Thanks to all who responded to my post. I've been about every route with my mother's estate. With Craig's List I usually end up waiting for people that never show up. I don't live close enough to any large population centers to make it worth the trip for anyone interested in just one thing. I had one woman leave an angry message on my answering machine "I drove for two hours and I still didn't reach your town!" I have contacted estate liquidators and the consensus of opinion is that unless I have very high-end antiques (you know - Ming vases and Duncan Phyfe furniture) it would cost me more to pay them to do a sale than I could make from the sale. Most of the dealers here in upstate New York only want the very finest antiques and collectibles. Consignment shops won't take anything either because they are not selling very much right now. Everyone is griping about how bad the antiques market is. I guess I just hit it at the worst possible time. I know my mom bought most of her things, like Depression glass, in the 1970's when it was a hot item and expensive. Now you can't give it away. A few weeks ago I saw a Madrid cookie jar in the local Salvation Army for $2.99. I went back this week and it was still there! I have two pieces of Oyster and Pearl I've been trying to sell - a 14 inch sandwich plate and a divided relish. No one even looks at them. Most people that stop at my sale ask for: military and sports memorabilia, old fishing equipment, jewelry and gold and silver coins. Yeah, everyone has that laying around the house. I made a Web page with photographs of some of the contents of the house. If you'd like to look, click on link below. On another note, I theorize that unless you can have a tag sale on the first or second weekend of the month, don't bother. By the time the third and last week of the month rolls around, people are starting to run short on money and not looking to blow it at a tag sale. Any opinions on this? Here is a link that might be useful: Contents of House

You might want to think about finding example of collected rooms (in magazines or books) that you love, and then trying to replicate it. Not necessarily an exact replica, but it might help guide you. Just as an example of a fews styles and finishes that work well together. Moreover, we are talking now about case goods. What about other finishes? I envision a wood floor with a faded Persian rug. Your floor, window treatments, and wall treatments can carry a lot of the burden of pulling off the collected look. Not to mention, IMHO the most important part, books, art, and artifacts. To me, the collected look is supposed to say: I didn't just use a checkbook to make this room look the way it does. This room reflects my history and my personality. It has family heirlooms in it (humble or grand, its just the history that matters). It has mementos from travels (again, that could be beach pebbles or a Florentine box). It has elements that reflect my hobbies or interests (specimen boxes, books, etc etc). And, these things are combined in an aesthetically pleasing way, but the combination is driven mainly by my personal visions of the things I love. With that in mind, have you fallen in love with any pieces yet? I would start with say, the bed, and buy one I am crazy about. And take it from there. You almost have too many choices if you are not starting with a few things that are "must haves"!

CANDY RED Steel Cabinets, Oh My !! I really needed a good laugh - still grinning! Our realtor just suggested the Red color on the day that our contract was accepted - this buying and selling of our house has been a real experience, in these times - roller coaster of negotiating on both ends! Our nerves are shredded but we remain steadfast - maybe this is the reason that we just cannot decide what to do with our new, OLD Cabinets!! We need a VACATION on an Italian Beach, maybe we would see something there that might inspire us? We love the tropical, warm breezes and all of the colors that feel so relaxing! Candy Red cabinets might be nice for a visit but we need a more tranquil space, I think! Turquoise is my favorite color of blue but then I like most all of the cheerful blue shades! What if the Old cabinets were painted a light shade of Turquoise and then the walls, one or two shades darker. Perhaps the hues of the Sea will look good with the sandy tones in the ceramic tile floor! Our current house has most every wall painted a medium hue of Sea Blue with softer shades of complimentary blue in some smaller rooms and two rooms being a warmer sunny shade! May sound like a bit much but we have never grown tired of these seaside colors in all of these years! So if we use some - Turquoise hues in the new kitchen - what accent colors do you see? Maybe a bit of the Red or perhaps some Coral or even some warmer Peach? Is this why some of you have a decorator? Most of my friends ask me to help them with design but these Metal Cabinets have just been an unexpected challenge and we know that we will only want to paint these ONCE! Very tempting to sell them and order our favorite Cherry Wood Cabinets!! And we still have to figure out how to remove the old plastic wall tiles in the Kitchen or else we will be painting over them just like they did before! The new house is 80 years old, with plaster walls and lots of wall paper to be taken down, also!! We did order the new Bosch Dishwasher, today - have an Asko but DH wanted to try the Bosch, hope this works well for us. Like to have a new Frig. with the freezer on the bottom, we have that now with our Sub Zero and it is wonderful, will miss it! ANY suggestions for a more affordable, SS Frig, counter depth and not too tall - because in the new Old Kitchen there are vintage, wooden pantry cabinets built into one corner of Kitchen and around the Frig. Just wonder, should these wood pantry cabinets be the same paint as the metal cabinets, or the darker Turquoise like the walls or re-paint them white! ALL of your Ideas are so very Welcome! Rose

Royal Doulton Pacifica is what I use for coffee and tra. We have 8 of them and they are porcelain, pretty strong despite their appearance. A kid dropped one outside and it was easily replaced. It doesn”t keep beverages hot for long; when I want to sip on something during a zoom class or meeting I keep a thermos of the beverage with me and replenish as needed. The actual capacity is over 10 pz but as a matter of practicality it holds about 9 oz. My husband uses tall, thick ceramic mugs that were given out at a conference he attended over a decade ago. There was one per attendee but he liked them so much he asked for another and one of the coordinators sent him a box of six. He still has three left. Because it’s so thick it is a better insulator but is heavy and clunky (and ugly and an advertisement). We also have a set of small Marimekko mugs that are red with white polka dots (I think SueB recommended them years ago when i was looking!). They have a much smaller capacity and are DS2’s favorites bc he likes about a half cup of coffee and downs it in one gulp. No idea if they are good insulators as I haven’t ever used them. None of our mugs or coffee cups have ever broken as you described. I think a lot of the decorative, one off type mugs are probably meant for the gift market and are not well made.