[postmodest]

In my life, it's that the only people with room to have large wooden furniture were the Boomers and their parents who could afford to live in 2.5k+sq foot houses. My whole apartment couldn't hold the furniture from my parents living room.

[bruce511]

As I wrote this I am on holiday, having bought an old Singer Sewing table, complete with foot-power mechanism. It's a lovely bit of furniture.

That said, where to put it (or more accurately, what it will replace) was very much part of the buying decision. (Fortunately it comes apart, so can fit in the car. )

But the author is right. Old furniture in homes is rare. Partly because there are a LOT more homes now (so less old furniture to go round) and partly because it takes time, and money, to furnish in a consistent "old furniture style".

It can also be -really- expensive. So becomes something of a "later in life" activity when funds allow.

Typically a bunch arrives on the market at once, so typically it goes to a dealer, and between transport, storage, sales etc, the estate won't get much.

[ryandrake]

When my grandmother passed, she left a house full of all this furniture, china, antiques and various knickknacks that she wanted her family to split up amongst themselves. Only her children (my Boomer parents and aunts) wanted any of it. The cousins in my generation and younger didn’t want any of it. We have nowhere to store all this… stuff. Our generation can barely afford space to live let alone rooms dedicated to antiques and dishwear.

I hope my parents don’t burden us with a storage unit full of junk. Just because they treasure it doesn’t mean we can or even want to become the next stewards of it. It’s all going to the landfill.

[jimmydddd]

My grand parents had a lot of dishes/furniture/photos/books that they saved for us to inherit. For a while, we tried to let them know we weren't interested and we encouraged them to sell it or donate it, but they either couldn't part with it or wanted us to have it.

We realized the best solution was just to express thanks and gratefulness to them and then just give/sell to a junk disposal/reseller guy after they passed.

[ghaff]

From personal experience, other people's storage units that are filled with stuff kept against an ill-defined future just cost money and cause someone else a headache sooner or later.