I like old things although I am not an antique collector in general and have never restored old furniture or cars or the such.
I have a small collection of vintage cased glass vases and pitchers, just as colorful decor. I have 5 vintage aluminum Christmas trees of various sizes and although I don't collect them, I love old ornaments.
I think a lot of vintage homes have so much more character than the plain old homes they build today, especially the Victorian type homes.
Any time I purchase something older, I always wonder about the people that may have owned them before, the same with rented older homes. I wonder what their lives were like and at holidays, I wonder what kind of celebrations happened there. The answers are forever unknown, but it is still fun to think on it.
Soon a vintage dresser will come to my house. It came from my Dad's Mother's home. It had belonged to one of her sisters that left it there and who's husband or his father built it by hand. The Aunt lived with my Grandmother for a while and for whatever reason chose not to take it with her when she left. It will reside out in my living area when it gets here. So much more character than the regular furniture of today. I'm sure I'll post it when it finally gets here.
Old stuff is fascinating.
It sounds nice about your friend and that they are making some of their money back as they clean up the property. Their future plans sounds like a smart idea. What a huge task they took on, but hopefully it will be worth their effort in the end.
Yeah, I agree with you about the old things and the houses too, these days things seem rather bland to me and are certainly not made as well or to last, houses too.
I grew up in a house built in 1902 so understand the appeal of an older style home, it's character (and creaks and groans) and would definitely prefer it over a modern home although I live in a brand new one at the moment.
Nice work on the dresser, it's good to have those items, memorable and meaningful and also antique. I'll look out for the post.