoke, i wouldnt want it in my home

The trend now is oriented towards functionality and usability

I also wonder how child friendly furniture generations ago is, compared to current one.

Younger generations do appreciate craftsmanship and artistic details - it doesnt mean they choose to live with it 24/7

I have cheap furniture from ikea from more than 10 years, it has been used for so many different purposes ( a table for eating, tv, crafts for kids, etc) and so easy to move to a different room that I wouldnt pick a heavy table made of solid wood unable to move by myself

I fully agree with doodledog- dont blame the younger generation for not sharing the same values

Vilifying the younger generation because they dont behave the way you expect them to is only going to widen the gap

I remember a tv series where they wanted to sell homes but the decor was a problem.
Couple A would visit house of couple B and be horrified with the decor

However, when couple A got feedback from people that their decor was outdated and house would sell if it was more neutral, got surprised and question the bad taste of others

Every single episode - the same thing
"I don't like your taste but everybody likes mine" mentality

Fleurpepper

Callistemon21

you were very very lucky, I hope you realise this.

Who is?
I remember those days.

Ooops I forgot to copy the post by Paddyann, Callistemon

'W e never had second hand anything when we got married.*our families bought us the furniture we liked from shops like Habitat ,The Danish centre and Behar carpets ,we had a suite beds carpets and small items like bedside chests an sside tables etc*.
My parents moved just 3 tmes in their marriage and refurnished each new house when they moved with new furniture that suited it .Like me they changed furniture quite often
I would rather do without than have something I wasn't really happy with,compromises dont work for me ...

Oh, I see!
🤔

I think we bought a new bed and 3 piece suite but most of what we had was 2nd hand when we bought our first house.
The Tapley SL was my first new indulgence, still in use 50 years on!

I suppose the issue nay be that people who really do need free furniture do not have the transport to fetch and take it home as lots of pople in low paid employment cannot drive as it's so expensive to learn and to run a car (sorry if I have repeated someone)

Callistemon21

^you were very very lucky, I hope you realise this.^

Who is?
I remember those days.

Ooops I forgot to copy the post by Paddyann, Callistemon

'W e never had second hand anything when we got married.*our families bought us the furniture we liked from shops like Habitat ,The Danish centre and Behar carpets ,we had a suite beds carpets and small items like bedside chests an sside tables etc*.
My parents moved just 3 tmes in their marriage and refurnished each new house when they moved with new furniture that suited it .Like me they changed furniture quite often
I would rather do without than have something I wasn't really happy with,compromises dont work for me ...

I'm not sure if that was directed at me, FP, but at no point have I said that I was or wasn't given anything, or that I did or didn't do without. My own anecdotal experience isn't really relevant, and you have no idea how lucky or otherwise I may have been. I am simply saying that not everyone will feel grateful for old things that someone else doesn't want.

you were very very lucky, I hope you realise this.

Who is?
I remember those days.

you were very very lucky, I hope yu realise this.

For all sorts of reasons, we had nothing at all given to us when we got married- nothing. So the choice to 'do without than have something I wasnt' really happy' - just was NOT an option. Same when we had our first baby- all simple hand me downs.

It's how the economy works though. If everything got passed on as much as it could be (or should be if we were serious about conserving resources) then there would be job losses in the timber industry, as well as furniture making and retail. The government would lose VAT and have to pay benefits to those made unemployed by the loss of sales of new furniture.

Doodledog 'I suspect that dark furniture will be back in fashion soon'

of course it will, by the time most of it has been burnt or crashed. And so many people will realise what amazing craftmanship was involved and the amazing designs.

Calendargirl both have increasing infirmity, arthritis and scoliosis means bending and lifting from the oven is a problem.

Jaxjacky

Talking to a friend earlier, her neighbour had a two year old range cooker, cost £2.5k, eventually advertised, in desperation for £50. It ended up with the scrap man, no one wanted it, even with transport costs it was an immaculate bargain.

Just wonder why they want to get rid of a two year old, £2.5k range cooker?

Am sure there must be a reasonable explanation, but it does make you wonder.

On our local Facebook page, someone was trying to sell a sofa which he claimed was only a month old, going for about a third of what he had supposedly paid for it.

I assume it didn’t fit/ wasn’t comfortable/ wrong colour…

Refinishing/ painting old high quality solid furniture is easy for me - I can't do this. It feels sacrilegious!

Doodledog Everyone should keep what they enjoy (except for my husband, who has an unnecessary attachment to a hideous clock that belonged to his grandmother), but I don't think it's unreasonable of the younger generations to say 'no thank you' to things they really don't want.

Funny. The unreasonable attachment here is a very large collection of ridiculous Royal Dalton ladies - I ask to bin his china tat yearly.

Unfortunately it's up to our daughter to bin his excess tat, later. Very fortunately everything I own is useful and wonderful.

Refinishing/ painting old high quality solid furniture is easy for me, but perhaps not easy for others - I love the results, of course opinions vary.

Doodledog* I quite agree.

Jaxjacky

Talking to a friend earlier, her neighbour had a two year old range cooker, cost £2.5k, eventually advertised, in desperation for £50. It ended up with the scrap man, no one wanted it, even with transport costs it was an immaculate bargain.

I would have been delighted to take that off her hands, but I probably live miles away and would have to have my kitchen remodelled to fit it, which illustrates my point, really.

Every cloud, M0nica .

Everyone should keep what they enjoy (except for my husband, who has an unnecessary attachment to a hideous clock that belonged to his grandmother), but I don't think it's unreasonable of the younger generations to say 'no thank you' to things they really don't want.

Doodledog I agree with your list of collectables that no longer have value. We had an antique stall for some years and that and bone china dinner sets, we wouldn't buy because we could not sell them, although were always odd items that remained popular.

However, I do not think that older people have any illusions about the value of their goods, they know younger people do not want them - well, you only need to read this thread to see that. We have a house full of good antique furniture and we have seen the value tumble over the last 15 years, to about 20% of what it used to be, one or two items are the exception to the rule, but we have been able to save on house insurance because our contents have fallen in value over the years.

Talking to a friend earlier, her neighbour had a two year old range cooker, cost £2.5k, eventually advertised, in desperation for £50. It ended up with the scrap man, no one wanted it, even with transport costs it was an immaculate bargain.

I'm sure that's true for some families. But in others, the young people take a responsible attitude, and buy what they can afford when they can afford it. Just like we did . My children took some of our old things that were in the loft (dining chairs, a coffee table and crockery - things like that), but as soon as they could afford their own things and had decided on a style they liked they replaced them. No debt, and no rubbish.

Yes, there are many people struggling these days, thanks to low wages and high house prices. But these people are not likely to live near the people who want to downsize, and who have the sort of furniture they think is valuable. Factor in the expense and hassle of going to see it to see if it will fit and whether it is what they are looking for, then organising transport to collect it and get it up the stairs/round a tight corner in the hallway etc, and a 'free' or cheap item suddenly costs more than its modern equivalent that comes flat packed, or will be delivered by someone trained to manoeuvre awkward house layouts. Plus the new item will make the young couple feel that the house has their stamp on it, not that of people a generation or two older.

I read an article a while ago about the mismatch between older peoples views of the value of their 'stuff' and the reality. In the past, we were encouraged to see purchases as investments, and to collect and acquire items that we thought would hold value because they were 'quality'. The truth is, though, that young people just don't want it, so there is no value. Capodemonte and Lladro ornaments, Sylvac pots, bone china dinner services, silver teapots and so on are all the sort of thing that many older people see as things to pass on to their children who should be grateful for them as they were costly. In fact, there is just no market, as young people don't want clutter. Many dealers refuse to take things like that, and also refuse to take furniture such as china cabinets, TV cabinets, and heavy old items. Maybe Biglouis can confirm whether the author was right?