For as long as I can remember, I’ve been obsessed with vintage furniture.
I love the thrill of the chase when hunting down the perfect piece (I’m always on the lookout for something or other!), and the individuality that comes with having a home not furnished top to bottom in Ikea.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. If that’s what floats your boat, then great. There are plenty of people out there who would get the heebie jeebies over used furniture in their homes and that’s fine too. Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?
As a long term advocate of buying vintage, I’m here to bring you all the reasons why I think buying vintage furniture is always a good idea!
Quality
Vintage furniture is more likely to be made from solid wood than modern furniture. Materials like particleboard didn’t exist until the 1950’s and so much of the furniture predating this time were made from solid wood.
Solid wood ages much more sympathetically than materials like particleboard, which, when damaged can peel apart to reveal ugly chipboard underneath. So while a beautiful Georgian chest of drawers might collect character and charm as it ages; a modern piece of chipboard, likely will not.
That’s not to say a vintage or modern piece of particleboard furniture can’t look great, they can and do, but it’s good to be mindful of the materials you buy and how these might age over time.
Aside from the superior materials often found in vintage furniture, the workmanship involved in creating each piece is often better too. Nothing gives me quite as much pleasure as pulling open a set of antique drawers to admire the dovetail joints fixing the draw front firmly in place.
You could say this is a sign that I need to get out more, and I wouldn’t argue with you on that.
However, whether you’re as into it as I am, or not. Can you argue with craftmanship that lasts in excess of 100 years? How many pieces of mass produced furniture do you think would stand up to the test?
Individuality
One of my favourite things about buying vintage furniture is that it brings a sense of individuality, that buying something already owned by thousands of other households could not.
By buying vintage, in may ways you also future proof your interior décor. When you buy into a piece of history, it’s hard for your home to look dated, by virtue of the fact that this is the look you’re trying to achieve.
I love to mix old pieces of furniture with modern prints and simple colour schemes, to keep the look eclectic, but fresh.
Sustainability
Global warming is real, it’s happening, and quite frankly it’s terrifying.
Now, more than ever, it’s important that we try to reduce, reuse and repurpose wherever possible. Buying vintage furniture is a brilliant way to do this. Why buy new, when there are so many amazing pieces of furniture out there already
Budget
Another reason why I am a massive fan of buying second hand, is that it’s allowed our budget go so much farther.
Through scouring selling sites like ebay and our local house clearance shop, I’ve picked up mirrors for as little as £6 each, a coffee table I love for £30, a beautiful Georgian chest of drawers for £100 and my youngest daughter’s bed cost just £5.
Buying vintage means you can have the home you’ve dreamed of for less. And even better, you know that if you come to sell these pieces later, they will hold their value much better than something you’ve bought new. This means you can chop and change the furniture in your home, without feeling like you’re throwing money away.
To Preserve a Piece of History
One of the best things about vintage furniture is that they have a story to tell.
The craftmanship, the style, and the wear on each individual piece, tells us something about our collective history. Keeping this intact to pass onto future generations is a wonderful thing.
