Nobody wants China cabinets and armoirs anymore and that's good

Wal-Mart.

Escape rooms. That business model will be completely gone and forgotten within a year.

Foolishness - I love my china cabinet and armoire!

Without a china cabinet, where would I keep my Royal Doulton with the hand painted periwinkles.

dining rooms in general aren't as important as they used to be.

China is becoming obsolete. No one has lavish dinner parties anymore

But, but, but...my Lladro figurines, Precious Moments dolls and Hummel collectibles must be displayed next to my 1976 Americana China collection!

What about your Franklin Mint Faberge Eggs R7 ?

I think all antiques and art will become obsolete except for a very small number of collectors. Basic trends point towards rooms that will have nothing but very basic furniture and the center of the house will be the computer or laptop station. Entertaining at any level, in the home or elsewhere, will become a thing of the past and people will simply see each other via computer screens.

Those do very well on the Bradford Exchange r8

R9 I don't know, that was where things were heading. But, after this current crisis we might, like in the past, turn more nostalgic and homey.

I’d like an armoire.

People can't give them away on craigslist.

You're always blaming China.

R9 's future

R5, my dining room has evolved into a multi purpose room. It is an office, it is a breakfast/dining room, it is where I hold community meetings, it is where I play solitaire during the Great Confinement. It is a space with many purposes. And it has a chandelier, what more is there to love?

Placemats have disappeared.

Funny thing about placemats, if you look at all the articles about grand meals in old English houses, most of them use placemats.

Highclere Castle in particular.

Do people still use creamers and gravy boats, besides your granny?

I'm thinking about getting rid of my dining room table and chairs and turning that space into a home gym area with a long bar-like table and high backed stools on one side.

[R15], I'm not happy about it, but it seems to be the expected line of development.

[R11] That's a possibility but I think younger people are increasingly comfortable with a smaller number of "real world" contacts and a larger number of online friends. Alcohol has grown less important, ditto fashion and I can see increases in platforms for multi-users so that groups of 12 or 20 people can interact online quite naturally. Art is seen as increasingly irrelevant and is really a rich man's game and who cares what furniture looks like anymore? Actually serve a group of people dinner when allergies and last minute cancellations increasingly make such a project a logistical nightmare? Stay home in your PJs and chat on the internet - it actually saves time, money and energy. Again, not happy about it personally, but when two possible activities are compared it's the easier one that will always win.

Maybe full-sized ovens and 4-burner stoves will become obsolete, to some degree.

I don't bake except for maybe lasagne once every 2 years. And frozen pizza. But those things can be done in a smaller oven.

In Japan, a lot of apartments have 2-burner gas stoves and a broiler underneath the two burners. No oven.

I think the large old fashioned ones might be on the downturn, but they make more modern ones now that are half the size and less old fashioned. I have a small one, I bought it last month. It holds a service for 4, with silverware and wine glasses. My son is 24 and he is brutal on dishes; I bought a pfalxgraff set and the cabinet and told him don't go near it. I have/had friends over once a month and was tired of chipped dinnerware. Voila! Problem solved.

équtote*I think all antiques and art will become obsolete except for a very small number of collectors. Basic trends point towards rooms that will have nothing but very basic furniture and the center of the house will be the computer or laptop station. Entertaining at any level, in the home or elsewhere, will become a thing of the past and people will simply see each other via computer screens.

So not true.

[quote]I think all antiques and art will become obsolete except for a very small number of collectors. Basic trends point towards rooms that will have nothing but very basic furniture and the center of the house will be the computer or laptop station. Entertaining at any level, in the home or elsewhere, will become a thing of the past and people will simply see each other via computer screens.

So not true.

R25 for the middle class it’ll be obsolete

Really, [R25]?

Because past the absolute top-flight objects, the auctions houses can't give the stuff away.

The ultra-rich and serious collectors will continue to obtain works of art and antiques. Anyone not that will live in a neutral space geared to technology and lifestyle - gym equipment, coffee machines, hot tubs, etc. Visual culture will be a thing of the past. Houses themselves have already achieved this - there is no architectural value to anything not done for the ultra-wealthy unless artists are designing for themselves.

Interest in formal dining rooms and the furniture and accoutrements that equip them is rapidly evaporating. Huge dining tables with matching chairs, étagères, formal china, sterling flatware, for good or ill are all the treasures of a disappearing generation. I wonder if anyone under the age of 75 buys Lladro, Hummel, or Herend -- I am amazed these venerable firms remain in business.

[quote] Huge dining tables with matching chairs,

I am a millennial but I HATE, HATE, HATE the trend of having a table with unmatched chairs.

Friends tell me that no one buys “brown” wood furniture anymore, especially second hand dining sets. A few still collect mid century modern and expensive copies through places like Design Within Reach.

China, silver, things like that are to be enjoyed but unlikely to be coveted when you’re through with them.

I’m on the fence. I keep me place in NYC minimalist but will keep comfortable things and books and more kitchen things at my place in New England. I will retire there some day, and will want to read and cook and sail, things like that. But I don’t think anyone will want my things when I’m gone. That’s ok, though.

I’ve been left a house in a mentor’s estate, yet will try to donate much of its contents. I know it’s sometimes hard to find a taker.

[quote] I keep me place in NYC minimalist

sounds more like you're from York instead of New York

R30 I'm glad, I don't follow trends. I love "brown" furniture, especially cherry wood furniture. So I should be able to furnish a house very cheaply. I also like dark brown, oxblood, or deep green leather furniture, and heavy velvet drapes. I'm in my mid 30s.

Do you not what trendsetters say.

very brave of you to admit to things like that R32

Without the China cabinet, president Xi makes all decisions on his own

R21, Art has always been a rich man's game. You think dirt poor people were collecting art in the past?

I have an irrational hatred of wet bars.

“Alcohol is so important to me that I’m going to install plumbing in a living room for it.”

Agree younger folks want IKEA and way less fussy home furnishings. That, however, does make the these brown pieces look less beautiful. And in 5 years, someone will feature a flea market find, and it will be EVERYTHING. And just like that, we’ll be trolling the junk store for a brown break front that escaped destruction. This shit cycles around all the time. Moral of this story? Move Granny’s dining room to the attic, and sell it later when the demand returns.

[R36], No I think middle class people bought drawings, prints, etchings and watercolors and occasionally painted and sketched themselves.

Middle class people of today are happy to live in white-walled interiors where the TV is the focus of the room and sliding doors and windows make patios and decks living spaces.

I like everything. It all depends on what your house or apartment is like anyway. Modern furniture would look stupid in a Victorian house IMO. Dining rooms beg for cabinets, what else would you put in one? It would look so bare with just table and chairs unless small. Every apartment I’ve been in lacks closet space, so armoires are a must. Never liked the trend of garment racks just sitting anywhere. Unless it’s an urban loft with brick walls or a modern apartment in Europe or something.

I’m a millennial who love knick-knacks too. Sorry, not sorry.

[quote] Moral of this story? Move Granny’s dining room to the attic, and sell it later when the demand returns.

If you like Granny’s brown dining room set, use it. Why wait until someone else tells you it’s OK to do so. Have some balls and some courage of conviction.

Younger people are much more mobile than their parents' generation and understandably do not want to be burdened with massive furniture pieces that are used only rarely. New-build apartments and condominiums in urban areas increasingly have smaller footprints are not designed with dining rooms.

[quote]The ultra-rich and serious collectors will continue to obtain works of art and antiques. Anyone not that will live in a neutral space geared to technology and lifestyle - gym equipment, coffee machines, hot tubs, etc. Visual culture will be a thing of the past.

Wow...how can you be so out of touch with what's happening in the world.

First of all, the stupidity of this statement: "Visual culture will be a thing of the past. "

Social media, YouTube, Instagram have given us the most visual culture ever. And there are absolutely no signs that it will diminish. It will only continue to grow.

There is more interest in having an attractive living environment now than ever. The internet is filled with celebs inviting cameras into their carefully styled digs. Something that did not exist 10 years ago. It's the thing to do now.

An we have interior decorators now who are media celebrities with their own shows. Again, something that did not exist before.

And there are countless young people showing off their decorating skills on the internet. Showing off their "instagram ready" rooms.

Now that more and more people will be working from home, people will want to be surrounded by nice things.

People want to show off. They want to show off how well they're living. No one wants to show off an empty room with a computer as the focal point.

And all those furniture flippers are ruining our brown wood beauties and painting them wacky colors, changing original hardware. It’s ok if it’s junk to begin with, but don’t ruin something actually good.

I live in the epicenter of old retireds, AND I am looking for furniture (on hiatus for the Covid season). Thrifts and consignments are way overpriced, close to new prices for many things.

These shops are still clogged with the massive oversized and overwrought pieces popular pre-2008 crash, such as dining tables that seat 12 and odd filler oversized corner chairs in unidentifiable fabric. They should burn them for heat in the winter and get it over with. That shit is over 10 years old now and nobody wants it.

If you go through the torture of trying to buy from websites like Craigslist, expect to deal with dolts and to be continually outbid by resellers if you do find something worth having.

The China trade fiasco led to a large increase in the price of new furniture last year, most of which comes from China. At the same time, to hold down prices / hold up profits, importers/sellers started selling more cheaply made stuff that was painful to contemplate buying, so I didn't.

A lot of my retired neighbors have oak shit from the 70s and 80s. It's well built but massive and very old-timey looking. A couple of them tried to sell me theirs but I don't like it.

The only piece I've bought was a 1950s MCM dining set for 4-6 (the leaf makes it seat 6). In great shape with the store tag still stapled to the underside of the table. Some grandma owned this table because the top is in brand-new condition with the original table pad. The rest was refinished.

R45, are you using the table pad ... or not?

So hard to find good wood furniture too. Everything is made of pressboard if it doesn’t cost a fortune.

After the pandemic, look for Batman to permanently quarantine himself.

English antiques were sold by traincar load.

You will be told your stuff is worthless, but there is a rising working class in India that can afford good pieces.

Now, the glut will hit. We just have to market that shit to the rest of the world when boomers finally die out.

English antiques were sold by traincar load.

You will be told your stuff is worthless, but there is a rising working class in India that can afford good pieces.

Now, the glut will hit. We just have to market that shit to the rest of the world when boomers finally die out.

Brown furniture is all the rage again.

Some of you are a little out of touch.

R46, yes I am using the pad.

R43, I agree, but I also see a LOT of bare ugly rooms for everyday people. House Hunters is so depressing to watch. New houses with boxy rooms all looking the same, no character, no details or embellishments. Even with nice furniture in them, the rooms would look weird. Just look at the houses that news people are now reporting from! Some are shocking. Like college dorms. I think it’s half and half, there’s a lot of creativity, but also an abandonment of aesthetics. Maybe people travel more?

[quote]I agree, but I also see a LOT of bare ugly rooms for everyday people.

There have ALWAYS been ugly rooms for everyday people. And there always will be.

But it's not a trend. It's not where it's at. It does not negate that fact people are more interested in home design than ever.

I hate sofas. They are uncomfortable. I would not have sofas in my house but my husband & son are married to them, so they can lie down on them.

I would only have chairs. Comfy chairs. I’d have reclining chairs, swivel chairs, chairs with ottomans. I would not have rocking chairs. I hate rocking chairs.

When I visit friends, I don’t want to sit on a fucking sofa. People order sofas online nowadays. They don’t sit in them before ordering them. They’re uncomfortable. Because nobody sits on a sofa at home anymore. They lie down on it.

Furniture is made cheap and is not functional or “too comfortable”. Older furniture especially mid century was made fashionable and comfortable, some older wood chairs are far more comfortable than the modern crap now.

*shrug* I think home decor has been an interest since forever. There’s just more ways to show it off now. Wish people would make the effort!

batmeat carpaccio

[quote] Because past the absolute top-flight objects, the auctions houses can't give the stuff away.

Popular sentiment that turns out is just not accurate. Yeah, sure, they can’t give away the really low-end stuff, but that’s always been the case — and there’s a lot of junk that people think is or should be worth a small fortune. And, yes, sets of china from the 1950s through the 1990s are difficult to move. Same with some otherwise nondescript furniture. But the middle-line antiques (and better) are doing just fine. I’ve bought and sold plenty of antiques and I’ve followed auctions closely for decades. I can tell you that there are not that many bargains. Over the last month, with the economic downturn and the uncertainty about the future, you might have expected lots of items going cheaply. Not so. There are plenty of traditional antiques being sold for good prices at the solid, well-established auction houses like Skinner in Boston or Freeman’s in Philly. Hell, I’d consider selling my art and antiques through Brunk’s auction in North Carolina because they get top dollar for their consigners.

I wonder how much money I can make if I do my own Faberge eggs. Would Faberge mind.

R59 Yes, sets of china from that time period might be hard to move, but other things aren't. I know a woman who inherited a large set of 1950s-70s Corningware from her mother. She thought they wouldn't be worth much. She had, maybe, 100 pieces. She ended up making close to $5,000 altogether, from selling them.

People don't do "china" anymore. The whole idea of needing/wanting these huge formal china settings for 12 is just over.

There's still collectors out there for very certain things but the market has really collapsed for china and old time knick knackery.

There is a big market for good quality mid century furniture actually made out of wood. Most modern furniture is cheaply made (usually in China/Asia) and very low quality even if it was expensive to buy. And, because it's just shit, it has little to no resale value. The case goods tend to be flimsy and quickly fall apart.

I still like china, but I don't like fussy patterns. I like something simple and elegant like Nancy Reagan's White House china.

That china looks like its from the USSR

R64 Red was Nancy's signature color.

Speaking of China cabinets, why do the English store their dishes on their edges, in the cabinet?

R66, so you can see the pretty patterns on the plates.

I have a space in an antique collective and china cabinets, dining sets, and armoires are all popular. Mostly not the brown wood, though. Dealers paint them and they sell really well. China sets sales have slowed down but people are still buying them but not if they're over priced.

I think there will always be people who love to feather their nests with beautiful things and those who do not. Sometimes it's a matter of simply appreciating quality things, and with others it's having no taste at all. I spend a lot of time combing through estate sales and never fail to be amazed by how many people hang on to ugly crap for decades.

The people who actually have good taste and beautiful furnishings are less abundant. My favorite homes are those of collectors who collected not only beautiful quality things but quirky and odd things too.

I can't wait for this mid-century shit to be over again. I hated it growing up and hate it still. I'm laughing at some of the predictions above. What's not fashionable now will be taken up by the next generation or the one after (although I think the colonial American look should NEVER come back unless it's authentic).

Love Colonial. But it has to be the whole house, not bits and pieces.

Hate any trend. Especially this barn/industrial/worn/doors on rollers/shiplap crap. Hate industrial except in an actually industrial apartment. There’s no such thing as an industrial home. You don’t build a home like an old factory. Mid century is just tolerable.

People who don’t “do” china are trash. China is not “a thing” it is a necessity. You can’t have true tea out of pottery. Everything else is just as heavy. There are plenty of plain patterns. There’s simply no excuse.

R51 thats awesome! I'm a grandmillenial - or at least I share their taste. I love fussy, heavily ornate interiors

I have several china cabinets (but not for china) they are perfect for displaying models

I relate to R32, although I prefer velour to leather. Velvet curtains are fantastic, especially if they are heavily patterned

Network tv is on it’s last legs..

Only Italians were able to do mid century design well.

R72, I want to punch you in the eye or die of a tumor.

I like a plush, comfortable home. Tasteful drapes and blinds, Persian rugs, sumptuous upholstery, classic furniture and art. Minimalism is too cold and severe and uncomfortable.

It’s not as if most have a choice - you nest or you rest.

I remember guys on the street trying to sell me a lamp at 4am so minimalist furnishings always set off meth alarms for me.

I’ve also fucked around in rooms that would remind you of the horrorfest that is House On The Rock with glass front cabinets holding idontgiveafuck bullshit. Thank god I’m nearsighted.

Just don’t ask for help moving furniture unless you’re rich and hairybacked and have a dick. And booze. And money.

R74 couldnt agree more. Minimalism is so sterile and drab, its cheerless. I'd rather something busy with character

Monday, we are voting on a bill to change the name of " china cabinets" to " freedom cabinets."

I would consider myself somewhat minimalistic. But I do think there's a way to make it feel warm and welcoming. My mom (somewhat maximalist), when she was alive, said she felt comfortable in the spaces I created.

Sod

Please let our landscapes free themselves from the bullshit that is grassy lawns. I don’t want a carpet or uniformity in growing plant matter.

[quote] In Japan, a lot of apartments have 2-burner gas stoves and a broiler underneath the two burners. No oven.

I didn't have an oven when I lived in Japan and I missed it. People cook a lot like this on a kotatsu-- it's cozy for parties.

[quote]R16 my dining room has evolved into a multi purpose room. It is an office, it is a breakfast/dining room, it is where I hold community meetings, it is where I play solitaire during the Great Confinement. It is a space with many purposes.

Elsie De Wolfe, who kind of invented the home decorating industry, said the dining room was the biggest waste of space in a house. She recommended it double as a library, or serve duo functions, as you have done.

Yay!

A friend in San Francisco converted her tiny dining room into a bedroom. (Her apartment, for some reason, had a dining room, but no bedroom.) That dining room was super tiny. The bed took up about 3/4 of the space, but, IMO, it was a good use of the space.

Sorry r73, that’s my story and I am sticking to it. I look at the Postwar Italian passenger ships and they are absolutely stunning. American mid century looks cheap and drab in comparison.

That being said, I am more of an Art Deco and Art Nouveau fan myself.

These two guys are quite fond of armoires.

What about a candy dish? Where are all the candy dishes now?

I have three armoires. There are almost no closets in my house and it’s either that or don’t have clothes or papers.

When I was looking for them, you’re right, you could get really nice armoires for around $200-300. I ended up getting these particular ones because they are hand painted by an artist. But if not for that, I could have gotten oak or pine ones for almost nothing.

They are very handy and keep the house tidy, but they are bulky. I feel sorry for whoever has to empty my house after I die. Almost everything is unsellable, the usual Grandma’s china etc. I’m trying to empty it, but Coronavirus put a stop to me being able to sell or donate anything for the short term.

My first lover when I moved to L.A. in the 80s had his stereo and TV in a big armoire. Being from a small town, I thought that was dazzlingly chic.

I still sometimes wear a dab of his scent, too.

I really hate early American furniture from the 50s-70s. I had a friend whose parent's house was decorated with it and I hated it then and hate it now. Turned wood and garish plaids and floral. Ick.

R91, you still see that pattern a lot and it is revolting.

I must have repressed memories of being molested in a room like that... because it turns my stomach!

I agree that the room in R91 is dreadful and that furniture is horribly tacky. That is the kind of junk no one wants and it would be extremely difficult to unload that garbage anywhere today. It was invariably stained an ugly color of mud brown, and often made of cheap, soft pine, which dented easily. The fabrics were usually course material with some garish variation of orange, yellow, and maroon in the pattern.

People didn't want candy dishes even back in 1980, R88.

The reality is that most normal people have possessions that they want to keep out of sight yet still accessible - which requires some form of storage (I don't care how minimal you are..). I don't personally own any armoires/highboys but have purchased two nice hardwood credenzas (one in the living area and another in the "tv room") that I really could not live without. You need a place in your living space for a large functional lamp, etc. and can always lay a large tray down, add some crystal tumblers, a few decent bottles/decanters and put together a make-shift "bar". The credenza in my living room serves as storage space for books, sweaters, coats, pens, crystal/china that I never use, candles, papers and just about any other variety of "stuff" that we all need to access at some point but don't want to look oterwise. Hang large art or a mirror above and you still have an updated look that also functions. In the TV room, a flat screen sits at the correct viewing level and the piece also holds tons of clothes, sheets and a few electronics. Whatever the case, they function well and look good doing so. I see far more credenzas used in place of big heavy wardrobes these days.

Are there still people who want an étagère?

[quote.]R96 The credenza in my living room serves as storage space for books, sweaters, coats, pens...

Are they your spell books? Why are they shut away in a dark cabinet?

So fancy dinner parties aren't a thing any more?

R97 Yes, but most have been institutionalized.

Antiques, in general, are a declining market. Museums, with the possible exception of art museums, and libraries, as we now know them, will be history. Pianos, and musical instruments, other than programmed or synthesized, will be gone. Gardens will be caput. Thankfully, recliners will be gone in a couple of generations. And cash. And hopefully, Republicans.

[quote] The credenza in my living room serves as storage space for books, sweaters, coats, pens, crystal/china that I never use, candles, papers and just about any other variety of "stuff" that we all need to access at some point but don't want to look ot[h]erwise.

R96, why keep/store sweaters, coats, pens, etc., that you never use? Sentimental purposes?

R88

I have a candy dish that belonged to my grandparents. I only use it over the holidays because that's the only time I'll tolerate having that kind of temptation right in front of me.

R101 - sorry if my verbiage was misleading, the crystal and china are basically never used - the other items are. I'm getting rid of the china for good (it used to be sentimental, but is now just a waste of space). The crystal is Baccarat and Saint Louis, so I enjoy using it on the very rare occasion that I ever host anything. That said, I have sold a fair amount off on Ebay already.

So, now that you all know everything is meaningless, feel free to send me any of your late 18th and early 19th century china- especially anything mimicking Japanese Art Deco.

R96 Coats?! Sheets?! You fold the coat up? Why don’t you hang it up? What kind of coat is this? No linen closet? How big are these credenzas? Link a picture of them or something similar.

My bedroom is large and full of old wooden furniture, including two huge lawyers bookcases, a hope chest and a beautiful chest of drawers with rounded corner cabinets on either end. The bed is a black iron canopy bed minus the canopy, which looks too feminine for me. It has a MCM couch with silver frame and seafoam green cushions, the walls are a medium green and the floors are wood. Out of fashion, maybe, but it's the warmest looking room in the house, and I love it.

That said, I tried several times to sell the hope chest, which is from the 40s and in mint condition, and was finally told no one, not even an antique furniture store, would give me anything for it.

R106, If you don’t mind the question, are you male or female? How did you wind up with a hope chest? From a woman relative?

Styles and fashion move in cycles. In each decade something new becomes the look to have in your home. We are now starting a new decade, so a new look will emerge. Look to the folks who follow their own inner voice, NOT the self-appointed gurus on HGTV. Listen to your own inner voice.

Mine says, “Chicka, chicka, chickabee!”

Now is the time to buy all the Louis 15/16 original and repro that people aren't buying.

Now is the time to buy sterling that people aren't buying.

I live in a Rococo world. [Accent on the first RO, if you please.]

Recessions/Depressions, make of them what you will.

R108 Totally agree

R108 I second that like R111

R10 man after my own heart!

Late Georgian/Regency and Victorian too though. More is more!

Mario Buatta, the “Prince of Chintz,” died in October 2018. His estate was sold this year by Sotheby’s (the really high-end stuff), and Stair Auction Galleries (upstate New York) got the rest of the art and antiques. The prices were through the roof. Some of this could be attributed to Buatta as a “celebrity” designer. But, nearly every item in the Stair auctions went well above the pre-sale estimates, and in some cases astronomically so. People wouldn’t have forked over a small fortune for some of this stuff if there wasn’t a desire for it and a market for it. To be clear, these items were most definitely NOT Lladro figurines or dreck from the Bradford Exchange. So, the demise of the antiques market may be somewhat premature.

Gah, R110 man after my own heart. Fuck its annoying having no edit function on here

And while I'm at it here's another completely gratuitous pic of an ornate interior to annoy the minimalists

[R114], I must confess I find that room cold and vulgar. The color scheme is horrid, the furniture, whether authentic or not, looks fake and bloated and the recessed ceiling lights scream "McMansion".

R114 I'm sure this is a picture of the current living quarters in the White House. Unspeakable.

R114 Ornate doesn't have to be ugly. That's ugly.

R115 it is a bit cold looking at it, needs more colour. And yeah, I hate those recessed ceiling lights, needs chandeliers instead

R116 its a random pic I grabbed off the net, so no idea whose it is

R117 perhaps you prefer the room I posted up at R112

I could live with dark purple upholstery. The reason there are no chandeliers is because the ceilings are too low.

I could live in either place, v8fairy.

r110

R119 yeah you could be right about the ceiling. I love dark purple upholstery though, especially with gilt furniture!

I could live in either one but I prefer the earlier one I posted. Rococo fucking rocks!

Agreed on the pref r120

r110

[quote]What else is about to become obsolete?

Earrings....caftans...

I pretty much lost my dining room years ago. I have an oak dining room table, with six chairs, that my grandparents bought near the turn of the 20th Century. I had it refinished and it looks great, but the cats have pretty much taken it over as their perch. When they first came here, they were afraid of the dog, and that was their safe space. Even though the dog and cats now sleep together, the cats still stay up there during the day. I have a thick pad on it so they don't scratch it, and since I never have anyone over anyway, I let them have it. In the living room, I have a huge SABA stereo console from Germany. It's about five feet long, weighs about 200 pounds, and the cabinet is solid black walnut with a piano finish. No way am I ever getting rid of that. I have the sound from my 55" television piped through it and it's great. Also have an internet tuner connected and listen to radio live from Europe through the unit.

My friend showed me pictures of his coworker's apartment that looks pretty much exactly like r114, only more flamboyantly over the top but without the architectural elements. He was a young gay man of 22 living life like a modern day Marie Antoinette in a suburban Atlanta apartment complex. So, I guess some young people like that style.