You visit a thrift shop and what catches your eye? A stylish Victorian tea set. You know you have to have it, and for only a few dollars, it’s a steal.
The next weekend you head to a flea market and find an antique area rug and again, it’s not too pricey so you pick it up. This happens about every week until you accidentally have a pile of vintage stuff and nowhere to put them.
Decorating with antiques can be tricky because you want to place them where they can catch the eye of your guests, without making your home look like an exhibit. Keep reading as we go over just a few helpful design tips so you can find a place for all your favorite pieces without clutter.
1. Group the Objects By Color
You have a collection of colorful English Georgian America vintage glasses. Instead of scattering them throughout the kitchen, put them in one cabinet and organize them by color. What you’ll end up with will be a rainbow of color that will wow your guests.
By grouping your antiques their color you can create a bunch of unified looks in any area of your home.
2. Put Like Objects Together
To reduce clutter, you should group like objects together rather than scattering them across a room or the house. Putting an entire tea set on your mantle just has more of an impact than scattering the teacups throughout your living room.
If you’re worried about things looking a little boring if you do it that way, you can arrange them in which the size and shape of the objects vary a little bit. So, if you have a set of vintage candles couple the tall and short ones together for example.
3. Create a Focus
Most museums have their collections scattered throughout the building again, this isn’t something you want to do when decorating with your antiques. Instead, you should pick a few places in your house and display them.
Doing this will create a focal point meaning, it will bring attention to areas in your home that you want to bring attention to.
4. Use Common Items in Unexpected Ways
You can use your antiques in creative and unexpected ways in your decorating as well. For example, instead of displaying an old map on your wall, you can use it for a lamp or window shade. Vintage aprons make really great window toppers.
You can also bring flair to your home by bringing outdoor decorations indoors as well.
5. Keep them in Reach
You can keep your antiques locked away behind a glass cabinet or on a shelf in your living room but first, consider the possibility of leaving them on the coffee table. Not all of your antiques at once of course but maybe a stack of antique books or a tea set.
This puts them on a pedestal of some sorts and is sure to stir up conversations with guests.
6. Frame them
If you pick up any paper antiques such as sheet music, postcards, or fans, these can be framed and placed on your wall. These paper antiques will be quite sensative so make sure to ask the person who is framing it to use acid-free products when doing the job. These products can also fade if put in direct sunlight so be sure you keep them hung well away from windows.
By framing objects, this is another way that you can display like items together or create a focus on a portion of your wall.
7. Something Old, Something New
Just because you have a bunch of antique items doesn’t mean you only have to display them specifically. Instead, you should try to mix them into some of your modern day collections as well. Doing so will help you and your guests travel through time in a sense.
For example, if you hang a vintage painting up, and then hang a modern one of similar style, you’ll see the contrast in how far we’ve come. Also, when you put a vintage piece in with a bunch of modern ones, it will make the vintage ones stand out.
So, if you’re trying to display a family heirloom of sorts and want it to be seen, display it in a room full of modern pieces.
8. Recreate Your Favorite Moment in Time
If you want an interesting challenge, you can try and model one of your rooms after your favorite time era. So, if you really love the Victorian Era, to the point where you want to model your bedroom around it, the first step is finding pieces that will work.
You can usually hop around from thrift shop to thrift shop to find stuff. Before you start your digging though, make sure that you have a point of reference. Do a little research in magazines and websites to get a look in mind before you start buying furniture.
Decorating with Antiques without Going Overboard
Antiques can bring a unique look to your home that nothing else can, but often times when you try to decorate with it, your home might end up looking like a museum exhibit. You have to know how to lump items together where they will fit without making things look cluttered. Use these tips for decorating with antiques to get started.
Antiques isn’t the only way to impress guests. By incorporating recent home trends, you can add a bit of beauty to your home. Keep reading to find out what the big home decor trends were in 2018.
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