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Your viewpoint (which matches mine) is in the minority. The best part of solid wood furniture is the insane depreciation! We moved from a tiny condo to a hous

by OldHand2018 5y ago

Your viewpoint (which matches mine) is in the minority. The best part of solid wood furniture is the insane depreciation! We moved from a tiny condo to a house this summer. Rented a Home Depot van and ran around picking up free/extremely cheap solid wood furniture! Pieces that cost many thousands new, you can get for $50 or some other token amount. And then you keep it for years, decades, whatever.

dhritzkiv 5y ago
Interesting! Your experience does not mirror mine: finding solid wood furniture is either hard and/or expensive. I don't know how much it might have cost new, but decent quality, older tables, for example, are easily close to $1000CAD and up. This is both antique stores (where there is a understandable markup), but also Craigslist/Kijiji. The only place I've seen similar furniture go for anywhere near $100 are auction sites, but these don't come with the downside of not being able to inspect the piece, and often require you to drive 100s of kms to pick it up. I might also include yard sales, but they are far and few between.
- OldHand2018 5y ago
  Nothing we got is ever going to be a valuable antique, despite the ability to last "forever". From the sounds of it, you are not located near a large city. That may be the difference. I am in the Chicago metro area. I lived in skyscrapers for the last 20 years - in the city there is no stigma attached to doing anything, so there is a thriving market of giving things away or selling them to avoid the trash. All the skyscrapers have loading docks and freight elevators (and they all charge money to dispose of large things that don't fit in the regular trash). It's easy and nobody looks at you strangely or judges you. Out here in my new house on the edge of the metro area, you can tell that things are different. There is less stuff available and when you talk about it people either have a blank look or raise an eyebrow as if to say "Why would you do that, don't you have any money?" Perhaps next time you head to Toronto/Calgary, bring along a trailer?

dhritzkiv 5y ago

Interesting! Your experience does not mirror mine: finding solid wood furniture is either hard and/or expensive. I don't know how much it might have cost new, but decent quality, older tables, for example, are easily close to $1000CAD and up. This is both antique stores (where there is a understandable markup), but also Craigslist/Kijiji. The only place I've seen similar furniture go for anywhere near $100 are auction sites, but these don't come with the downside of not being able to inspect the piece, and often require you to drive 100s of kms to pick it up. I might also include yard sales, but they are far and few between.

OldHand2018 5y ago
Nothing we got is ever going to be a valuable antique, despite the ability to last "forever". From the sounds of it, you are not located near a large city. That may be the difference. I am in the Chicago metro area. I lived in skyscrapers for the last 20 years - in the city there is no stigma attached to doing anything, so there is a thriving market of giving things away or selling them to avoid the trash. All the skyscrapers have loading docks and freight elevators (and they all charge money to dispose of large things that don't fit in the regular trash). It's easy and nobody looks at you strangely or judges you. Out here in my new house on the edge of the metro area, you can tell that things are different. There is less stuff available and when you talk about it people either have a blank look or raise an eyebrow as if to say "Why would you do that, don't you have any money?" Perhaps next time you head to Toronto/Calgary, bring along a trailer?