Why is it so difficult to give furniture away?

Good heavens, paddyann54 what an affluent background you had.

We first lived in a rented flat, while we saved for a house. When we bought it and came to furnish it, the one thing we were both agreed on was that we both abhorred the thought of furniture suites, living, dining or bedroom.

Our preference was much more eclectic, a mix of Habitat and the awful dark brown stuff my granny would have had , which was very fashionble in the 1970s and 80s.

We still much prefer the brown furniture, so we now have a house furnished with the good quality antique furniture. We have also never owned any kind of furniture suite. The nearest we have come is the Ercol furniture in our kitchen and that was acquired item by item and is not a matching suite.

Habitat hadn't reached the rural extremities when we were furnishing our first home.

We bought a dining table and chairs (G plan) for £15 and tried to borrow a van to collect it. The owners offered to deliver it, they put it all on a trailer but knocked a very tiny piece out of the edge of the table.
My father carefully inserted a piece and polished it to match; you'd scarcely have noticed it, although I did. 🙂
We kept it for 18 years and someone was glad to take it, free of charge, all those years later.

I've just seen some chairs like ours for sale 😲

Set Of Four Vintage Retro Mid Century Teak 'Butterfly' Dining Chairs £545 per set of 4

Callistemon21 - re gifting things, I picked up a huge set of ladderax shelving for my son a couple of years ago. He was looking for something for his office in a new house and thought it would do. Someone had been using it in their garage but it was in perfect condition as the garage was only used for storing "clean" things as they also had a workshop and a large garden shed.
It was totally free (on freecycle.org )

I was annoyed at the time as once I'd had two trips lugging it home his wife decided she didn't like it as it was too "old fashioned" - I had it sitting about for about a month then but I have to say it's really useful in my studio/workroom and looks quite smart actually! Being lots of "modules" it's easy to configure it to suit too.

It's pretty much like this:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354749416869?hash=item5298b685a5:g:A38AAOSwjX9kS9UK&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4OikRWpZEdrw3obhd8XATf4qKiX1F1v%2B8ppO20aPAEJ7BZejx2hjTd1wRtvoZkZk%2FrcdI4VTEucZCWBsLF5ACvbXExm5YDvufn7%2BuzZpq14NDdOnA4JDwAC0RyRhPuXPkLSp2XykZtcqJzWsGCh8BP4%2FXjZp5uukDFvEtwC%2FWV2J2eyMk97Gb0xjP1abKaHuZ5pvJWh8sgRQ%2FcpERaWvuCj3nT9QsWb9R2jpB8WG6k9zpLGK1hqDJTXbApN8sWEQvHz2%2FC7vBSNd4HSiBCJMCfrO9cJ4ZDZ9SEnv2NjSM9r6%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4jB0-6CYg

NotSpaghetti 😲

The British Heart Foundation will collect furniture donations.

Callistemon21

NotSpaghetti 😲

I know!

I had not a clue how very "desirable" ladderax had become till I went online to see if I could buy an extra shelf. I just thought it was useful.

That is lovely, NotSpaghetti!

I really like that, but if I were to be offered some I would have to say no, as it just wouldn't go in my house.

Doodledog it wouldn't work in most of my house either to be honest. I think it's perfect in my workroom though. I was only using it as I'd expanded into a bigger room and needed some shelving quickly. It was going to be a short-term solution as it was sitting about here and convenient.

On the other hand NotSpaghetti when you come to sell it, you should be able to buy whatever furniture you want from the proceeds - or have a really nice holiday!

I have just cleared my late lovely man's shed which since I lost him has gone into disrepair and looking rather wonky I needed the space for a new patio area.
I put it on Freecycle and advertised it for use as a chicken coup and had so many requests for it,the person I chose to have it dismantled it and took it away,he even jet washed the area for me so a win win for me.I do get rid of a lot of "stuff" on Freecycle.

L love Freecycle. I have just got rid of nearly 100 rockery stones of all sizes by a combination of Free cycle, the village Facebook page and speaking to next doors gardeners as to whetehr they knew anyone who would like some.

Refinishing/ painting old high quality solid furniture is easy for me, but perhaps not easy for others

I'm happy to refinish/repaint old furniture too - lots of people forget that the paint can be removed, and it's a way of stopping things ending up in landfill.

AreWeThereYet

^Refinishing/ painting old high quality solid furniture is easy for me, but perhaps not easy for others^

I'm happy to refinish/repaint old furniture too - lots of people forget that the paint can be removed, and it's a way of stopping things ending up in landfill.

Indeed. No need for us to send furniture to landfill.

We've painted all sort of quite old antique furniture - white or black. Gives it a whole new look and life. Our daughters and granddaughters readily accept painted neo-classical and less ornate Victorian furniture.

We've a large family. Lots of furniture was given at our marriage by old Aunties, Grannies, and singleton cousins. Homes full - never ending.

We aren’t particularly talented but have always painted wooden furniture which gives it a fresh new lease of life. Shabby chic is still very popular.

I’m not sentimental about inanimate objects like furniture. It’s basically there for a purpose, and be the right size and style. When we married we had very little furniture because it was expensive then (no IKEA) but I would not have wanted any of my granny’s furniture if offered.

M0nica

On the other hand NotSpaghetti when you come to sell it, you should be able to buy whatever furniture you want from the proceeds - or have a really nice holiday!

Assuming it's still popular M0nica and not been displaced by dark oak barley-twist!

At the risk of being devil's advocate - perhaps people don't like it?
We all have different tastes and my prized piece may be your living room nightmare.

I should add we were more than happy to accept hand me down furniture - utility pieces stripped down and repainted or matt varnished were very welcome especially in the early years. I wish I'd kept them now!

All our furniture were other peoples cast offs, we were grateful. We were living a very frugal quiet ( boring) life in order to save for the deposit fir a tiny two up two down terrace. Mortgage rates up to 17%, more than 3 times higher than now so life wasnt easy.
It was years before we were able to buy something new and it was 35 years before i chose my first new kitchen.
Still have an old set of drawers from the early days, its been almost every colour of the rainbow over the decades and I still like it.

My favourite piece of furniture is what we call ‘the desk’.

It was my parents, bought after the war, a utility item I assume.

Darkish polished wood, consists of a glass fronted shelved cabinet, atop a drop down ‘desk’ section, then sets of drawers underneath.

Not particularly attractive, certainly not of any value, looks quite dated, but full of memories,

Will never part with it, hope sone family member keeps it in the future, but doubt it.

Are there any colleges nearby who teach upholstery? They might take some.

Interesting reading these comments. Contrary to popular belief, most early 20th century brown furniture was made in a factory. There was a lot of it, mainly hideous in my eyes. Some of it does get up cycled by painting in Annie Sloane paints or similar.

There is a big difference between the brown Ercol and the pale stuff which is popular and getting expensive.

You need to be careful if you start mucking about with antique furniture because it's easy to destroy the value if you do the wrong thing. My DH was a furniture restorer before he retired and some very lovely and very valuable pieces went through his workshop. When we lived in London he was asked to go the home of a wealthy woman in Chelsea who'd bought a set of 18th C dining chairs. They may have needed some repair. Anyway she mentioned that they'd been painted and had them stripped. What was stripped off was the original paintwork from when the chairs were made. Rosewood was a very expensive wood, even then and makers painted the furniture to look like rosewood. She'd paid a lot and asked about the value. He said he didn't know because he didn't want to tell her that she ruined a good set of chairs.

Brazil banned the export of their rosewood back in 1967 and was added to the CITES convention as an endangered species.

In Spain there was evening a week when they can put outside things they no longer want, for other people to take. If it's still there the following morning it's cleared away.

They do, or did that in Germany too. A brilliant idea .

I have got several beautiful bits of furniture that my grandmother owned. She loved antique furniture and had a very good eye - but little money. Bombed out of her house in the Blitz, when it was rebuilt, the government gave her a furnishing allowance. Most people rushed out to buy new utility furniture rather than anruques and she was able to buy a beautiful mahogany library table, which she used as a dining table and now has pride of place in my hall, a lovely delicate Edwardian occasional table, a sutherland table that I use for sewing and several other bits and pieces.

DH's grandfather and uncles were antique dealers and we inherited more beautiful furniture from his mother, as well as from an aunt and my sister.