Mixing Old Furniture With New

Hello ForRent.com buddies!!  Mandi here and I am back with part 2 of our Thrifting series!  In the last blog, I shared some great tips for how to find the goods when going thrifting.  Today we are talking all about mixing vintage and new furniture for that perfectly collected cohesive look.  Last time I gave you some great thrifting tips to help you hunt down the treasure and what you should look for, we are going to go a little deeper into the best types of furniture to buy secondhand. Let’s use my living room for an example.  I have labeled the furniture vintage or new, so you can see the collection.

When it comes to the new pieces, the purpose is to not try to make them look old and vintage.  In any other setting they will clearly look new, but because of the mix they arent blaringly store bought. When buying vintage furniture the easiest things to find are hard wood pieces.  Think along the lines of Dressers, Credenzas, End Tables, Desks, Coffee Tables, Hutches, Wooden Chairs, etc.  The good news about buying things like this is that they are easy to refinish.  You can always turn a dresser or old stereo cabinet into a tv console, or 2 end tables side by side make a fantastic coffee table.  There is nothing better that a vintage piece of furniture to make a room feel more homey.

via

My favorite way to liven up old wood is to give it a good rub down with Danish Oil.   You can find it at any home improvement store.  Basically it is a tinted wood conditioner,  you apply it with a soft rag and it brings the wood to life.  (It also gets rid of heat rings and water staining!!)

When you get into vintage upholstery it can get a little bit hairier.  If you can find out where the piece came from, if you cant make sure that you clean it really well.  If you are out thrifting and find a great piece of upholstered furniture stick your nose in and smell around.  As strange as it may seem to be doing that in public to a strange couch, you would rather find out there that it smells like cats, then find out after its already in your house.  So sniff away friends. Take off all of the cushions in the store, sit in it and make sure its comfortable.  Look for any horrifying stains.  You know, give it a good once over to make sure that its REALLY something you love.  If it needs work, reupholstery is always an option, but it can be mighty expensive.  So think before you buy.  This is a couch that I found on my local Craigslist that I think has GREAT potential.   Its going to need between 10-13 yards of fabric.  With the price of the couch and fabric and the time it will take me (or the time I will need to pay someone) to do it, would it be cheaper to just buy a new couch?

You cant beat the spirit or the story of a truly vintage piece.  Someone love it enough to buy it once and you love it enough to buy it again.   So feel the love and buy vintage! Hey there new BFF, I’m Mandi from Vintage Revivals, and I love your guts! I started Vintage Revivals in July of 2010.  I had discovered the vast world of DIY blogging and I was hooked.  All of my neighbors called me and were wondering what the crap I was spray painting in 119 degree heat, so I kind of started it as a way for everyone to keep track of the craziness that is Mandi Gubler. I describe my style as Thrift Shop Glam.  Sounds awesome right? Ya, I made it up.