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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think quality furnishings can last a lifetime?

77 replies

snble · 08/02/2026 21:33

DP and I are very slowly fitting out our first home together. We are careful with what we buy and make sure it’s all high quality. Solid wood antiques or 60s furniture, english made sofas. solid brass lamps, original paintings. The idea is that these items will either last us a lifetime or will hold a good amount of value if we needed to sell them on.

I think to my granny’s house that she built in the 70s and most things were from then and looked good even in 2010. Whereas my mum is asking us if why we don’t just do a big ikea shop.

OP posts:
MyBestThing · 08/02/2026 21:35

It's true but you'll be sick of the sight of it after 20 years, let alone 40 or 60 years.
It's also a myth that old furniture has value. People want whatever is modern, not what their grandparents had.

Bikergran · 08/02/2026 21:37

My mother was an antique dealer and I have always thought like this, but now I am getting on in years, I don't know if any of my kids will want any of the stuff I have cherished for so long. Part of me is thinking of downsizing and sending the lot to auction.

sjh783 · 08/02/2026 21:39

Our IKEA kallax units have lasted decades and more house moves than I care to count.

Jellycatspyjamas · 08/02/2026 21:39

I think there’s a place for both. I have some really good solid wood pieces - dining table, console tables etc. they’ve stood the test of time and still look great. They don’t look outdated and are still to my taste 30 years on.

I also have ikea, particularly in the kids room and my home office. The kids rooms change as they grow, so spending lots of money doesn’t make sense and I sell back to ikea when it’s time for a change, and really nothing beats a kallax for playroom storage. My home office needs to be functional and again Ikea is great for sturdy desks etc.

sjh783 · 08/02/2026 21:40

(Well decades made be a slight exaggeration, but we won’t be far off 20 years)

PhilosophicalCheeseSandwich · 08/02/2026 21:41

MyBestThing · 08/02/2026 21:35

It's true but you'll be sick of the sight of it after 20 years, let alone 40 or 60 years.
It's also a myth that old furniture has value. People want whatever is modern, not what their grandparents had.

Absolutely this. My mum's had her top quality furniture since the 70s, lots of Old Charm and very heavy things like display dressers. She now needs to downsize and asked me to look into selling it. I have a feeling I'll end up getting a charity to come and collect it

mumofoneAloneandwell · 08/02/2026 21:44

I dunno, IKEA is amazing for a lot of stuff

their pax wardrobes, billy bookcases are worth their weight in gold

BreakingBroken · 08/02/2026 21:46

oddly buying excellent quality furniture has been a huge regret.
mainly because the kids trashed it and then the grandkids and even the dogs...
equally styles changes and some stuff even if excellent quality just become irritating rather than peaceful and joyful.
i do think a blend is best especially when pets and children are involved.

Pacificsunshine · 08/02/2026 21:54

If you buy the right stuff, it will last forever. We bought our couches in 2002. We are about to recover them for the second time. It will cost about £3000, but replacing them for the same quality would be about £12,000. Changing the paint, curtains, upholstery updates things immensely.

Decent antiques last forever and never go out of style.

sjh783 · 08/02/2026 21:55

We have been getting a carpenter in recently to start building in built future. Our living room is fitted out with cupboards and shelves so we only need a sofa set, we want to do the office next, but have grand designs for almost every room!

Barrellturn · 08/02/2026 21:57

What I didn't realise is that if you have DC and those DC turn out to have ADHD, everything you own will be ruined so all that thought put into furnishings was a huge waste of time. Can you get sharpie off it? Can it be climbed without breaking?

ChimpOnMyShoulder · 08/02/2026 21:58

MyBestThing · 08/02/2026 21:35

It's true but you'll be sick of the sight of it after 20 years, let alone 40 or 60 years.
It's also a myth that old furniture has value. People want whatever is modern, not what their grandparents had.

What a gigantic generalisation. I don’t want what’s modern.

rwalker · 08/02/2026 22:00

I e got some furniture from my grandparents they got it as wedding presents in the 1930’s
bit art deco style
solid wood it will definitely last me out

very solid but I don’t think any furniture has a good resale value
possibly mud centre g plan stuff VERY expensive but it’s currently on trend a few years ago you couldn’t of given it away

ShiftySquirrel · 08/02/2026 22:07

We have mix of (cheap) antiques and IKEA with a smidge of Argos. The Argos furniture is the only stuff on its last legs after 20 years.

IKEA have been great for Billy bookcases, Kallax storage, Ektorp sofas and Malm bedroom furniture. Anything that children have access to!
The dining table, chairs, dresser, a couple of side tables and our bedroom furniture are all Victorian onwards.

But yes, in terms of sustainability forget resale value, just buy things that you love and that will last. Yes we might downsize at some point, but then other people will get the pleasure of the furniture.

Denim4ever · 08/02/2026 22:28

An eclectic mix here but very little that was new when we bought it. Most of the new things were not flatpack. Age wise some stuff is antique, but because it's old rather than Antiques Roadshow worthy. Only home office and bathroom storage furniture is less than a decade old

JaceLancs · 08/02/2026 22:54

I don’t have any new furniture at all - mostly 50s 60s G plan, with some Ercol
Bedrooms are a mixture of Victorian and Edwardian pine
I do have some ikea solid wood shelf units but they are 30+ years old
More recently discovered floating oak shelving
I don’t get bored with my furniture - it’s very neutral and fits the age and style of my house
If I want to change things I decorate or buy new cushions curtains etc

honeyfox · 08/02/2026 23:02

I think it's true, if you consider things and plan it carefully. There's a custom built sitting room unit in my dad's house that was built when I was about 4, and I'm nearly 50 now. I just got one done for my own living room last year and I love it.

We got new couches too but we planned it out, as our dog is old enough now not to wee on them or chew them, our last set was about 14 years old. We moved into a new build in 2018 and have been fitting it out very gradually as we think about what we need or what works.

Footyfandango · 08/02/2026 23:04

MyBestThing · 08/02/2026 21:35

It's true but you'll be sick of the sight of it after 20 years, let alone 40 or 60 years.
It's also a myth that old furniture has value. People want whatever is modern, not what their grandparents had.

Not true, this shop local to me is so popular.

https://www.visitmanchester.com/listing/squound/90911101/

Squound

Creative partnership consisting of friends Tim & Chris, curating and selling high quality, beautifully presented mid century furniture, furnishings & homewares in the heart of Stockport. 

https://www.visitmanchester.com/listing/squound/90911101/

SlightlyUnexpected · 08/02/2026 23:05

I don’t think you can predict resale value for furniture — fashions change.

Letloose2024 · 08/02/2026 23:16

When I started looking into living by myself
Dusty pink fabric sofa from a 2nd hand shop 2006 - you keep me well until 2015
sorry you were beat up
2016 white sofa of identical quality could be picked up in the flat my parents thought I should best live - you covered me until 2022 until the guys came and put you on the van bed.
Still makes me cry the day when the white covered sofa men came, even if I achieved getting you outside whole.

Nov 22 brand new sofa in green in your place dfs with the fancy brand.

FlakyRedDreamer · 08/02/2026 23:24

I think a combination of things is great.

everything forever furniture and furnishing when you are not in your "forever home" doesn't work. Some pieces you keep, but others really won't work in a new home and you will regret them.

The biggest mistake is gambling on everything holding their value - you will be unpleasantly surprised. Just look at second-hand/ collectable/ up-cycle shops around you.

Cat1504 · 08/02/2026 23:25

It will last forever maybe…but you will get fed up of it and it will date and look old fashioned …..I currently have mid century furniture ( ercol and g plan) ….we’ve bought it and upcycled it….eg hair pin legs on cabinet….sanded and oiled table top …..painted dining chair….modern fabric on easy chair….we’ve had it about 8 years…..im moving this year….it won’t fit the style of my next home so it will go and we will move onto something else

Littlethatchedcottage · 08/02/2026 23:31

Decent antiques last forever and never go out of style.

They may last forever but they certainly do go out of style, you only have to watch an episode of Bargain Hunt or similar when the experts analyse a piece and say that particular style of antique is not in favour currently.

Newmeagain · 08/02/2026 23:32

I do agree that good quality furniture will last a lifetime but it does not always have to be expensive as you can pick up vintage / antique furniture relatively cheaply.

I have a mix in my house. I do actually really like Ikea and have a few things from there but the problem is that if you get everything from Ikea and other similar shops then it will just end up looking like something…. From Ikea.

I even have a few great items picked up in my street, as in my part of London people often put things outside for others to help themselves!

LibertyLily · 08/02/2026 23:33

We have a mix of antique (100-200+ years old), vintage (mid century) and a tiny bit of contemporary furniture/art/decorative bits. The contemporary is mostly rugs, mattresses, sofas (although we do also have one original Arts & Crafts sofa), some ornaments and art.

Over the past twenty-five years we've lived in a range of different architectural style houses - Victorian, Tudor, Arts & Crafts, a 400 year old mill and now a Georgian cottage by the sea. Our furniture has looked great in all of them as it's such an eclectic mix.

The antique stuff was purchased around twenty years ago, the vintage in the past ten years. The only time we've got rid of any was when we downsized a couple of times. When we sold the antique furniture we would ko longer have space for, most of it went for the same price or more than we'd paid - but it was original Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts that held its value well, eg, a Liberty sideboard we sold for 4k.

Otoh, my parents had loads of Old Charm (they'd sold their Stag furniture which is now desirable again) and a fugly but well-built three piece suite that had been re-covered twice since new in the mid 1960s. They bought once and - mostly - kept forever and I know they didn't get bored of it. When they died we struggled to sell their furniture, although the young couple who purchased their house had the sofa etc.

Our Georgian cottage was last renovated in 1965 and was full of truly hideous DIY built-in furniture (mostly bed frames, dressing tables, desks) dating from that period when we bought it in 2024. We wasted no time in ripping it all out, although we've kept some of the in-frame kitchen built at the same time as they are timeless, imo.

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