Antique wood furniture design: simple ways to decorate, inspiring interior design ideas in the manner of bygone days

Rare pieces of furniture play a special role in interior design. They emphasize the aristocracy and exclusivity of the home environment. The design of antique wood furniture can be done using patination, brushing, gilding, decoupage and other decor methods.

The spirit of antiquity emanating from antique interior items fills the house with notes of luxury and nobility. The original details of the furnishings embody the aesthetics of many stylistic trends - retro, vintage, country, baroque, art deco, shabby chic, gothic and many others.

Headsets, dining and living room furniture groups made of wood that radiates heat, it is appropriate to use to level the excessive coldness of a very popular metal and glass finish. Therefore, the design of semi-antique furniture made of wood is also relevant in modern interiors.

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Antique wooden furniture design: decor variations

Any unremarkable chair, cabinet, dining or desk made of solid wood can become an expressive art object. Amazing transformations of furniture are easy to perform using various techniques of arts and crafts and methods for transforming wooden parts:

• bleaching;
• staining;
• varnishing;
• grinding;
• toning;
• waxing with imitation of patina;
• paint coatings with craquelure effect;
• painting.

Wood is a plastic material that can be easily processed. Through the use of the above methods, it is possible to modify wood joinery at home, giving them a characteristic touch of antiquity.

To create a luxurious-looking interior composition in the style of art deco or neoclassical, it is enough to use unique furniture with antique design as accent details. It must be made of precious woods - wenge, zebrano, oak, mahogany or teak.

Filigree woodcarving, gilding with gold leaf, silvering of panels gives the carpentry a luxurious antique look. It is advisable to perform such furniture decor when arranging palace interiors. Large costs for their design can be significantly reduced by purchasing or restoring dilapidated armchairs, sofas, beds, dressing tables and other furniture items. Even gaudy-looking pieces of furniture will take on a solid look with skillfully executed upholstery changes, repair of broken parts and antique man-made decor.

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Features of aged furniture

Antique wooden furniture has incredible appeal. Careless processing of facades, uneven painting, roughness and other defects are the aesthetic advantages of interior details that contradict modern precision and perfection. Signs of dilapidation reflect the imprint of centuries of exploitation, reminiscent of hand-made production by master cabinetmakers.

Characteristic features of antique furniture are aesthetically looking flaws:

• deliberately uneven edges;
• broken corners;
• abrasions;
• dents;
• heterogeneous color;
• cracked paint layer;
• scratches;
• minor chips;
• traces of corrosion.

The wood base withstands sanding, milling or pyrographic equipment. Thanks to this, any details can be made perfectly smooth, decorated with ornate carvings or scorched patterns. The imprints of time on furniture in the form of decoratively created flaws will highlight the elite features of the interior, symbolizing the reverence for timeless classics, modern, art deco and other design styles.

Used furniture is useful for recreating the picture of the interior with a peasant life, characteristic of country, rustic and rustic design style. Furnishings with artificially created cracks and traces of peeling paint symbolize the design of the house in vintage style. If you add a painting with floral motifs, then the joinery will organically fit into the Provencal setting.

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Antique furniture in Provence style

The comfort of a country cottage overlooking the endless lavender fields is easy to recreate in your own home if you imitate the aesthetics of the Provencal style. The characteristic interior is dominated by natural motifs, whitewashed furniture with expressive defects in the form of barely noticeable scuffs and cracks.

To give the carpentry a worn look, it is enough to use a simple decor method:

• Remove old paint from furniture fronts and carpentry parts with sandpaper or grinding equipment.
• Alternately paint with dark and light paint.

• Rub the top layer with sanding paper until fragments of the base tint appear on the surface.

As a result, it will be possible to achieve the effect of worn furniture in certain places, simulating the appearance of dilapidation. In addition to signs of dilapidation, Provence-style joinery is characterized by decorating the facades of cabinets, chests of drawers, dressing tables, sideboards with floral motifs in the form of paintings.

An elementary method of pictorial design is do-it-yourself furniture decoupage:

• After the above-described processing of the carpentry bases, it is necessary to generously lubricate the place of decor with acrylic glue.
• Tightly attach decorative napkins or specialized decoupage cards with selected patterns.

• After drying, the composition must be coated with a double layer of acrylic varnish.

Antique wooden chests of drawers decorated with vines, sideboards with wild flowers, a massive dining table with various flaws are an aesthetic landmark of the dominance of Provence in the interior. Each piece of furniture, due to external imperfection, creates the feeling of being used by many generations.

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The role of semi-antique furniture in a modern interior

The abundance of chrome and glossy furnishings, full of trendy interiors, is wise to complement with contrasting details. To seamlessly combine modern interior elements and vintage joinery, you must adhere to the design rules:

• Antique furniture should be used to arrange accent areas in the interior composition.

• Modern light installations will competently emphasize the presentable look of an exclusive retro detail.
• You need to group furniture and decor items according to stylistic features.
• To beautifully arrange the old and new details of the situation, you need to create harmonious contrasts. For example, a bog oak dining table with a cracked top can be placed next to a perfectly smooth mirror or surrounded by transparent plastic chairs.

• Compliance with color balance with a dosage of 60-30-10%, belonging to the main, additional and accent tone. If rare furniture should act as a visual dominant, then its color should be chosen in accordance with the focal color. Harmoniously with the surrounding space, retro details of a similar tone look with a basic color background.

To create the appearance of antiquity, the designers filigree work through every detail of the carpentry. Thanks to the creative approach, decorators manage to make real pieces of furniture art. As a result, the external imperfection of semi-antique wooden furniture is elevated to the rank of dignity, because each element acquires individuality.

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Modifications of aged furniture for arranging the living room

In historical design styles, reflecting the principles of interior design in past eras, the hall occupied a large space in the house. Volumetric bay windows, high ceilings and spaciousness of the representative area affected the furniture industry. Joinery in the old days was made with large-sized details and expressive decor, clearly visible from the far corner of the hall with a large area. Therefore, it is appropriate to use rare furnishings for the improvement of large living rooms:

• Massive bookcase made of oak or pine with a carved frame. To emphasize its long-term use, it is necessary to supplement the aesthetics of antiquity with books with shabby bindings.

• A showcase with peeling paint on wooden supports is perfect for displaying decorative items with history - a china service or a collection of antiques.
• A chest of drawers with a figured frame and patinated handles will perfectly play the role of a podium for demonstrating a family heirloom - candlesticks, caskets, plates with Zhostovo painting.

• A Voltaire chair with curved legs or a rocking chair with a rough wooden frame is an essential attribute of a fireplace area with an aura of bygone times.
• A coffee table with a round top and a wooden sculpture underframe will create comfortable conditions for board games.

Antique wood furniture is optimally suited for the improvement of the living room, where you can fully relax from the intense rhythm of life and nostalgic enough about the regularity of being in the past.

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Selection of semi-antique furniture for the kitchen

If you want to decorate in a special way a place for daily meals and festive feasts, it is important to use different aged pieces of furniture:

• Lacquered dining tables with voluminous tops and figured baluster-shaped legs in tandem with typical chairs are a characteristic feature of kitchens with the aesthetics of historical design styles. Finely crafted classic decor elements symbolize handicraft furniture production. Signs of antiquity can appear in the form of chips or a small network of cracks on the lacquered surface.A similar visual effect is easy to achieve when using craquelure varnish to cover a wooden tabletop or underframe.

• A table set of a table and stools knocked together from unhewn boards is an essential attribute of a rustic, chalet or country style kitchen. The deliberately rough decor of antique furniture will be emphasized by the treatment with stain of natural tones.

• Dining chairs with upholstered seats and backs upholstered in a fabric with obvious signs of wear, it is important to install around a table with a homespun tablecloth. Whitewashed frames with a non-uniform color in tandem with drapery with fabric with pastoral ornaments will clearly reflect the signs of the dominance of Provence or shabby chic.

The tradition of gathering at the dinner table inexorably migrates from one era to another. Today, as in the old days, it is important to organize cozy dining areas in the kitchen with a wide table and comfortable chairs with high backs. To create an ambiance of antiquity, it is reasonable to give preference to the incomparable design of aged wood furniture that keeps the history of meals for many generations.

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Easy Ways to Give Your Furniture an Antique Look

In order for joinery to quickly acquire a pompous look with a flair of antiquity, you need to apply effective decor methods:

• Brushing allows you to expressively highlight the unique images of annual rings and corrugations on solid wood. In the process of natural aging, the surface of the cut wood fades and the natural pattern becomes much brighter than the surrounding background. It is not difficult to artificially create such a visual effect by treating the surface of furniture products with steel brushes or sandblasting equipment at the factory. At the final stage of the decor, it is necessary to cover the surface with wax or varnish.

• Gilding gives wooden interior items a noble look with an emphasis on precious finishes to match the old days. A common method of decorating furniture facades is gilding with potal (specialized foil of a color characteristic of valuable metal). The shiny material is finely crushed, glued to the base, treated with a soft brush to remove the edges of the gilding fragments and polished to fix it.

• Patination creates the appearance of plaque formation, symbolizing the many years of service life of joinery. Often the effect of patina on furniture is expressed in the finishing of corners, recesses, recesses in a color different from the base. To achieve this look is simple when using textured paint, shellac or bituminous varnish.

The unique design of antique furniture, bewitching with decorative delights, has an amazing resemblance to genuine antiques. Therefore, it is wise to learn the basics of decorating old joinery, which can look brilliant after a skillfully restored restoration.

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How to make an aged coffee table with your own hands: a step-by-step master class

It is not necessary to use used chairs or stools to create original antique interior items. In the old days, junk bases acted as furniture items. The original idea of ​​​​creating an aged coffee table can be the use of non-trivial details:

• large logs;
• rare chests;
• wooden boxes from under vegetables or fruit;
• pallets.

To make a dilapidated coffee table out of pallets, you need to follow a simple technology:

• Carefully process pallets - clean from dirt, replace rusted nails, sand with a drill with a woodworking attachment.

• Connect several pallets together, depending on the desired height of the underframe.
• Make a tabletop from a disassembled pallet. To give the boards the effect of antiquity, use a chisel to make chopped cuts in a chaotic manner. Alternative ways to decorate are to knock down corners, make holes with nails or burn the boards in several places with a blowtorch. Imitation of mechanical damage will give the products a seasoned look.

• Attach massive furniture wheels at the bottom on four sides with the ability to turn in any direction and lock in the desired position.

There are many ways to design antique furniture. Photos of the stages of the man-made decor of joinery can inspire any connoisseur of aged household items to independently create noteworthy interior details.

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Designer recommendations for the use of aged furniture

Bold experiments with the design of wooden interior items are justified by obtaining an exclusively decorated house with a memorable atmosphere akin to a museum exhibition of antique furniture exhibits. Therefore, do not rush to get rid of interior items that have long lost their original appearance and are out of fashion.

Antique solid pine furniture is ideal for the first attempts at restoration. This type of wood has a soft structure and an expressive natural pattern, presented in the form of asymmetric voluminous rings. It is enough to sand the surface of the pine joinery, treat with linseed oil and cover with acrylic varnish. In addition, solid pine is an inexpensive building material. If it is necessary to replace broken parts, it is easy to fix defects at low financial cost.

Aged carpentry products are able to fully recreate the picture of the interior of an old Russian hut, palace apartments or chambers of royal estates. The use of dilapidated chests of drawers, sideboards, consoles and other outdated furniture items is an excellent alternative to expensive antiques.

When designing interior design, it is necessary to clearly distribute the main and secondary roles between rare and modern pieces of furniture. Excessive use of antiques will create the appearance of a museum environment that is contrary to home comfort. The dosed use of antique wood furniture with a bewitching form of carving will balance the artsy brilliance of design elements of decoration that correspond to interior fashion trends.

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Photo gallery - antique furniture design

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