We have talked about this so many times on this forum. I guess that’s because many of us are in the same age range and our parents are giving up a family home and/or are dying.
What have you all decided to take and retain from your parents home? I mean, their stuff?
The crystal chandelier:
I’m sitting here in my living room looking at a crystal chandelier my mother gave me decades ago. At the time I thought it was OK Although it was never anything I especially desired. She gave it to me in one of her many house clean out sessions. I expressed an interest in a Victorian table, but she wouldn’t give that to me because she was afraid my dogs would chew on it. And they would, ha ha! But the chandelier would hang on the ceiling and the dogs could not damage it, so she gave that to me instead.
So now that I’m mentally going through my own stuff in this house, deciding what will move with me and what I will get rid of, the chandelier is an albatross. I have no place for it to go in other houses. I’ve poked around upcycling websites to see what I can do with a crystal chandelier but there’s no upcycle ideas I like. Well…maybe, turning it into a tiny chandelier, I,would consider that. Those are fashionable right now.
It’s not worth a whole lot because these things are no longer popular, maybe $125 on a good day, $50 otherwise. It’s not a family heirloom but my mom really really liked it yet she would be the last one to say I had to keep it because she liked it.
I am torn. I either give it to our Park Conservancy sale the next time there is one, or I put it in a box and move it to Herman with the knowledge that I will take it apart, canibalizing the crystals for various things like Christmas decorations. I do really like using these Czech glass pieces as ornaments and they are expensive to buy individually.
My grandmother, mother and I share the same birth month. It is already known throughout the family that I will get a ring with that month's birthstone. Don't want anything else.
To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
Be nice whenever possible. It's always possible. HH Dalai Lama
In a world where you can be anything - be kind. Unknown
My parents are starting to go through things again after one friend is dealing with emptying a basement full of stuff so she can move in with her daughter and a neighbor was ordered out of her home by the Board of Health because she is a hoarder.
I told my kids to tell me now what they want so I can label it and consider to given down the road.
One son wants an antique cupboard and a coffee table, and one son liked a painting and some flatware that I had out. I will probably give that son my sterling flatware, too, although it's a lot more valuable than the furniture, but he expressed an interest in it.
My dil's and then granddaughters will get any jewelry I have. The nice thing about jewelry is that it is so portable!
Forgot, one dil asked for a sideboard years ago, so she will get that if she still wants it. But I will label it.
I realize we are kind of giving stuff out now to a limited extent. My husband gave his nephew his 20,000 dollar piano.
I wondered if you moved both big pianos across the country. It is lovely that the piano went to someone who will enjoy it and you know them.Originally Posted by Tybee
Actually, it moved across country the other direction. My piano is still out of state. The nephew got an amazing piano, and my husband wanted him to have it, so that's cool.
Our friend who is about 10 years younger than we are, married, with no children, collects museum quality Victorian furniture, lighting, and Victorian accoutrements. His furnishings are super high end. He lives in a nice Victorian house that’s typical of houses in our neighborhood, around 3500 ft.². It is packed to the core with Victoriana.
He has executed a plan to deal with his very special stuff, and I assure you it is extremely special. First thing, he notified everyone in his family, his siblings and their children, to pick one thing from his collection that they would want. He got 0 response.
He has detailed how this collection needs to be sold in a will document. It will be an online auction that is nationally advertised because he needs a national audience to get appropriate prices for these pieces. He expects these to fund his old age and time in a nursing home, if necessary.
I hope he’s right. The Market has dropped for old brown furniture, but his stuff is very high end so there are still people who want it.
Last edited by iris lilies; 9-25-21 at 3:07pm.
I have a couple of crystal vases that are used regularly and took a couple of paintings- one done by my grandmother who taught herself to paint in retirement and another from my nephew who is an artist and this was a piece he had to do for school. Its the skyline of Miami where he lives done in a Van Gogh style. None of the collectables, furniture or knick knacks interested me but I did find a pewter pitcher that had family names engraved on it - I think it was my great grandparent's on my Dad's mom side.
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