I have all old furniture in my 1870's house, with one exception -- my office. I couldn't find anything that would work there, so I chose some very well-made, solid cherry home office furniture by Harden that will hold up and become antique some day. So far, it's worked out very well, although I wish the wheels on the lateral file cabinets had locks -- my floors aren't level. I bought most of my antique furniture at auctions, and although I made a few minor mistakes, overall, I spent far less than I'd have had to spend for new furniture. I was lucky to find a double bed from the 1890's that takes a standard full mattress (although it's a tight fit). I'm also lucky to have parents who are very skilled in fixing and refinishing furniture. Now I need to replace my Victorian couch, which is beyond repair. I expect that I'll have to buy something new. Here is a link that might be useful: Harden Home Office Collection

Sorry to say I am not at all surprised by RH's duplicity in pretending they are selling one of a kind rugs (or one of a kind anything, for that matter), or their incompetence in tracking their stock, their fake shipping dates and timely charging of your credit card. The company is a complete fraud, from the ground up, IMO. Honest catalog retailers state their wares are "unique" because the item being described is hand made and therefore the one that arrives may not look like the picture. RH seems to play fast and loose with that concept as their ad copy makes you believe that a featured item is truly the ONLY one like it. I always wondered how they could spend so much money showcasing single run new items or one of a kind vintage or antique things. Now it appears they have revealed their true business model to you. I always thought their brand appealed to the yuppie worst in us all. I include myself in that, I'm sorry to say. I have purchased a curtain rod from RH about seven years ago and probably would have bought other things as well, but after receiving their massive catalog missives decided not to do business with them any more.

My father lived his teenage years in a house without electricity or running water. (They had an electric generator), but we still have things from that house. I slept for a number of years on a brass bed that we pulled out of the mud after the legs had broken through the rotten floor of the house after it was abandoned and taken over by squirrels. I think this relative lack of things, and having to move a number of times in childhood is what has made him so attached to both his house, and the things he was able to put in it. He still says that he would rather move out in a box (die in the house) than move. It will be quite a process sorting and parceling out but I don't find it an onerous job, really. I think if something happened and it all evaporated tomorrow, that would be okay too, for us--not for him. But there really hasn't been any feeling that any of us "deserved" a particular item for a particular reason, and really we haven't even been interested in the same things. None of the bickering that one hears about. My parents educated us all (grandchildren included) and that is one very important legacy in itself, and I never felt like I needed or deserved more than that, (0r even that, really).

All these points are extremely valid-styles and trends aren't born in the emptiness..they're vastly influenced by social circumstances, different geography (climate, culture), and whatnot. That's what partly makes them so interesting-they speak of so much. But I didn't even pay attention to the size of beds discussed while reading..I grew up in a big city(not in the US), and beds weren't even used that much where I lived-most people had daybeds or sleeper sofas or futons because yes, double function and presentable look through the day are important when you live in an apartment... And then I changed countries, and cities, and apartments..it was a very transient life:) I still went through the cycle of "rebelling" and "new acceptance"...I just had less time and opportunity to explore it with all the moving and all... But the apartments were kinda the same)) Sometimes bigger sometimes smaller. Sometimes rented sometimes owned. Had nothing to do with my preferences for brown vs painted, or with ornate vs streamlined... Had to do, in the end of the day, with what, out of everything I saw and experienced, I still find or start to find-beautiful.. And I can tell you-the more things you're exposed to-the more chance you'll start, at some point, finding them beautiful too.. You did once when you were a kid. Right? Every snowflake, every leaf were beautiful to us. So it comes back to you again. At some point. It is this feeling of appreciation..newly found. It will be the same for millennials as for hundreds of generations before them. Some people are born more nostalgic, some-more perceptive to beauty, some are more artistic than the others. There will always be personal differences. Yet the main cycle of life stays the same. You grow up with a sense of wonder. And if you're lucky you never loose it. In any case, even if you lost it a bit, with life and all-the wonder will get to you later. It will find you again. How it will look like is not so relevant. I daresay-it will look like so. many. different. things.