Buying antique furniture has a dual appeal. On one hand it is the pleasure to be taken by filling one's home with antiques, fine creations of craftsmen & on the other it is the possibility of later financial gain as well chosen antique furniture appreciates in value.
Nothing adds more style & grace to your carefully maintained interiors of a home like a fine antique, especially a carefully selected piece of antique furniture that's both functional and beautiful. There are certain things to keep in mind while buying antique. For example:
- Choosing Styles
- Identify Antique Furniture & Reproductions
- Budget
- Antique Furniture Shops
Choosing Styles
The amount of time one willing to spend will play a deciding factor when buying antique furniture. The decor style will also have a role with furniture like made of oak wood etc. Antique furniture of imported woods like mahogany, walnut, satinwood, and rosewood will be much expensive than country furniture made in regional areas.
Antique furniture of every style and aesthetic is available online. Narrowing down what you like and what will work best in your home is the most important task.
Identify Antique Furniture & Reproductions
There are lots of antique reproductions available with the antique dealers which are more affordable compared to original antiques.
Both are fine but the challenge is making a decision based on what’s important to you. Here are some ways to decide if a piece of antique is a true piece of history or just a clever reproduction.
Try to find Imperfections like varying widths of boards, signs of age like cracking, fading and warping Since wood shrinks over time etc as uniform board widths are a fairly modern invention
As always, if you have questions, ask the seller to provide you with additional details or photos of the piece to help you make a decision.
Budget
Our advice to buyers is to buy the best quality antiques in your budget. Any beginner buying antique furniture will make mistakes so it is better they be inexpensive ones which can be valuable learning experiences for your future antique shopping.
Antique Furniture Shops
you’ll find all kinds of antique like English antiques, Country French furniture, italian antiques etc at most of the Antique Furniture shops like OldPlank at OldPlank road Chicago who are selling antiques for more than 15 years .
Choosing Antique Furniture
When shopping for antique furniture just go to nearest antique furniture dealers. Antique dealers understand that people will hardly ever buy something on their first visit to shop. Just see their collection and especially on antiques which you would like to buy.
Pay careful attention on antiques level of imperfection, missing handles etc can be treated as minor because reproductions of antique furniture hardware are easy to obtain.
But woodworm should be taken seriously this problem occurs mostly in woods like beech & pine.
Happy Hunting!
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We are Antique furniture dealers located Old plank Road, 25 miles west of Chicago. We receive containers from England and France every month, so our stock of around 25,000 antiques and reproductions is constantly changing. The year after we opened this second location, Chicago Magazine named us the best antique store in the area. For more info visit www.oldplank.com