CLearout of house post sale, what to do with "good" furntiure

Hi. We have recently sale agreed my deceased parents house. There are some really love items in their house, not to any of my siblings or my style and most wouldn't fit our houses. Ornate carved inlaid ding table and chairs, marble topped curved cabinets, Waterford crystal chandeliers. etc. (Then there are the normal items - beds, sofas, oven, washing machine etc. We will donate or free cycle the later, and dump anything not worth keeping) But what to do with the more ornate stuff. Can anyone advise? Are there people that will come and access if for auction? Or what else can be done with it.

Advise appreciated. Thanks.

monkey0804 said:

Advise appreciated. Thanks.

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Look up antiques for sale on DoneDeal. I often see dealers on there selling the furniture you describe. Contact them; they may be interested.

Thanks for the quick reply, I'll look into that.

I have to clarify that all bar 1 or 2 aren't antiques, but investment pieces my mother and father bought when they built their house, so only maybe 35-40 years old.

Condolences on your parent's passing, R.I.P.

We went through this last year when our mother died. We found it almost impossible and frustrating to get anyone to take these type of items as they confirmed that they were overstocked. Oxfam did take some items but definitely did not have room for larger items such as armchairs and sofa. The items that they did take went on sale in their store immediately.

If you look in the local free newspapers there are regularly local firms taking furniture donations which they sell on such as bargainshopinfo@gmail.com or wetakefurniture@gmail.com

Another group who might take donations are at www.ncbi.ie

I think when we tried Age Action Covid was still rampant and they were full.

I saw somebody mention recently that if you contact your local church they may be aware of people who would need this type of furniture.

Unfortunately we eventually had to order an extra large skip and break up the perfectly good 3 piece suite which was a terrible waste along with some other items.

Don't forget you will need to get somebody qualified to disconnect the cooker especially if it is gas. They will need to provide a certificate for doing the job also. We were then able to bring the electrical items to the recycling centre because again no one wanted them.

if you are in Dublin, try Herman Wilkinson auction in Rathmines. A few years ago, we were in the same situation as you are now and used them. We didn’t get much for the contents but we found them helpful.
Mullens Bray also auction furniture, maybe try them for the better quality pieces.

Sorry for your loss. Was in the same position not so very long ago, practically impossible to get anywhere to take what my father would have considered 'fine' furniture, it's not to most people's taste these days and has little value. If you have the patience for it you could try selling it on FB marketplace, Vincent de Paul took some from us, very handy as they came and picked up with van so no hassle for us. There are some companies that do house clearance and give you a nominal sum for the lot, there are two of them near me but that is unlikely to be near you, might be some around if you say roughly where you are.

Now Waterford Glass! The curse of every golf competition years ago! I went to one of those antiques fairs held all around the country and there were some lovely pieces there for sale, I approached one dealer who agreed to have a look at the collection I had, unfortunately Covid got in the way and those fairs are only recently starting back up again. I saw this question re Waterford on another page recently and it seems there is some auction house in Wexford I think that sells it. On the other side what you might get is minimal, I saw just the other day a beautiful lamp my Dad had that is around €600 to buy for sale for €60! The chandeliers are beautiful and you might just get sale for that, on the same discussion I was reading there was someone looking for a Waterford chandelier (I can go back and look that up if you like). We have one beautiful one still hanging and will be left there as while the house has been cleared it is not being sold as such, we have another in a box that is missing a couple of bits unfortunately.

We divided out as much of the crystal as we could, nice glasses that should be used on a daily basis sort of thing but the rest is still bubble wrapped for now!

Edit: Hermans is name of auction house I referred to above for crystal

Adverts
Face book market place
Done deal
Pay it forward pages locally on Facebook

Try the SVp for the furniture, they often collect and redistribute without it even going on sale.

Also try some of the auctioneers. EasyAuctions is an online platform that most of the Irish auctioneers have signed up for. it's an easy way of getting a list of auctioneers and then just pop anyone local a mail and see who responds. It'll give you an idea of what does and doesn't go to auction as well.

Re adverts/facebook etc. Suggest you set up a dummy email address for it, cash and collect only and prepare yourself for scammers, chancers and hassle.

SVP collected a 3 piece suite from me last year, very efficient. https://www.svp.ie/what-we-do/shops/navan-furniture-shop/what-we-take.aspx

I'm in Dublin and in a similar position.
NCBI collected a bunch of stuff - I contacted them and sent pics/dimensions in advance and they selected some of the items but rejected others.
Oxfam were interested in some other bits but I have to get back to them and I think that they may not collect.
Smaller items went for free on Adverts and Olio.
Still lots of stuff to go though...

Had the same issues as everyone above. Gave a good bit to neighbours who would have similar property (space) and similar furniture. Some to charity and a lot went in skips.

Makes you feel bad. But if you can't use it, you've no choice.

I'd do three stages of clearance.

Google "house clearance auctions" and you will see several options.

They will assess the contents, give a valuation and do all the legwork.

Sometimes you may find there's a gem amongst the lots you have.

The customers of the auctions are everyone from antique dealers, house stagers, other home owners and second hand furniture shops.

Anything they don't take offer to svp or ncbi who have furniture shops.

Then the leftovers after that to a "house clearer" who will charge a small fee to dispose of everything else - they sometimes will sell bits on, but mostly send to recycling centres.

My sympathies... similar issue in past year. In UK I used 'freegle' which offered items for free to people in vicinity. In Dublin I have used 'trashnothing.com'. Covid was a huge upset for donations when shops closed and then people housebound took to decluttering. There are still people interested in old style if only to salvage quality wood or 'upcycle' ( = paint!)

hazelgreen said:

My sympathies... similar issue in past year. In UK I used 'freegle' which offered items for free to people in vicinity. In Dublin I have used 'trashnothing.com'.

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Olio is another similar one (there's a section for non food items)

For giving away stuff i find adverts.ie best, people will take just about anything