Buying vintage furniture is a smart strategy to get high-quality furniture with visual interest. You add originality and appeal to your house, and avoid the dreaded ‘matching furniture with half the neighborhood’ dilemma. Want to start buying vintage furniture, but aren’t sure where to start? Use this guide for a beautifully decorated home. Share on X
Buying Vintage Furniture
Buying vintage furniture is a little different from your usual furniture shopping because you are not looking for just anything, but furniture from a specific era. To qualify as vintage furniture, it should be at least 30 to 40 years old. Anything more than a 100 years old is technically an antique.
Find a Good Source and Visit Them Often
Explore different vintage furniture stores in your area. Once you have located a great resource, it helps to go there often. Get to know salespeople or owner. They can provide you with plenty of information or let you know when something you want shows up. As they get to know you better they can start to keep an eye out for pieces you might like. Your local vintage shop can be an invaluable tool to find the perfect furniture for your home.
Look For Good Bones
Find furniture with good bones to ensure you get many years out of it. For instance, drawers should slide out easily, and upholstered pieces should have solid frames. Retail vintage stores often refurbish pieces of significant quality, but you will pay a price for this.
Don’t be Scared By Flaws
While it is important to look for gently used furniture, surface scratches and blemishes can often be fixed. Don’t let minor scratches put you off. Many products on the market can fix minor flaws, and if a truly remarkable piece warrants it, you can get it professionally refinished.
Repurpose
It helps to shop for vintage furniture not for what it was previously used for, but what you could use it for. For example, use a small table as a nightstand, a secretary desk for a bar, or an old trunk for a coffee table. Unusual furniture in unexpected places gives your space its own distinct style and can be even more functional than its traditional purpose.
Pro Tip: Don’t buy a piece of vintage furniture for what it is, but for what it could be with a bit of creative thinking.
Incorporate Vintage Items
Buying whole sets of vintage furniture can be expensive, hard to find, and can overwhelm your space. Consider buying individual pieces that would work well together one at a time. Buying individual pieces that look good together is the best way to incorporate vintage items into a modern space.
Contact Us to learn more about designing with vintage furniture. If you’re in the Spring area, visit our Old Town Spring vintage shop.