Do you get the feeling that all houses look the same lately? If you want to print character and differentiate the decoration of your home from the rest, put an antique in it. This guide will help you decorate with antiques without your house looking like a museum.
A house with antique furniture acquires a special charm that cannot be achieved with current furniture, since it is a unique piece. Knowing how to dose and combine them are key factors when creating an eclectic, yet harmonious and contemporary environment.
It is essential that antiques are authentic to convey the charm and flavor of the years, no imitations or reproductions. To do this, you can start looking on an internet auction page and browse the section for buying and selling antiques until you find that piece that you fall in love with. You will be surprised how many “gems” you can find within your budget.
Keys to decorate with antiques
To introduce antiquarian pieces into your decoration without being artificial or forced, you must take into account the following keys or tips.
give her space
Giving it space and creating a void around the piece of furniture will help add value and highlight it within an environment. It is not about filling a room with antique furniture, but about choosing the one that gives it character and fits with the rest of the furniture. Without a doubt, it is not something that is easy or that is achieved at first, you must study and try different locations before finding the ideal one.
To highlight a piece, you can also create a contrast between the finish of the furniture and the room. For example, if the piece leans against the wall, make it have a color or coating that highlights it without stealing the spotlight.
The perfect couple
The decoration is to find the balance and coherence between the container and the content. If we succeed, the result will be good regardless of our own decorative style. The keys to doing so when we put together antiques and contemporary pieces are the following:
- Combine vintage accessories with modern pieces to achieve balance in your decoration. For example, hang abstract paintings on your antiques, or upholster vintage armchairs and chairs with very striking fabrics and coordinate them with the rest of the room’s decoration.
- It establishes a dialogue showing two very different, but related, elements. For example, having a collection of vintage desk accessories, leather-bound books, or a vintage clock on a modern desk is a safe bet.
- There are no rules when it comes to mixing periods, styles, colors and materials. He plays with them to create different compositions and see if they work equally well with the different combinations of light and contrasts that occur between day and night.
Less is more
It is not about filling a space with antique furniture, but about choosing a few but with a marked character. In fact, grouping too many pieces of the same style in the same space is out of fashion and the only thing that is achieved is to recharge the environment. If it is a set of seats or a set of furniture, it is more effective to show them separately, in different rooms and respecting the previous keys of space and harmony.
Let’s not forget that using pieces of furniture, decoration objects or vintage paintings will create a great visual impact in our decoration. For this reason, by applying the “less is more” rule when arranging our antiques, we will achieve a visually much lighter contemporary decoration.
What is an antique?
Finally, it is necessary to clarify what exactly an antique is. An antique is not every “old” piece of furniture or object that has fallen into our hands. Antique furniture stands out for the good quality of its materials and for being unique pieces made by artisans. For this reason, although we call objects and furniture from the 50s, 60s and 70s vintage, they cannot be considered antiques.
Each era has its characteristic pieces, for example the French Empire style armchairs or the secretary of the Biedermaier European center fit perfectly with contemporary environments. On the other hand, Chinese pieces such as bridal wardrobes or rugs with floral drawings integrate very well into any type of space.
I hope that all these tips and keys on how to decorate with antiques help you find the most suitable pieces to give character to the decoration of your home. You will see how thanks to them you get a contemporary environment that differs from the rest and makes your home a unique and exclusive space.
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