Vintage or antique furniture can be a great addition to your home design. When you mix in older pieces, it can help your home feel curated. There’s that sense of timelessness that comes with older furniture, and you avoid having a space that feels too sterile or like you just went into a furniture store and chose a package already put together.
We often use the terms vintage and antique interchangeably in home design, which is similar, and the difference is in how old the pieces are. A vintage piece is usually anywhere from 30 to 100 years old, and an antique piece of furniture is technically more than 100 years old.
The following are six benefits and advantages of mixing some vintage or antique pieces in your home.
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1. It’s Not a Fleeting Trend
When you shop at today’s furniture manufacturers and companies, the pieces are often trendy and designed for the moment. That’s fine too, but when you invest in a vintage or antique piece, it will stand the test of time. They’re never going out of style, and many modern companies will try to replicate or modernize vintage and antique styles because of how enduring they are in terms of style.
2. The Quality
Antique and vintage furnishings will be extremely high quality in almost every instance. The furniture has survived for decades or more, proving its quality.
When pieces were made 30 years ago or more, the wood and other materials were often of better quality than what’s used to manufacture today’s pieces.
These furnishings were made to last for generations, reflecting the detail and craftsmanship.
3. It’s Unique
If you’re someone who prefers the idea of having a home that’s entirely your own and not like anyone else’s, vintage and antique pieces are one of the best ways to achieve this. Today's furniture is mass-produced, and you can see the same items across different websites and in various furniture stores.
Vintage and antique pieces are one-of-a-kind. Every item is going to be unique from each other, and it isn’t easy to find the same piece.
There can become almost an addiction to collecting unique pieces of furniture that people love.
When you mix unique and timeless pieces into your home’s design, they become conversation-starters.
4. You’ll Have Fun Shopping For It
Shopping for antique and vintage furniture is a hobby for many people, and there are so many places you can source it. For example, you can look online, and people might be selling pieces on social media or sites like Etsy.
Local shops in your area may specialize in older furniture; if you like antiques in particular, auction houses can be an excellent place to find pieces. A lot of the pieces you’ll find at auction houses can also be a good investment. These pieces may be valuable now and may continue going up in the future.
5. It’s Cost-Effective
While certain antique pieces might be expensive, most older furniture isn’t. You can find great deals, and you can even scour yard sales looking for things that you like. Plus, since it is of higher quality than most modern furniture, items will last longer, and you’ll have to replace them less often.
If you go with cheaper furniture or newer pieces, you might be able to spend less at first, but if you’re replacing the same item every few years, the costs add up quickly.
6. Environmental Friendliness
Finally, if you’re choosing older furnishings, you’re helping the environment and reducing your impact. First, you are buying items that could end up in a landfill. You also have to think about what goes into modern, mass-produced furniture. It often is made in polluting factories and facilities and includes toxic chemicals and substances in the finishes and glues.
