Tips for Buying Vintage Furniture [Part 2]

Vintage furniture has the ability to uniquely express your style and gives a room a sense of history and a little bit of a story. I love to create rooms that feel as though they have been collected over time and vintage pieces really help.

There’s a lot that goes into buying quality vintage furniture, including finding the right stores and estate sales to finding the right brands. Last week I gave you five tips on buying vintage furniture and here are five more to help you find the right piece. 

5 Tips to Buying Vintage Furniture

1. Don’t Let Scratches Scare You

While gently used items are important to look for, scratches on the surface shouldn’t be an automatic deterrent. The scratches give the piece the look of having a story to tell.  There are many products out there that can help you fix minor scratches, the Formby brand of refinish products are very user friendly. If the piece is really worthy, or you are not quite up to the DIY project, there are professionals who can refinish it.

2. Use Defects to Bargain

Now is the time to put those surface scratches to good use! If this is the really piece you want, use any damages or alterations to your advantage. Use them to ask for a better price, but keep in mind costs to fix those defects.

3. Make Sure It Fits

Measure the area in your home where you are looking to put this new item: you’re not buying it to store somewhere else. Tables, couches, etc., often look bigger or smaller in a showroom so make sure you know how big of an item you need. If you are buying from an auction or estate sale, it is rare that you would be able to return the item. Traveling to shows with a space plan in hand can be very helpful.

4. Re-purpose for Style

Unusual furniture in unexpected places will give your place a unique style. Consider using a small table as a nightstand and other items for new functions. This will make your home interesting to look at and walk through. The bohemian look is very much about finding new ways to enjoy existing pieces.

5. Look for Individual Pieces That Go Together

Vintage furniture can often be expensive, so can buying whole sets at once. If budget is a concern, buy items one at a time that go well together. This will not only save you money, having different pieces that work together will give your home a unique style.  A mix and match kind of style is a great look. Just be sure to keep one element of the mixed pieces similar to create unity within your collection. That might be a common wood tone or species or it might be that all the pieces are the same time period/style.

Vintage furniture is a special addition to any home, it allows owners the ability to tell their homes story through the furnishings and put a little something personal into their homes style. Not only can Lagnappe help you track down the right items you want, we can help craft your dream home with our custom items. Contact us today for more information!

About Lagnappe Custom Interiors:

Lagnappe Custom Interiors is a full-service interior design firm specializing in bringing the small niceties to a home or commercial space that make it memorable, functional and yours. Based out of St. Thomas, Lagnappe [LAN-YAP] is led by Tiffany Cassidy who enjoys working with clients to create a home that reflects their style and needs. Tiffany marries her artistic and scientific sides together to bring the residents of the Virgin Islands and continental U.S. an interior decorating service that manages the complex and turns it into beauty. Her goal is to not only make a home prettier, but in doing so, make your life better. Visit www.Lagnappe.com for more information.