Should we sell all our furniture?
 

We're getting ready to move from Maryland to TV and have a question for the more seasoned Villagers: Did you sell all your furniture or did you move/store it? We're thinking of selling most of what we have and having a decorator furnish a new home for us. Don't think our stuff here in Maryland will look good in TV. And storing it would cost a lot if we decided to just sell it on the other end. Just wondering what most of you did. For the first year, we are renting a furnished home to see if we like TV. Any wisdom you can share is greatiy appreciated. Looking to be in TV by September if all goes well with selling our house.

Sell, Sell, Sell.....don't bring any of it with you!

We sold just about everything.
We had an auctioneer haul everything to the auction house and sold everything, including one of our cars. Then we used the money to buy and color coordinate our Village home.
Everything we brought here fit into our intermediate size car.
We are so happy we did it this way and saved on moving expenses and trying to fit in early american furniture into a Florida themed home.

Definitely sell it. It is not worth the cost to ship and you will not get much for it on consignment.

We kept all our furniture. It is colonial, New England maple, cherry and oak. We had dark hickory wood floors installed to replace all the carpet and the white walls give great contrast. We also installed white plantation shutters. The house has the appearance of old Key West from the 1930's. You certainly may choose to get all new furniture and have a professional decorate your house. Our furniture had so many memories attached to it that we chose not to part with any of it. You will notice many homes look alike down here, inside and out, but you can do any style you choose. There is a high degree of conformity in The Villages, but we are a tolerant bunch so you can do whatever you want!

Keep any sentimental pieces and sell everything else. We had a huge estate sale and got rid of everything. They even bought the food out of my cupboards!

I have seen too many houses down here crammed with big, dark furniture which doesn't look right in a bright Florida house! SELL IT!

Another vote for SELL.
The Consignment Stores already have lots of furniture from northern states, and it usually doesn't sell quickly in Florida.

We brought the things we love and sold or donated the iffy stuff. We regret some things we left behind, but more "what we're we thinking" about the things we paid to move and then gave away.

I haven't moved to our home in TV yet but I am interested in the replies you are getting.

I've actually have a list started! (Wishful thinking on my part!!) Right now, I'm planning on bringing a few pieces that I think will fit into our Iris: a beautiful curio cabinet that holds my precious momentoes, an entertainment center and Mom's bedroom suite. I'm thinking about moving these items in a POD. Everything else I will sell at an auction.

My problem is Mom has a lot of sentimental items from Dad that she doesn't want to give up!! And, we both are into genealogy and talk about paper!

My main problem is talking my 90 year old mother and 86 year old aunt into moving to TV! They are both fairly active and like TV -- they just don't want to leave home. Not even all of this white stuff (snow) we have on the ground changes their minds!

SELL......we did not. And if we had to do it all over again we would have sold everything except our master bedroom set as it is very special.

Did I mention SELL!!!!

if you love your stuff, keep it. otherwise, sell it and get new stuff...but i don't agree that good quality dark furniture does not fit into a florida home...i get sick of seeing palm tree fabrics etc which tell nothing about the real design taste of the owner. it is good to be different if you can do it with flair :)

We brought ours. We like it. Pictures on our page. We rented a home and stored a lot in the garage when our house was being built. We had already sold our snowbird house. We had the good stuff put in a POD and stored and it was expensive.

It all depends what you want. I love our stuff. It was too nice to pitch.

There isn't much storage in these houses. You can't keep much in the attic because it gets very hot. If you like antique furniture bring it because there isn't much good stuff available around here.

I agree - keep what you love and don't worry about incorporating pieces you love into your Florida lifestyle. Unless you want everything to look like so many Florida homes all pastel and bland bring your stuff and show off your style.

We moved from Bel Air, Maryland in 2011 to a new courtyard villa. With going from a 2200 SF two story home to a 1200 SF villa, we figured we would buy most things new here. We kept the lanai furniture since we had purchased it new in 2008 when we enclosed our deck. We also kept our M/BR set since we had also bought it a couple of years earlier. All of the wall decorations and paintings we kept since they are expensive to replace.

We sold our home to the first couple to be shown our home, it was only on the market for 12 hours. We told the buyers about the furniture and what we wanted to keep and they bought the rest for $2,500. I had gotten some estimates and figured it would cost us $6,000 to move everything, plus we had too much. As it turned out, we had 72 boxes and the M/BR and lanai furniture moved by United Van Lines for $2700. Actually they were 3 weeks late in delivering the furniture to our new home in TV, so we filed a claim and got a refund check for $2,000 within 5 days. We had to pay the driver $2,700 upon delivery but like I said, the refund was very quick in coming.

We bought a guest BR set, a dinette, and 3 bar stools from Southern Lifetstyles in TV, that location is now a City Furniture. We bought a power love set and two recliners from Kane Furniture in Ocala, a desk from Staples, a Vizio 60" LED TV and a 42" Samsung TV from Sam's Club. That was about all we needed.

We had inside our house painted the day after we closed by Investment Painters, so when the movers arrived that would be out of the way. We got estimates from a couple of landscapers. Got a sun shade for the Lanai from RK Shades. Shopped for golf carts and put an order in for a new Yamaha. Had Tim 'The Toolman' handyman double shelf our master closet, put hand pulls on the kitchen cabinets, install attic steps in the garage, etc. The three weeks we were living here without any furniture and slept on an air mattress allowed us to get a lot of work out of the way.

Everyone's comments have been SO helpful! Thanks so much. It all makes such good sense, especially from a monetary standpoint. This was the way were leaning and now I KNOW it is the right thing to do. Thanks to all of you.

John:

You said you moved from Belair, Maryland - we are in Monkton, Maryland - just a short distance from Belair! Loved your reply. Really helped, especially coming from someone so close to home. Hope you are enjoying life in the TV. With any luck, we'll be there by Christmas. Sure hope our house sells quickly.

Since you are renting for a year you really won't know if your old furniture will fit in your new home unfortunately. With the cost of moving the furniture and storing the furniture for a year I personally would sell it. There are plenty of furniture stores here as well as several furniture consignment shops where you can purchase more. Also TOTV has lots of classifieds with furniture for sale. I like the dark wood in our Florida home. I find it more comfortable than the Florida style furniture. I decorated in cremes, rusts and browns, but I also love looking at the Florida style furniture.

:agree: We got rid of 2 vehicle's and all furniture with the exception of a tv cabinet, our tv's and kitchen utensil's. We bought our home furnished and the furniture was perfect; we wouldn't have been happy with our furniture if we had brought it.

Being that you're from Monkton the one thing you'll miss most, besides crabs and crab cakes, will be Wegmans. We actually sold our home to the new Wegmans manager in Bel Air, we lived two blocks from the store. We watched Wegmans get built as well as the Route 24 overpass and then had to leave before we could shop there or use the new road. I also miss seeing the O's games on TV, however the Ravens we haven't missed a game since we have NFL Sunday Ticket with Directv. I think we'll go to Sarasota in March to see an Orioles spring training game.

I used to work with a guy that told me when a moving truck pulled into his neighborhood and started unloading he could tell by the furniture if they came from up north..........all dark drab colors.

What we weren't going to use here in The Villages, we gave to the kids or sold it before moving. The used furniture market here isn't any better than where you are. What we did bring I rented a truck and drove it here myself and paid a couple of guys to unload it. Not everyone can or will want to do it that way. And as previously stated it is very expensive to pay a moving company. The money you make selling things up north, and save by not paying to a mover will go a long way towards furnishing your new home here. After years of working towards retirement, treat yourself to new furniture. You have earned it!!! Good Luck!

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You just made by husband's day when you said you have Direct TV. This is major to him. Sports are his thing! And we have Direct TV here - he was worried that he wouldn't have it there. You were lucky to sell so fast. I hope we are that lucky. I have a real estate license (don't practice much anymore) and I know that if a house is priced correctly it WILL sell. Looking forward to the move but right now the stress is killing us! We've been in this house 34 years.

We got rid of almost everything and bought new when we moved. I brought down stuff I thought I would use and now, after 3 years here, say to myself "what was I thinking?" every week. I never use my "good" china - never, and as beautiful as it is, and for all its sentimental value, it has no resale value. We have found entertaining down here to be much less formal, so if you have "fancy" stuff - think twice.

Wish we would've sold everything! We brought our bedroom set and our dinette set from California and there is not one piece that is not damaged by the movers. I vote for SELL!

I like my furniture but brought too much and it cost a fortune to move. Bring only what you love and keep it to a minimum.

depends
 

... it will depend on each person. We did a little of both, brought and bought!!!

One thing to consider is if you will change your style or not. I wanted more of a Florida style (light and bright) so brought only what I thought would fit with that.

Many folks that I know brought all their house from up north and like their northern style down here.

Another consideration is that the cost of new furniture is very expensive too sooo keep that in mind. Moving is also expensive but we did our own pack and move kind of thing.

Also one should consider that the rooms generally are on the smallish side so keep in mind the scale (size) of your furniture. It might fit but be too large in scale to look like it fits in the room.

I put a king size bed in our guest room and it really is too large but I like that my son-in-law (a giant of a man) feels comfortable in it sooo you see it will depend on your needs.

Sell furniture?
 

I wish I had. It costs more to move it than it does to replace it. Additionally, it is usually pretty "heavy" for Florida.

I brought some of my smaller pieces that were important to me. I left behind some pieces that I truly loved but knew they wouldn't fit into the smaller homes here. I still miss my wall unit but no way would it have fit. My taste is very not "Floridian" (contemporary/oriental). Even though I've been unable to redecorate in my style, I don't regret leaving my furniture in California. It fit there. It wouldn't have fit here.

Oh how I wished we had sold all of our furniture. Best thing to do.

I just want to thank all of you for helping my husband and I make the decision to sell all our furniture. We really think it is the best move. See all of you in September if this house sells!

We had a large sale back home in upstate NY then brought only those great antique furniture items we most loved. We bought WONDERFUL furniture here at estate/garage/consignment sales at very low prices. Wouldn't do it any other way. Many people bring their best and then need to sell their homes here for health or other reasons. So LOTS of great stuff available to buy.

Shimpy!

I agree with the SELLING formula. Sold on our own everything but our master BR and TV and two Camp Chairs.
Reduced Moving costs dramatically. Had to rent at first so it only took a small storage locker. Once we bought it was a piece of cake to have local movers (Village Movers) move little bit of furniture to new home.
Then let the shopping begin!

LOVE it HERE!

Out take was that coming from upstate NY we had heavy, dark furniture to fit with where we lived. We knew that when we moved to sunny Florida we wanted to buy lighter furniture, both in color an design. We sold then entire contense of our home, except for a few large TV's we had, and we completely started over. It was the best choice for us. I have seen some homes decorated in dark, heavy furniture and I think it's just a matter of your style. If you plan on decorating the same way as where you currently live then get a moving truck and haul it here. But, it feels so good to start new. Best of luck to you.

I agree. My husband and I are moving to TV in September and have decided to SELL EVERYTHING. We got a quote to move everything and decided we didn't want to spend all that money. We've had our furniture for 34 years and its time to start over. We're renting a furnished house for a year and will decide in that time what we want to do next. Its a GREAT feeling to start over at this age.

Couldn't agree with you more! We brought most of our stuff because we liked it and didn't want to invest in newer furniture right away, it wasn't a priority. Our new bedroom set is white and has an open airy beach feel but the rest of our house has darker furniture, I was so over light oak and wanted a rich warm feel in my home, so the main room has a Italian Tuscan feel to it. Thats us and our taste being in Florida doesn't mean everything has to look "Floridian" do what pleases you and makes you happy and makes it "your" home not everyone else's.

I think it really depends on how much you like your stuff! In my case, I have had some of mine for so long that i'm getting tired of it. I don't have a strong sense of connection to it and none are family heirlooms. So when I get moved down there I am hoping to start fresh and probably go in a different direction, decorating-wise. But if you have inherited precious family pieces or really love what you have, it may be worth keeping. Like others have said, I have seen many different styles of decorating in TV homes and one is just as lovely as the next. Do what pleases you! But you may want to take into consideration as you said, the cost to store it (not to mention the cost to ship it) and then if you don't keep it, you will have to unload it and probably won't get much of a return for it in Florida. So I would take that monetary factor into account also. Good luck with your decision and the sale of your house!