Can you find decent used furniture in a style you like near where you live? Yes and no! Its funny but it seems that my area or county (S.E) is broken down to areas you can find certain things. If you want oak you would go to Royal Palm Beach or Lake Worth surround or certain southern areas of Martin County. If you want Rattan or wicker you would go to Lake Worth or parts of Martin County. For faux cherry woodish you would find lots in the western section of West Palm, Boynton and the southern section of Palm Beach Gardens and Wellington. For Modern furniture you have to go south towards Miami or the new high-rise areas of West Palm Beach. For older furniture styles in near mint condition like older Ethan Allan, Sherril ect you would look in Hope Sound, Stuart or coastal area's north of there. However, they all treasure their used stuff and it's hard to find a deal. For wow unusual mild cheese stuff for mansions you would look in Boca. I do see some great deals on CL for nice things you and your dad would like occasionally in all areas and they are very very inexpensive if you can beat all the new 2nd shops or consignment stores to the punch, they buy whole estates to a piece. The new/old stores are making it all a bit harder to score. From 2004 to 2010 we didn't have many of those shops still in business but now they are popping up all over. All but one has ridicules pricing. However, after writing all the above I have gotten my best scores in the most unusual places. I really love many of the vintage bedroom sets but I so far haven't found one that husband likes. I read somewhere that up until the eighties 50% of all furniture bought in the U.S came out of North Carolina...heck, even the lower end stuff is still solid to this day. Well some might be a bit beat up but it's still together and the finishes are still pretty good. I can't bring myself to buy a new set because even when you spent on the highest end of Mid you still get crappy finishes and very little wood. I'm mostly disgusted with the way things are made these days. It seems you have to be prepared to spend very high end if you want to get a few years out of a piece of furniture and that's not even a guarantee.

Oh, I'm sure it will be. This antiques dealer/refurbished is AMAZING, even though I'm not a fan of 50's-70's furniture. His name is Scott Neven at Moderne (Neven & Neven) in Hudson, NY. I have never seen refinished wood as BEAUTIFUL as his...seriously looks like it is a showroom for current, brand-new furniture. I'm happy the chair didn't make our wood-pile and that it's going to be beautiful in someone's home! I'm sure the price tag will be upwards of $1000 when done. Happy he bought it because the other six antiques dealers never got back to me--one lady wanted pairs only, so I'm pretty stoked it's got a new home! Sarah (Plus, my husband got called a "picker," so he's tickled pink--even planned a date day for us to walk around Hudson and check out the antiques dealers...totally worth selling the chair!)

The pictures I posted above all have oak flooring. I am unsure of the first two because they are stained as to whether they are red oak or white. I believe the third picture, which is from a 2016 This Old House project, is probably white oak. White oak is what I am seeing in many new design pics. It probably cost a little more than red oak. I don't know if natural white oak would work or not because it is very light but you can always bring home some samples and see what you think. I know the more rustic looking brown with a touch of gray is big and again, get some samples and set them in front of the door. However, avoid trendy looking flooring - especially the gray weathered look - that is a passing trend. You have a 70's home which is beginning to get "old house" status. For a more timeless style, look to what has stood the test of time in older homes. If you think that is too "old fashion" remember there also have been some very "mod" styles done in older homes too. Just FIY, darker floors show more scratches and dust. Not a problem for some, but other say that though they love them, they will never have a dark floor again. The most forgiving wood floor is a natural tone - shows less scratches and dust. My home is also from the 70's and my trim was dark stained pine (which I painted white.) Dark stained pine is no great wood and while some 70's homes have interesting original features, many don't. Mine was an ode to harvest gold. There were no noteworthy original featured except the two fireplaces which actually are pretty:) We installed solid oak floors - natural on the main floor and a bit darker upstairs. I find they work with many different rugs and styles. They also are one of the more reasonably priced solid wood floors. You might want some stain with your darker doors, though my first home had dark oak doors with a natural oak floor and it worked.

Yes, chisue. Look up thread a bit, I did mention haves and have nots and the generation of my kids needing help. It's not new in my area, it's the result of decades of appreciation and runaway income and gains fueling net worth increases for those in and supporting the tech sector in the SF Bay Area. The same is true (with different industries) in coastal SoCal. And I think ditto in other metro areas nationwide. "Are big homes with big RE taxes not lingering in your market?" No, I don't think so. But real estate taxes work a bit differently here than in other places. California's Prop 13 in 1978 limited total tax to 1% of value and capped upward annual value increases to the lesser of an inflation factor or 2 percent per year. Appreciation since then has been significantly greater so longer term owners pay less in tax than more recent buyers living next door in the same house, where that's applicable neighborhood wise. We've owned our house over 25 years. Houses can be reassessed to market value only when sold, so a new owner of my house would pay 3 times as much property tax as I pay. That's true statewide. Here's information, stats from the Santa Clara County realtor board. They're misleading because the community is polarized with more average houses and more expensive houses and not so much in between. That shows in the difference between median and average prices, average being $300K higher. Prices are up overall 3% in the past year, but more so for more expensive houses and less for less expensive ones. Inventory is at 40 days (average time on market), much lower than even 12 months ago, The chart shows days of inventory is down a fair amount, sales are down too (fewer houses being offered for sale). Real estate market stats