Haunted HOUSES
Antiques may be giving Millennials the willies, but Kevin reckons it’s not home without one old piece
Remember antique and colonial furniture? Many of us had much-loved pieces in the house. The most eye-catching would’ve been a grandfather clock in the hallway. But more practical were solid dining tables with turned legs or the classic sideboards we hunted down at auctions. But it seems the appeal of antiques has waned.
When my wife Linda and I downsized, we offered an old railway clock, six 100-year-old Bentwood chairs and an old framed artwork to one of my sons and his girlfriend. They’d moved to a larger house. They gave it all due consideration and politely declined the lot. Didn’t suit their house. Too dark. Too cheerless. And I think theirs was a good call.
What’s happened to antiques, the “sturdy furnishings of our ancestors”? Is it that young homeowners can’t afford the cost? Or have antiques simply gone out of fashion? Maybe that “old stuff”, as I read one dealer suggest, “gives the younger generation the willies.” I suspect she’s right.
All over the world, the beautifully crafted furniture we once adored is losing its appeal to a new generation. World-wide, antiques are now being referred, much less reverentially, as “brown furniture”. This includes wonderfully crafted old desks and chests, dignified roll-armed couches, solid dining tables with turned legs, mahogany chests of drawers and, of course, pianos.
And while we’re at it, don’t expect your kids to fight over quality china, silver tea sets,
Toby jugs or collectible porcelain figures. As one excellent article I read put it: “The dealers still ‘love the stuff’, but the market’s caved in.”
Exactly why the antique market’s in decline is open to speculation. Groovier “Retro” is crowding out the antique market, understandably. Millennials are more attached to the furniture of their childhood than that of their parents. Give them colourful Formica and 1960s flying ducks. Heavy, last-forever furniture is being trumped by the flatter, simpler lines of Scandinavian design. Some are calling this the Ikea furniture period. Millennials, aware they’ll be moving house much more than their parents, need light, transportable furniture.
There’s one glimmer of hope for antique dealers. Even the trendiest of designers reckon a single, well-chosen antique, alongside contemporary furnishings, can enhance an interior. So memo to parents: Don’t accept “We don’t want your furniture” from your kids. Come back with “How about just this one?”
Don’t expect your kids to fight over quality china, silver tea sets, Toby jugs or collectible porcelain figures