Getting rid of a large piece of furniture

[simplelife4me]

I used to want large pieces of furniture and I lived in an apartment. That makes moving more difficult. Since then I have changed and have gotten rid of most of the larger pieces. This one entertainment center armoire won't sell. I may very well have to cut it up into pieces and take it out myself..lol. Salvation Army at one point would not take it due to the size. I may have to try them again and see if they are willing. It is a Hooker furniture cherry finish armoire weighing over 100 pounds. Have any of you ever been in this situation?

[catherine]

I used to want large pieces of furniture and I lived in an apartment. That makes moving more difficult. Since then I have changed and have gotten rid of most of the larger pieces. This one entertainment center armoire won't sell. I may very well have to cut it up into pieces and take it out myself..lol. Salvation Army at one point would not take it due to the size. I may have to try them again and see if they are willing. It is a Hooker furniture cherry finish armoire weighing over 100 pounds. Have any of you ever been in this situation?

Yes. I had a big pine dry bar. It consisted of a mirrored hutch with a lot of glass shelving. Underneath there was a drawer and cabinetry. It was really heavy. When we redid our kitchen we needed to get rid of it.

Also, we had an old professional Franklin Chef stove that occupied a big part of our garage for years--one of my son's drop-offs after he moved from a house he rented. He thought we would like it. Nice thought, but it would have completely overtaken our kitchen.

Turns out we had hired a few handymen to help us paint and do repairs, and we offered one the dry bar (which he loves and still has) and the other guy had connections to a church that was able to use the professional stove. Best part was, they had elbow grease, manpower, and a truck. They took both away.

I would try freecycling it.

Unfortunately if it's one of the old-fashioned entertainment armoires you'll probably have a great deal of trouble getting rid of it since no one has the old TVs anymore. You may have to cut it up and curb it.

[Yppej]

Yes I have cut things into pieces so they will fit in the trash.

[catherine]

I just googled a picture of a Hooker entertainment armoire, and it would be a shame to have to trash a nice piece of furniture like that, especially if it's real cherry wood. Can you free cycle it but put a marketing spin on it? Like "Carpenter's dream: Solid cherry Hooker entertainment armoire can be used as is or repurposed as a wardrobe for extra closet space, or you can reclaim the cherry for your own project!"

[mschrisgo2]

I agree, Freecycle or craigslist for free. Also, I know several people who have recently acquired such pieces for fabric storage, so if you have a quilt shop in the area, you might see if they have a community bulletin board or other way to post a Free notice. Sometimes Starbucks has a community board, look around for other places, maybe make a half-sheet flyer with a picture.

[iris lilies]

I have a husband with a strong back and a truck, and even I dont much like big heavy pieces of furnitureoutside of a couple of
victorian cabinet pie es.

This is timely. I am shopping around for temporary furniture for our weekend house and I am trying free sources first, then thrift stores. This week I spent half a day visiting all of the thrift stores. We also jumped into the truck and chased two Craislisted “alley finds” but they were gone by the time we got there. I am checking
Craiglist three times a day now.

Anyway, to the point: I want light furniture for this temporary gig because I will have to be at the other end of the piece when we move it in, and later out. I lifted chairs and tables in the thrift stores and rejected several due to weight. I truly think I can get ghe table I want from an alley. I want something cheaply made and light, but I want chairs that are a little more substantial.

I purposely am avoiding sofas, and would not consider a sleeper sofa of any size. We will buy new beds and some appliances, and those will be delivered. I forced myself to go to IKEA and look at the cheap crappy furniture they have. At least the stuff is light,
I will say that. I am considering their beds with built in drawers.

[simplelife4me]

Thanks for the replies. Mine is just like this one on ebay. Yes, a gorgeous piece of furniture that would a crying shame to cut up. I will try freecycle. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Armoire-TV-Solid-Cherry-Wood-Colonial-Style-/232638379350

[simplelife4me]

Havertys gave me Habitat for Humanity's furniture donation hotline number. I'll try them too.

[pinkytoe]

Two years ago when we were preparing to move, I tried and tried to sell a solid wood "entertainment" center. Finally, after a lot of Craigslist ads, someone bought it for $35; said he would repurpose the wood. I felt fortunate that he hauled it away but lamented how much we had paid for it back in the 90s. Recently, I watched my next door neighbor take a chain saw to an old sofa and every week he would put pieces of it in the trash until it was gone. That was a new one on me.

[SteveinMN]

One of the reasons those wonderful, built-like-a-tank entertainment centers are hard to get rid of is that they were built for older TVs. High-definition TVs are much more rectangular than square, so where maybe you could fit a 27" CRT TV in the entertainment center, now you might not get more than a 22" HDTV in there, with a very obviously smaller picture. Some of the local thrift stores here won't even take them anymore because they just languish on the sales floor. As with so many things to be recycled, if there's no market for reuse, there's no market for collecting it.

[simplelife4me]

Yeah, I am at least 10 years too late in getting anything near the price paid for it. Mine had a 26" CRT but I am now using a 32" HDTV. Repurposing the wood is a great idea too.

[Sad Eyed Lady]

I agree, Freecycle or craigslist for free. Also, I know several people who have recently acquired such pieces for fabric storage, so if you have a quilt shop in the area, you might see if they have a community bulletin board or other way to post a Free notice. Sometimes Starbucks has a community board, look around for other places, maybe make a half-sheet flyer with a picture.
That's exactly what I was thinking. It doesn't HAVE to be an entertainment center, but a great area for other storage. Bedding, add shelves and use for folded clothing. Anything. If you freecycle it put it out there for free, I bet you will have a taker than can get it out of your house.

[goldensmom]

Yes I have cut things into pieces so they will fit in the trash.

That is what I do when possible since our new trash service will not take large items as did our previous service. If we have a large recyclable or salvage item,I sit it at the end of the drive and someone take it but anything that can be deconstructed or smashed apart goes in the trash cart bit by bit until gone.

[CathyA]

Oh gee......someone would LOVE that! I actually have a big old entertainment center with my big old TV in it! I still love it, but it weighs a ton. good luck finding someone who will love it (and come and get it!)

[Teacher Terry]

WE have one in our bedroom that I use for storage. The thrift stores will not take them anymore or china cabinets.

[simplelife4me]

I took that bad boy apart with a reciprocating saw. Most of it was not real wood. Only the small base frame, the small drawer, and some of the "molding" pieces were wood. The largest side pieces were some sort of very dense and heavy non-wood. And some were typical particle board. I was surprised but don't remember the claims. I wonder what the industry ethics are when marketing something as "real" wood.

[Tenngal]

take a look on Pinterest, they recycle as wine bars, closets for kiddie clothes, kitchen storage, etc.

[iris lilies]

I know this will sound snobby, but I always thought these modern “entertainment centers” were hideous. And now they are hard to get rid of, no real surprise.

The great old Victorian armoires made of solid, identifiable wood, break down for easy transport. At least, all of the ones I know do. I dont own one however. I love the old burl walnut wardrobes/armoires but have come to the end of my stint of large furniture buying.

Too many of these beauties were mangled when decorators cut out the back so that tube tvs could poke out, ugh, that was a travesty.

[iris lilies]

Speaking of old brown furniture, I recently bought a lingerie chest since I had been jonesing for one and I do need somethng in our weekend house (although this may stay in our city house while another chest goes to
Hermann.)

A classicly proportioned lingerie chest does not take up much floor space because it is verticle, not horizontal.

Anyway, I learned from the antiques seller that she cant keep lingerie chests and bedside tables stocked.

So for those of you who have to jettison furniture, keep this tip in mind. Of course, this could be only a regional market issue.

[pinkytoe]

We have been having to buy furniture bit by bit since we got rid of so much from the old house. I thought I made a mistake buying a solid pine glass-doored china cabinet from Goodwill when we first got here as it looked "Colorado cabinish". However, it turned out to be a most useful piece while the kitchen is torn up. It is now storing food, dishes, silverware, pots and pans all in one place. I have developed a fear of moving furniture after all this upheaval.

[happystuff]

The older I get, the more I am looking for furniture that I can move and maneuver on my own, especially something as simple as moving the couch to clean under it/behind it, etc. I'm actually working towards eventually ditching a couch altogether for a couple chairs instead.

[SteveinMN]

The older I get, the more I am looking for furniture that I can move and maneuver on my own, especially something as simple as moving the couch to clean under it/behind it, etc.
We have two sets of those "furniture movers" -- plastic discs with either foam or rubber on the other side. Shove those underneath the corners of the furniture and you can move anything by yourself. Only thing I've ever seen "as advertised on TV!" that actually worked as promised (but I bought them open-box at Goodwill).

[ToomuchStuff]

It would depend on how you define move by yourself. Steve above has one idea, that differs from mine, as I think move by myself also means loading, unloading, getting through doors, etc. (not just cleaning/moving)
I haven't had a couch in years. I'd like to, but those who I could have in years past, got help with moving it, all have medical/physical ailments that prevent their help. I've thought about some sort of futon (still would like to be able to lay in front of a movie), but haven't found any I was happy with. (would like the underside to be hollow for storage) I saw a link some time ago (may have been that Anna White trailer) where someone made cushions, to go on a box, and could make something like that modular enough, that I could move it myself, and like neighbors did in the 20's, in those bungalow's, gives useful storage. (growing up, pretty much all ottoman's were storage)

[happystuff]

I do have an older set of something similar under our little love seat right now. They do help with moving for vacuuming, etc. I'll have to look for some more. Thanks.

[Teacher Terry]

To physically move stuff we have lots of affordable labor locally such as day laborers. They will do just about any type of work that is available.

[iris lilies]

Ok, the alley gods came through yesterday as I knew they would. On
Nextdoor someone posted about free bedside tables in the alley. Only 27 minutes had elapsed since he posted, so DH and I jumped into the truck to get them. They were still there, and they are good for my purposes.

That haul finished the basic set of furniture we need for our weekend house. I KNEW I could get bedside tables because I have been shopping the alleys for years, and I know what people throw away.

Total money spent on weekend house furniture consisting of dining table,, 6 hard chairs, 4 upholstered chairs, kitchen table, bedside tables with drawers, tv stand: $105, with more than half of that donation and tips. We also have losts of patio furniture around here so will be moving some of that to Hermann, MO weekend house.

We will be buying two beds and washer, dryer, freezer. That wont be cheap, however. I dont want to mess around with used items unless something falls into our lap. We let a used refrigerator go sme months ago because we didnt know we would have another house. We could have used thatbin the basement.

[catherine]

Great haul, IL! I responded to an ad for a free queen mattress & box spring but it had already been taken and had a waiting list. But I did find a funky headboard on Craigslist or $70.

Our big haul this weekend was a John Boos 48 x 24 butcher block island. They go for $1700. We found one in our favorite consignment shop for $495. DH talked him down to $375 cash. It's in great condition. We have no counter space in our new house, so this will be perfect. Plus DH has always wanted a real butcher block.

Looks just like this: https://butcherblockco.com/product/jo-cucr04-butcher-block-kitchen-island

I'll continue to read my freecycle listings for other stuff.

[iris lilies]

Great haul, IL! I responded to an ad for a free queen mattress & box spring but it had already been taken and had a waiting list. But I did find a funky headboard on Craigslist or $70.

Our big haul this weekend was a John Boos 48 x 24 butcher block island. They go for $1700. We found one in our favorite consignment shop for $495. DH talked him down to $375 cash. It's in great condition. We have no counter space in our new house, so this will be perfect. Plus DH has always wanted a real butcher block.

Looks just like this: https://butcherblockco.com/product/jo-cucr04-butcher-block-kitchen-island

I'll continue to read my freecycle listings for other stuff.

That island IS nice!

We are just gathering temporary furniture. After we do major renovations at our weekend house I will get better furniture but not necessarily NEW furniture.