Enjoying Antique Furniture In Your Home
Antique furniture can be of your interest if you are captivated by age old artifacts and their aesthetic appeal. Unique pieces of antique furniture are also favored by collector’s who specialize in this field. The term antique applies to a number of things, including books, jewelry, toys, clocks and such others. However, the most popular in the category of antiques is furniture pieces like dining tables, chairs, beds (especially the four poster ones), dressers and so on.
Owning a piece of antique furniture can add to the style quotient of your home. But this becomes a difficult task if you do not possess the knowledge of the same. You need to know about the timber that was fashioned to make the piece, the particular style used as well as the finish of the final product. If you are unaware about these details, you could land up buying an ordinary piece of furniture thinking it to be an antique.
You must be wondering how to distinguish antique furniture from the regular ones. For example if you are planning to buy an antique chair, you should try and figure out the wood that it is made up of. You can do it easily by observing its feet and edges. If you find these parts to be a bit different from the rest, then there are chances that they have been changed.
You can easily differentiate between antique furniture and regular furniture by carefully observing the difference in the structural design. Old furniture usually follows the plank-style of construction whereas the regular furniture follows newer tongue and groove type of construction. The antique furniture are mostly constructed out of wood from trees like oak, mahogany, chestnut, walnut, beech, pine, elm, ebony, teak, rosewood and many more.
There are many places where you can buy antique furniture from. You need to find out the right antique dealer who would give you the best piece. There are several online stores that deal in antiques. The price of an antique depends upon its quality; its age and its authenticity and you can determine these by its present condition, color and patina, modifications that have been made to the original piece, its construction and its proportions.
You can get a lot of varieties of antique furniture. The styles of these pieces are dictated by the time it was made. These include Oriental furniture, Continental furniture, English furniture, furniture from the times of the Renaissance and Georgian times, Gothic furniture and Medieval furniture. Complimenting the setting with antique lighting fixtures like lamps and chandeliers adds to the aura of the room. The right lighting can give you that feel of the bygone era.
Buying and decorating your house with antique furniture is not enough and you need to pay equal attention to its maintenance. An occasional dusting session is hardly adequate. Antiques made of wood can be damaged by the ultraviolet rays of the sun and therefore you need to place them in a corner of the house that is not exposed to direct sunlight. Moreover you need to ensure that it is not exposed to extreme temperatures and excessive humidity. While extreme temperatures result in the rapid expansion and contraction of the wood, high moisture content can lead to the growth of mould.
It pays to choose a reputable outlet for purchasing antique furniture. It is an investment as well as a beautiful addition to your home so look after it well.
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