4 Ways To Get Rid Of Old Furniture To Give It A Meaningful Second Life

Years ago as I prepared for a year of international travel, I listed a few items for sale on Craigslist, including a vanity table and mirror that had belonged to my maternal grandparents. It was a darling, old antique that I had grown attached to, but I had no use for it and no means to store it. The buyer I’d found couldn’t believe his luck; the stranger I met on Craigslist, a website with classified advertisements, was thrilled with his purchase. His response softened the blow of parting with a piece of furniture tinged with nice memories.

Indeed, making the decision to part with your great aunt’s dining room hutch or your grandfather’s depression-era chest of drawers, can be fraught with emotion. Pieces that hold sentimental value don’t deserve to be dumped just anywhere, but how can you ensure that your items become someone else’s treasures?

The proliferation of Facebook’s Buy Nothing Groups, Facebook Marketplace, furniture resellers like AptDeco, and charitable organizations have made it easy to rehome pieces you can no longer keep. Here’s how to navigate the process:

Sell It online

You can still buy and sell items on Craigslist, but more people are turning to local Facebook groups, where vetting potential buyers is a standard part of the process.

Willow Wright, owner of vintage shop Urban Redeux in Alexandria, Virginia, who sometimes sources from these various platforms to add to her shop’s collection, says they’re a good option for sellers because they “provide convenience, negotiation flexibility, and shipping possibilities.” The platforms, which require coordinating with strangers, a sometimes frustrating experience, admits Wright, are, nonetheless, “user-friendly”: simply add photos, a description, and a price tag, and see who expresses interest. 

To make the transaction, well, less transactional, Amy Morin, a psychotherapist and host of the Mentally Strong podcast based in Florida, says sharing a story about the piece you’re selling or donating may provide some comfort. Maybe you reveal “how the green marker stripe got on the couch or how the scratch ended up on the table,” says Morin. You may feel a sense of relief if you think your item is going to a good home where it will be valued, says Morin.

Consign To Auction

Reyne Hirsch, owner of the Dallas Auction Gallery and an expert in fine art and antiques, says it is “absolutely” worth it to try and see if the item you are looking to part with might be something a local auctioneer wants. If you believe the item you own “has some value, isn’t it worth it for you to find that out from a professional before you decide to give it away or have it at your next yard sale,” asks Hirsch. 

The best way to find an auction house in your area is to search for “Auctioneer near me,” advises Hirsch, who points out that the cost associated with looking into the auction route is minimal, requiring only a little time and patience: “the time in which to take photos and send information about the item, and then your patience in which to wait for them to reply.”

Since getting rid of sentimental items can lead to real grief, according to Morin, who recently devoted an entire podcast episode to this very topic, it can feel like you’re losing a part of yourself. With an auction where buyers often have deep knowledge of what they’re bidding on, there’s a good chance your item will go to a person who has been on the hunt for just this type of piece. “The value of something is often supply and demand,” says Hirsch, and it’s possible that the thing you’re trying to offload may not be readily available anymore, making it a collector’s item in high demand.

Find A Charity

Donating things you no longer have use for is a great way of giving back to the community, and yet, “it’s not always the preferred option,” Wright, of Urban Redeux, says. In her line of work, Wright regularly fields questions on where and how to get rid of furniture. She’s found that some people are reluctant to dump their stuff off at the local thrift store because they fear it might not wind up in the hands of someone who’s going to take care of it. 

Thrift stores, says Wright, “serve a variety of shoppers from someone truly in need of a dresser for their child to the professional restorer looking for their project.” Although it may be impossible to see the joy on another’s face when they happen upon your treasured leather armchair, donating can result in “peace of mind knowing you’re giving it to someone who could use the item,” says Morin. 

Marisa Bettencourt, interior designer and founder of North + Fair Interior Design, says donating used furniture to Goodwill and the like is “always a smart option,” but the designer also advocates for donating to your local women’s shelter. “Something as simple as furniture can bring a sense of individuality and independence to [the] women, make the shelter feel more like a home, and ultimately help them embark on a new path,” Bettencourt says.

To find a local charity that’s accepting large items, Stacy Taylor, marketing specialist at Goodwill Industries of Central Florida, suggests doing a web search using keywords or phrases that can “target exactly what you are looking for.” For example, you might search “donate large furniture near me,” adding “pick up” to the keyword search if you have no physical way of delivering the banker’s desk or dining table and chairs yourself. 

But even if you have the means to make the drop-off yourself, Taylor advises connecting with the charitable organization in advance, either by email or phone, to make sure they’re currently accepting whatever it is you have to donate. “It’s heartbreaking to see a donor do the heavy lifting and make a conscious contribution only to be told at the door that there is either no space or these items are no longer accepted.” 

Leave It To The Professionals

If you are downsizing or making a major cross-country move and need to get rid of a lot of furniture, you may not have the wherewithal to deal with selling, consigning, or donating individual items. Fortunately, there are services that handle it all.

Justin Waltz, president of Junkluggers, a furniture removal company whose goal is to divert as much as possible from landfills and incinerators, says Remix Market, a resale store affiliated with the junk removal company, is an opportunity to help the community—and continue the mission of diverting, rehoming or recycling as much as possible. 

If you have an entire home to clean out or just a cluttered garage, Junkluggers, which counts 117 locations nationwide, does all the heavy lifting. Waltz says the crews often take items straight to their charity partners “because we know what they’re looking for or what they want.” Working with local charities, religious organizations, and bigger entities like the Red Cross and Goodwill, Junkluggers and Remix Market approach “resonates with the residential homeowner looking to give back within the community,” says Waltz.

Another option for rehoming your old furniture is via AptDeco, a decade-old online marketplace that features both big brand names such as Room & Board and Restoration Hardware as well as vintage pieces. Reham Fagiri, the founder and CEO, says sellers are given an opportunity to share a story about their item that will appear with the listing. All logistics—from pricing assistance to photo enhancements, and then pick up and delivery—are handled by AptDeco, eliminating the step of coordinating with a buyer. Fagiri says buyers are encouraged to, “send the seller the message, letting them know how you feel about this item.” “It is about creating those moments,” Fagiri says.