I wouldn't for the reasons you state, and also because it doesn't look easily convertible to anything else.

Shelves could be easily added in the middle. The piece is solid wood except for the back which has that thin piece of pressed fiber on it. We did not punch ours out. The side doors contain removeable DVD/CD slots. The middle portion already has shelves. It would make a nice bar or clothes armoire.

I thought we would be lucky enough to get $200 for ours should we list it. I am going to watch this listing and contact the owner if I see it missing in the near future. I'll be curious to see what they get for it.

Since I started lurking on this board, I looked at our CL here. I was totally surprised at the prices people were asking for their used furniture. I'm talking about asking 75% of what they probably paid for it. Ridiculous!

I think it's way overpriced. If I wanted an armoire from CL, I might pay $250.... but likely no more than $200.

My impression is that people on CL expect to buy things for practically nothing. The few times we tried to sell a piece of furniture, we got messages from people who offered to take it away for nothing if it didn't sell.

I think your price is a little more realistic than theirs. The piece would have to be bought by someone handy enough to turn it into something more relevant than an armoire for a TV and VCR. I think people on GW are more handy than the typical CL shopper, because we are a population interested in design and furniture.

I am not being critical of this furniture, --but if it was still useful to you, you would be keeping it, right? The large TV armoire is one of those things that has been pretty much rendered obsolete by changing technology.

Ours is still useful to us. lol Here it is in our family room with the TV still in it. We don't want to have to get rid of it. We prefer to have our TV in it, and not hanging on a wall. However, as our family is growing (son-in-law and now new grandbaby), we find that we need more seating in our 'downsized house' family room. UGH!

We thought about building again and have just about nixed that with the rising cost of materials. Thought about adding on, but that would be a pain and a half. I came up with the solution of doing away with the armoire and buying two new sofas for our room. A much more economical idea. :) Not sure if we will actually do so, though.

PS - We also house our stereo components in the armoire. What do people do with those when they give up the entertainment center?

This post was edited by newhomebuilder on Mon, Aug 19, 13 at 22:15

We have an upscale used furniture and they refuse to accept tv armoires. They say that there are so many out there for sale, they cannot get much money for them and they take up too much room. They do sometimes post pics of them people are selling from their homes and the average price is $200.

I saw an armoire that was not for a TV-- a lovely art deco one, and the person kept going down in price. Eventually had it listed for $75. Only then did it sell. It was so pretty. Had I had room/need for it, I would have bought it. But, most people just don't need one, for TVs or clothing, so there isn't a market. The market dictates the price, period. There is no inherent $ value in anything.

Newhome-- what a pretty room. So inviting!!!

I would not buy an armoire for a family/living room, but, I do have a massive one in my bedroom that I keep my tv, socks, jeans, etc. I love my piece, since I get a lot of use from it.
If I was "marketing" a piece, why not show it with bedroom furniture or even lower level family room use. You could hide lots of kids toys in it!

While not Lexington, I did have an extremely nice Hooker armoire in an Arts and Crafts or Mission style. It was similar in size to yours. I tried selling it at varying amounts starting around 200. I was overjoyed to finally sell it for $80. Bonus--the buyers came with a huge pick up and didn't need our help getting it loaded..

Goodwill or Habitat won't take them here. I was ready to use it for storage in the garage but the family kept having a fit. I thought it would make a nice potting "shed" and at least be used.

My son was looking for a large armoire to place in an alcove outside his bathroom. He wanted to use it to hang his suits and dress shirts and place his socks, underwear etc. in the bottom section.

The problem with armoires with doors that slide back into the unit is that it does make it difficult to install shelves or hang a rod across the top. You have to construct an internal support system that won't interfere with the doors.

I was curious so I looked mine up. There was a listing on eBay for $150 but 0 bids. :)

Mine has doors that fold flat on the outside instead of sliding in--many of them were intended to be used for clothing OR media and I'm glad mine is one. It's full of puzzles and games. Unlike my antique armoire, it doesn't come apart so I couldn't get it into the kid's room to store stuff there.

I still like it. I think there's a small LCD TV in there behind Jenga. Turns out we don't need that many TVs so it stays closed.

interesting, as I was not aware that armoires were obsolete (talk about trends!). Is it just because people hang their TVs now?

Don't people still use armoires for other storage? For linens, for example. I don't have a linen closet and was contemplating an armoire or similar chest for large extra blankets and such.

hmm, maybe I can pick up a deal!

quilly - Good point. The doors on our slide back inside. Makes the inside kind of useless if you cannot have shelves.

rnmomof2 - I am using an old red Hooser cabinet for a potting shed, now.

If Goodwill will not take them now, mine may end up in the garage someday.

fori - We have one of those in the upstairs den. Guess where I bought it...CL! My husband could have killed me. That thing was so heavy to get upstairs and I had practically taken the whole thing apart.

I would pay $200-$250 for a brand like Hooker or something similar IF I NEEDED EXTRA STORAGE.

A regular poster on another decorating board that I hang out on bought one for a place to store her sweeper and accessories and a few other things. It sits in her LR. She lives in a two bedroom condo with two children and is short on closets and storage. Serves her well.

Even with the doors that slide back inside, I am sure there is a way to hang a clothes rod from the top if one needed closet space in a small apartment. The bottom cubbies could be used for underwear, tees, shoes, etc.

There are many for free on CL. I got several free. I wouldn't pay anywhere near that for one!

You can hang a rod or install shelves but you do lose several inches of storage depending on how much space the retracting doors need. To hang a clothes rod you need to screw the support brackets to the top or back of the unit.

At our vacation home we turned a This End Up media cabinet into a liquor cabinet by removing the TV turntable and installing antique brass shelf brackets on the back of the unit and then cutting glass shelves to fit. We inserted a light fixture in the hole where the electric and cable cords ran.

True! After looking at the doors on my unit, I realize that you do not have to slide the doors back to only open it. Therefore, shelves, rods, etc, can be added. I like the idea of a bar.

I may be wrong, but couldn't you replace the "slide back" hardware for regular hinges which would allow you more flexibility for shelves. Violet, I think the reason that they are not often used for TV's is that this is one area where men are willing to admit that "size matters" when they decide on a TV LOL, and the new TV's are simply too large for the armoires.

Hating to give it away, yet, I am putting it in the downstairs family room which no one ever uses except to pass through on the way to the exercise "stuff". It is now another junk collector. Maybe one of my kids will take it someday... when they grow up (they're adults)... and move out... and quit eating my food, etc., etc., but I digress.. People will probably be asking themselves in ten years why they gave them away.

I know you didn't ask this, but it looks so pretty in you room, I'd hate to get rid of it just for more seating. What about looking for a small scale sectional that wraps around where the high back chair is? If you shifted that seating down toward the dining room a tiny bit, would that chair fit at the other end of where the sofa is now?

Maybe something like this?

[Contemporary Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2103) by Palm Beach Gardens Interior Designers & Decorators Annie Santulli Designs

I do wonder if people will wish they still had had them in another 10-20 years. I have one in our BR (it is Hooker and I love it), one in our LR with china and crystal stored in it (as close to a butler's pantry as I will ever get), my son has one for his clothes and my other son has one that is a desk/home office. The hybrid chest/armoire that used to be in his room in now in my under stair closet as our supply cabinet -- office and school supplies so I (almost) never have to run out late at night for that project or homework assignment. It is shorter, so our pool towels fit on top. Before I acquired china and crystal from my mom last year, I was planning on turning the one in the LR into a gift wrap/craft station. I even considered using one or more as bathroom cabinets when we redo our bathroom. I was going to say I could have one in everyroom, but I guess I almost do. LOL

BTW, none of them have the doors on tracks that go back inside the cabinet.

Your armoire is very attractive and it looks perfect in the alcove. I hope you can find a way to keep it and increase seating.

I was at my local ReStore yesterday and they had 3 armoires. Two were $100 apiece which was probably the right price. The third was $300. -it was three pieces, the armoire with 2 flanking units, the tops had glass shelves and the bottom wood ones. I didn't bother to check the manufacturer because I was looking for night stands with DD but it appeared to be a nice piece. DD loved it but didn't have room for it - even if she didn't use the extra pieces.

Violet -
The common reason for a huge armoire - to hide the huge TV - has gone away with the arrival of flat-panel TVs.

They repurpose nicely into bars, craft cabinets, children's play kitchens and pantry cabinets. But many of them were cheaply built and can't be repurposed because they are falling apart.

I'd love to do something like this.

The problem that we had with ours is that they are so heavy and difficult to move. It took 4 sturdy adults and a hand cart to get it out our front door and around to the garage. We had talked about moving it downstairs but getting it down the stairs would have been impossible. I can only imagine trying to carry one up a flight of stairs.

thanks for the responses on my question.

After reading this thread, I will definitely look around and see if I can get a deal. I might want one for one of the spare bedrooms (that as yet is just collecting junk) for linens; or I might want one for the outside, to use as a storage "shed." Probably wouldn't last more than a few years, but might do for now.

Unless you need the depth that TV armoires have, if you want one for storage, I'd recommend an actual antique or vintage model intended for clothing. Many of them are already fitted inside (especially the ones for men), they are still practically free, and they are just nicer.

My old one (date guesses range) has shelves and we originally purchased it to store clothing. Several homes and more closets later, it stores gift wrap, Halloween costumes, party junk, candles, etc. Our TV armoire has done a stint as a linen closet--you can fit a lot of comforters and pillows and blankets in there and we had nowhere else to put them--but since we couldn't get the darn thing into the bedrooms, it wasn't quite as useful.

The old ones aren't quite deep enough to hang clothes like we're used to, but for everything else, the depth is adequate and they fit in rooms better.

In defense of the much hated tv armoire! Ten years ago I designed and had a TV armoire made to hide our then 50" plasma. It is wider and narrower than the ones designed for the old tube TVs. The top portion is not as deep as the bottom, which holds the components. I made sure I planned for a future larger TV and it now holds a 65" plasma. I used bookmatched crotch mahogany for the doors and much prefer looking at the pretty wood instead of black glass/metal when we entertain. I had to make a custom piece at the time because there weren't too many choices available to hide the new plasma TVs ten years ago.

I do have a tube style Tv armoire sitting in the garage. Hate to get rid of it because it is a very pretty Asian style Maria Yee piece, but it is too heavy to move around and we don't need the storage in other rooms.

People here try and sell used particle board junk for that price I want to email them and ask them if they are on glue. I would love something like your amoire in my craft room.