![[The Talking Machine Forum - For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings]](/styles/we_universal/theme/images/the_talking_machine_forum.png)
Thank you for the virtual tour. My wife and I enjoyed looking through the pictures that you posted on Facebook. You have a beautiful home and collection.UpstateNYBilly wrote: Sun Jan 15, 2023 4:46 am I'm finding that same issue. I have a fairly big Victorian from around 1877. The first two floors are just a little bit better then 4000 sq. ft combined. If I only collected phonographs I might not have as much a space issue as I do but I also have a couple of pianos, a few jukeboxes, vintage radios, 40,000 + records and a bunch of other hobbies that also take up room.
So... I'm getting estimates now on building out my third floor - which has never had anything done to it. It has a beautiful curved walnut staircase that leads up to another 2000 sq. ft of unused space - with a peaked center point of about 12 ft. The plan is to build it out this summer adding another bedroom and a nice-sized bath and then leave the rest of it open for a media area and phonograph display room. I've got machines in the basement and in the carriage house that are just kind of waiting for a place of their own so hopefully when this is done I can alleviate the crowding on the lower floors (and make room for a few more machines as well!) My goal is to never get to the point where I have no choice but to stack a phonograph on top of another.
Sadly, when I kick the bucket there's no one in my family that wants any of my stuff. I'm a single guy and the nieces and nephew vow they will just sell it all and happily take the money. That saddens me. I have offered to leave any one of them EVERYTHING if they'll take over the house and keep the menagerie intact but no takers. How I wish I had had some eccentric gay uncle, when I was a kid, who was willing to leave me his estate! LOL So I'm just gonna keep doing what makes me happy and I really love collecting phonographs. I've done it since I was a kid. And the reason I bought this big ol' place was because I wanted to house my collection(s). So as they say, "A goldfish grows as big as its bowl." I'm just gonna expand the bowl. And when I run out of room up there there's always the loft above the carriage house!
I agree with your philosophy of not stacking, although I have a Columbia Q, Columbia AT and early Edison Standard sitting on doilies on top of some floor model Victrolas, (I can move them easily).
Maybe with maturity a niece or nephew will grow to appreciate what you have preserved.
