Baby boomers and their furniture

[Anonymous]

My boomer ILs are the same way. They "downsized" from a 3000sf house to a 2300sf townhome. They sold some of their furnishings before they moved, but they couldn't resist. They bought more furniture until their every room was jammed from end to end.

How many hall trees does one need for an entryway? Three. Plus, a large curio cabinet, three stacked fake old-timey suitcases, and a mannequin dressed in a flapper dress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boomer ILs are the same way. They "downsized" from a 3000sf house to a 2300sf townhome. They sold some of their furnishings before they moved, but they couldn't resist. They bought more furniture until their every room was jammed from end to end.

How many hall trees does one need for an entryway? Three. Plus, a large curio cabinet, three stacked fake old-timey suitcases, and a mannequin dressed in a flapper dress.

PP, again. My own parents were from the Silent Generation and weren't big consumers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God willing they have 20 more years on earth. Mind your own damn business and let them decorate how they please.

NP. Of course they should decorate however they please, just as their children should be able to vent about it to strangers without being silenced.

I think everyone could benefit from being more mindful when it comes to buying stuff. I've lost both of my parents and their stuff was a fraction of what the average American family has. Still, it was a daunting task to sort and deal with their things, all while I was still in deep mourning. Having gone through that, I vowed that my legacy to my own kids will not be a house full of stuff.

Unfortunately we hear a lot from boomers who just don't give a rat's ass about their out of control consumption and think they could just leave their mountain of mess to their children to deal with after they're gone.

[Anonymous]

Late Boomer here -- we're downsizing as fast as we can, and so are most of our friends. We would rather put money into travel and donating money to get Trump out of the WH. Not sure where you're finding these people who are buying more stuff (especially at Ethan Allen -- didn't even know that still existed -- wow), but you should know that they don't represent everyone born between 1946 and 1963. Hmmm . . . maybe that's why thinking in terms of generations is not very helpful.

[Anonymous]

My parents are in their late 60's and own two very nice homes and I can't think of a piece of furniture that they really can't live without. They don't have anything that was passed down to them and they are not interested in antiques. My Dad hates clutter so he is always throwing stuff out or selling it on CL often to the chagrin of my mother.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to make clear that this is a mild rant, not a serious problem. But I want to vent. My parents are in their mid 70s and they have a lovely house and lovely things. When my grandparents passed away 10-15 years ago some furniture and silver and china and other objects were earmarked for my sister and me, but as we were in grad school and college at the time it naturally went to my parents till we were properly "settled" someday. Flash forward to this year both my sister and I have respectively finally "settled" after nearly 20 years of schooling, living overseas or in small apartments in NYC and finally have houses big enough and our parents reminded us that we had these inheritances waiting for us, so we both gladly took them. And I was also doubly pleased because it would liberate our parents as their house was getting a wee bit crowded, even with lovely old things. And I commented to my mother how much more spacious it now looked and she fully agreed.

Then what does she do?

Go out and buy new antiques to replace the ones my sister and I just took! Ma! You're 73! You do not need more antique chests of drawers or side tables no matter how pretty they may be! You still have an entire house filled with lovely tables and cabinets! You have sideboards crammed with china and crystal and silver that hasn't seen the light of day in decades. I know it's good quality, I know it belonged to great-grandma, but you do not need a dozen crystal platters or innumerable silver bowls.

Meanwhile, DH, who grew up in what might as well have been an Ethan Allen showroom, parents are still looking at getting new furniture

Neither of our parents would ever qualify as hoarders by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem that the boomer generation are so very attached to possessions and having large houses and filling them up and they just can't let go of things. I'm not asking for solutions here, I'm just venting because I love not having a lot of things, I appreciate having nice things and inherited pieces, but I refuse to crowd my house with things that will just never get used only to pass them on to the next generation who will also never use them! Is this attachment to possessions a generational thing, or is it a natural aging thing?

Please try to understand that they're getting to a point in their lives where this might be the LAST time they can pick out furniture and have the time to enjoy it and use it.

[Anonymous]

We inherited furniture that we could never have afforded from the parents. Don’t love Ikea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to make clear that this is a mild rant, not a serious problem. But I want to vent. My parents are in their mid 70s and they have a lovely house and lovely things. When my grandparents passed away 10-15 years ago some furniture and silver and china and other objects were earmarked for my sister and me, but as we were in grad school and college at the time it naturally went to my parents till we were properly "settled" someday. Flash forward to this year both my sister and I have respectively finally "settled" after nearly 20 years of schooling, living overseas or in small apartments in NYC and finally have houses big enough and our parents reminded us that we had these inheritances waiting for us, so we both gladly took them. And I was also doubly pleased because it would liberate our parents as their house was getting a wee bit crowded, even with lovely old things. And I commented to my mother how much more spacious it now looked and she fully agreed.

Then what does she do?

Go out and buy new antiques to replace the ones my sister and I just took! Ma! You're 73! You do not need more antique chests of drawers or side tables no matter how pretty they may be! You still have an entire house filled with lovely tables and cabinets! You have sideboards crammed with china and crystal and silver that hasn't seen the light of day in decades. I know it's good quality, I know it belonged to great-grandma, but you do not need a dozen crystal platters or innumerable silver bowls.

Meanwhile, DH, who grew up in what might as well have been an Ethan Allen showroom, parents are still looking at getting new furniture

Neither of our parents would ever qualify as hoarders by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem that the boomer generation are so very attached to possessions and having large houses and filling them up and they just can't let go of things. I'm not asking for solutions here, I'm just venting because I love not having a lot of things, I appreciate having nice things and inherited pieces, but I refuse to crowd my house with things that will just never get used only to pass them on to the next generation who will also never use them! Is this attachment to possessions a generational thing, or is it a natural aging thing?

Please try to understand that they're getting to a point in their lives where this might be the LAST time they can pick out furniture and have the time to enjoy it and use it.

My guess is that they are just shocked at how inexpensive some of these types of antiques have become at estate sales, consignments stores and antique stores because the market has changed so much. I know my parents have been tempted to buy stuff just because it's priced at like 10-20% of what it may have been worth 25 years ago when they were furnishing their house and looking to invest in some antiques, art, rugs, etc..

My dad, who is not a consumer or shopper-type, bought a painting b.c he found it for $75 and the frame itself is worth like $500. Now does my wealthy father need to be flipping frames for profit? of course not, but he couldn't pass it up, so it sits in the basement.

[Anonymous]

I get it. My mom and grandma are constantly trying to get us to replace our Ikea furniture with old family furniture they are trying to get rid of. What they don't seem to understand is that we chose each Ikea piece of furniture for its space and practicality. I don't want a bunch of heavy dated furniture that doesn't even give us the storage we need.

[Anonymous]

Apparently, I am the only one that likes the inherited furniture. I like that our kitchen table is being used by the 4th and 5th generation and the chairs too. I love the small table from my grandmother's because I reminds me of her... Both DH and I inherited furniture from grandparents an parents that we love. I love using my maternal grandmother's china- she died when my mother was 14. I I didn't realize I am an odd duck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Late Boomer here -- we're downsizing as fast as we can, and so are most of our friends. We would rather put money into travel and donating money to get Trump out of the WH. Not sure where you're finding these people who are buying more stuff (especially at Ethan Allen -- didn't even know that still existed -- wow), but you should know that they don't represent everyone born between 1946 and 1963. Hmmm . . . maybe that's why thinking in terms of generations is not very helpful.

Nicely put, pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We inherited furniture that we could never have afforded from the parents. Don’t love Ikea.

As we always tell visitors, anything nice is inherited from our parents and the rest is from IKEA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My guess is that they are just shocked at how inexpensive some of these types of antiques have become at estate sales, consignments stores and antique stores because the market has changed so much. I know my parents have been tempted to buy stuff just because it's priced at like 10-20% of what it may have been worth 25 years ago when they were furnishing their house and looking to invest in some antiques, art, rugs, etc..

My dad, who is not a consumer or shopper-type, bought a painting b.c he found it for $75 and the frame itself is worth like $500. Now does my wealthy father need to be flipping frames for profit? of course not, but he couldn't pass it up, so it sits in the basement.

This story reminds me of how I finally got it together to throw out the family portraits my silent generation parents had painted of us all back in the day. 1) They were satisfactory but not great portraits - painted by a local artist and friend of the family. 2) In these small DC houses, there just isn't room on the wall for even a good portrait let alone a so-so portrait. But I kept my parents' and my portraits stacked up in a spare room for years and years until we were getting ready for the Trump inauguration. How I hate that man but the one thing I'll always be grateful to him for is that friends and family from miles around came to visit us to join the protests and so we decided to get rid of some clutter (not as much as we needed to but it was a start). I had a great weekend! But I also had to take a trip to the Fort Totten transfer station and throw my father's and mother's oil portraits on the trash pile. Satisfying and sad at the same time. So glad to get rid of those meh portraits but it was also like throwing away a bit of my past. But at least that's something my kid won't have to throw out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My guess is that they are just shocked at how inexpensive some of these types of antiques have become at estate sales, consignments stores and antique stores because the market has changed so much. I know my parents have been tempted to buy stuff just because it's priced at like 10-20% of what it may have been worth 25 years ago when they were furnishing their house and looking to invest in some antiques, art, rugs, etc..

My dad, who is not a consumer or shopper-type, bought a painting b.c he found it for $75 and the frame itself is worth like $500. Now does my wealthy father need to be flipping frames for profit? of course not, but he couldn't pass it up, so it sits in the basement.

This story reminds me of how I finally got it together to throw out the family portraits my silent generation parents had painted of us all back in the day. 1) They were satisfactory but not great portraits - painted by a local artist and friend of the family. 2) In these small DC houses, there just isn't room on the wall for even a good portrait let alone a so-so portrait. But I kept my parents' and my portraits stacked up in a spare room for years and years until we were getting ready for the Trump inauguration. How I hate that man but the one thing I'll always be grateful to him for is that friends and family from miles around came to visit us to join the protests and so we decided to get rid of some clutter (not as much as we needed to but it was a start). I had a great weekend! But I also had to take a trip to the Fort Totten transfer station and throw my father's and mother's oil portraits on the trash pile. Satisfying and sad at the same time. So glad to get rid of those meh portraits but it was also like throwing away a bit of my past. But at least that's something my kid won't have to throw out!

Oh and I should add - one thing that's great about technology today is that I took pictures of the portraits and other things that were hard to let go and put them in the cloud. I'll probably never look at them again but it's easier to get rid of stuff after you've taken that picture.

[Anonymous]

Bad art like that is so problematic. You don’t want to throw it but you don’t want to look at it either. And what does Trump have to do with it ?