Antiques give a room a sense of charm and elegance that is hard to find in the modern furniture of today’s society. However, that doesn’t mean you need to fill your entire room with antique pieces to achieve that certain style that you admire in old homes. All you need are a few signature pieces and the know-how to incorporate them with newer furniture.
Here are steps to help transform the look and feel of your living room with just a few pieces of antique furniture.
Image Credit: Tom Borowski
1. Plan
Knowing what you want before working on your living room’s transformation is essential in attaining your ideal outcome. Try to determine what you want to achieve in giving this essential part of the house a makeover. Remember to consider the functionality of your living space as well as the style.
2. Group them
Grouping like items can have a stronger impact, then scattering around the room—and this goes well for collectibles amassed over the years, whether they are inherited or from a French antique furniture online shop.
When attempting to showcase vases, or a similar item, in the most visited part of your home, it may be worth arranging them on top of a wooden table or inside a glass compartment in one corner of the room. Or, you could place them on top of that antique coffee table that you inherited from your grandmother and enhance the visual impact of the furniture piece by arranging the vases artistically.
Whichever way you prefer to go about with it, grouping similar or like objects together draws interest and should be taken into consideration when decorating.
3. Use common antiques in a non-common way
Image Credit: westelm
This requires a bit of creativity as you let your imagination take charge in transforming the most seemingly boring piece of furniture and turning it into a piece of art that provides a different type of service or purpose than what it was initially intended for.
For example, you could use an old headboard and turn it into a mantel. Or, even take a few antique stools and attach a sheet of glass onto them to create a new coffee table. Let your imagination fuel your creative juices!
4. Mix the old with the new
Pairing antique furniture with modern pieces is not only practical for the wallet, also it allows for that timeless feel that transcends time. This can be as simple as registering or changing the fabric of an antique chair, or simply adding in an antique center table with all the details and craftsmanship of the days of old.
There is no definite set of rules in mixing old with new, so go against tradition and make your own rules to come up with that perfect living room!
5. Display creativity is the key
A well-placed antique draws more attention, and if done properly, can showcase the best features of your antique furniture. Use of lighting can be considered, or you can use other furniture pieces such as cabinets or corner tables.
It’s been said that your first trip abroad will be made more memorable by proper planning, the same can also be said of antique furniture in modern homes. It may take time and a little bit of practice, but with a well-thought out plan your antique and modern pieces of furniture can come together like puzzle pieces to make a living room that’s not only functional, but also classy and elegant.
About the author: Angie Cole is a fan of everything vintage and admires the true old-world craftsmanship. She is a fan of Antiques on Old Plank Road, a furniture shop that imports and restores European quality antique and vintage pieces.
