Ds1 definitely wants this house. We talked about it yesterday! He’ll have to buy out his brother’s half.
We asked our kids…so we know!
Kid one wants and will get: the piano, and my kitchenaid mixer.
Kid two wants and will get: sterling silver flatware, Lenox holiday dishes, my dresser and nightstand, a Larkin Desk, our oak table and chairs.
They both want my 67 year old Revere Ware stock pot. It’s a great pot and a style no longer made (tall…not squatty).
My kids would like real estate, so they could either live in it or sell it so they could buy something they would like to live in. As far as “things,” I think they are trying to minimize their acquisitions. Neither is sure how much longer they will live where they are currently. Neither has any idea where they will live in the near future or longer term.
My mother’s piano is now on loan to one of my first cousin’s kid who has a 10 yr old taking piano lessons. It’ll eventually go to my sister’s daughters when their kids are old enough to start lessons and eventually to my kid if he ever has children and he/she/it wants to take lessons.
My son might want some of our art work… I will also take some of the paintings, sculptures my mom has when the time comes - unless we keep her Florida condo.
There’s hardly anything of my mother’s that I’d want. Maybe her (my late father’s) small two-pedestal desk.
Our stuff that the kids might want? Maybe books, possibly one or more of our bookcases. I have several dutch ovens, enough for the two of them to reach happy kitchen consensus.
I’d love to have either of my sons to display any interest in keeping all of my basement home studio photography equipment, including my camera and several lenses, once I’m gone. Most of these are top professional gear that I’ve collected and used over the years, costing tens and thousands of dollars in value. But more important than these things that anyone with money can buy, I wish that I could leave with them all the knowledge that I’ve developed over past four decades as a passionate photography enthusiast. I didn’t attend a photography school, so everything I learned, I learned by trial and error, lots of reading, online forums, and other forms of research. One thing that I truly wished that I had was someone with expertise to whom I could turn to for guidance, especially relating to studio photography with multiple lighting set up. It took me four decades to be quite proficient now in just about all aspect of photography. However, it’s one of my deepest disappointments in life that no one in my family – not even extended family, relatives and friends – has any interest in the art. My expertise will be gone, untapped, and so will my beloved gear. I told my sons the value of each equipment, so they don’t get rid of them via garage sale for a few bucks.
DD doesn’t want the baby grand, but neice does, so neice is getting it. I told her she could have it once she buys her first home.
All the old photos have been scanned. I know it doesn’t have the same charm as an old album, but it does make storage a whole lot easier. And the entire family can share, access, and enjoy them rather than just the person possessing the album.
DD can take her pick of everything else. She’ll get it whether she wants it or not, but she can do with it what she wants, with my blessings. My mother tries to lay guilt trips on my sister and me about holding on to what she considers to be special items. We share a pact to smile and nod. She means well - and unfortunately she has a long list of “special items” - but neither of us really want, nor have room for, any of her stuff.
- A picture of our house drawn by an artist I found on Etsy
- My Purses (Chloe, Gucci, Chanel, Valentino)
I hope someone wants the dining room table it belonged to my great-grandmother. It’s so wide standard tablecloths are too narrow, so I use sheets. It comes with enough leaves that I think it can seat 20 - unfortunately we don’t have nearly that many chairs and the chairs have gotten very rickety. My parents gave it to us when we built them a modern house with no formal dining room. If my kids don’t want it, I suppose one of my nieces or nephews might be willing to haul it off.
There are some furniture items that my dad made that my girls would want, as well as my cameras, and photos that I’ve taken and framed. Maybe some books and one of my daughter’s would want my collectibles (we collect the same thing). They would also probably take most of my dresses. They claimed many of them over the years already. Ha.
The piano certainly goes to my youngest, as she’s the one who plays. I really can’t think of much else they’d want. But I was surprised at what the two of them wanted from their great-grandmother’s house when she sold it, so who knows.
DD will want my handbag collection and of course a lot of my jewelry.
DS is very sentimental about family things so he will want everything that came from relatives or he remembers from his childhood. I doubt either will want our newer furniture even though it’s the really good stuff.
Both will enjoy sharing my cooking equipment.
I hope they will want to keep some of my collections of silver, china, crystal, etc. I love beautiful things and have amassed quite a lot over the years. DS will want the wedding things just because it’s part of the family history.
Christmas ornaments have some sentimental value so I expect they will split them.
My boys want my watches and my guns. There are two nice pool cues in my safe as well from my misspent youth…
The only item I could see my son wanting is my old stainless steel/14 carat gold Rolex watch which is significant since it was given to my grandfather (grandmothers second husband and the only grandfather I knew) on his birthday. His name and the date is engraved on the back (1 year before I was born).
Lots of sentimental value but I almost sold it in high school for $100 to a pawn shop but my close friend said “do not sell it as one day you will regret it”. Thank god I listened to her!
S would definitely take my car and some furniture. D, just the old record player and records.
I just gave my youngest brother the antique clock my parents bought in Germany. My dad has been distributing items with more than a hint of favoritism and B was (legitimately) feeling left out. He was so happy to get it.
I had mulled for a long time about whether I should keep it to pass it on to one of my sons. Surprisingly, my unsentimental, largely possession-free son was interested in it. Problem is that shipping a 100-yo clock is challenging. I talked to my son and my brother, and my brother will have it for now, with the intention of it passing to S2. (This brother and his wife have no children, but do have a house full of antiques. Would like to keep the clock in the family.)
S2 wants the house and much of what’s in it. He’d need to buy out S1.
There are three things I want to give my kids once they have settled down.
One is a rocking chair my grandfater gave my grandmother when she was pregnant with my dad. It is not a very comfortable chair, though still useable. They’d want something more comfortable for rocking a baby.
Also, there is a bookshelf that my dad made in high school shop and a cedar chest from my grandmother’s garage that dad refinished and gave to me when I was a teen ager.
I keep all of my Christmas decorations, except for the tree, in the cedar chest. I am not sure when I will give that to one of them because I don’t have anywhere else to put the decorations, though they can take the others items whenever it suits them.
So this is interesting. And take note, anyone whose house is brimming with physical memories…the majority posting here so far as saying “the kids don’t want it!” - seems that most have mentioned maybe a couple things of note, but overall, if you’re saving everything for the generation below, you may be saving for nothing!
Lots of pianos. I like that some value special kitchen items. I hear I lot of “I HOPE they will want this” - like Thumper said, I think it’s a good question to put out there anytime! See what the feedback is - you don’t have to put it in writing. 
I’m sure the kids would want to adopt some of our furniture as it is exists now to replace certain things they have. We are not planning to kick the bucket any time soon, so the furniture stays with us for maybe 30 (hopefully!) years, and then the furniture could be dump-worthy. 
Who knows!
I am slso sure the kiddos would love to shop in my shoe closet… so I better give them some now and wear tye rest out before I bite the dust.
S would want H’s guitars & our house. I don’t think D would want anything. I had to get a new bread maker last week - my 30+ year old machine finally but it - so maybe D would want that.
We are going through my in laws’ downsizing odyssey right now. MIL wants us to take her dining room table, which is too wide for our dining room. I made the mistake of saying that I would love to have it someday … my big mistake, because the fact that I have since measured & it doesn’t fit is irrelevant to MIL. We also have to take a grandfather clock that neither H nor I want. But it will occupy a corner of our living room because we cannot get out of it. I will not be like that to my kids. I don’t care whether or not they want my stuff. I chose it because H & I liked it - I don’t expect that they will have the same taste.