Minimalism and Antiques Are Not Enemies

Minimalism and Antiques Are Not Enemies 1100 867 Gaslight Square Shoppes

 

Antique furniture fits with a love of minimalism

Do you love antiquing, but still think of fussy Victorian rooms full of knick-knacks and doilies? Get over it! Any period of antiques can find a way to fit into your love of minimalism. Need some help figuring out how?

Choose Antiques Carefully

The hardest and easiest step to finding pieces that will work without making your space feel cluttered, busy or out of sync with your tendency toward minimalism is to look for items that spark joy (thank you, Marie Kondo).  It happens as you walk through an antique mall. You feel your eyes glaze over a few booths. You forget to look at the top or bottom shelves, and suddenly, boom! There’s the spool cabinet, mid-century sideboard or slag glass lamp that stops you in your tracks. You’ve just found a winner!

Imagine and Rethink Your Spaces

Think over spaces where antiques you spot and like could live in your home. Is your hand-me-down sideboard there through inertia, functional enough and doing its job? Could this new mid-century delight replace it with a piece you’ll really love seeing each day?

Accentuate the Positive

Look for accent pieces that really speak to you — you’ll know them when you see them. Visualize your room with a bright pop of color from a retro wall clock, or add an ornately framed, Victorian oil painting to a very modern room to give it a burst of extra personality.

Think Functional

One aspect of minimalist style is that by paring things down to the essentials, everything has a function. Take that idea and run with it. Need an area rug? How about an old oriental rug? Need a little more light by an easy chair? How about a vintage floor lamp.

Mix it Up

Try really blending antique and minimalist style by putting vintage pictures in crisp, modern frames or vice versa. Reupholster an ornate, Eastlake chair with a simple, geometric fabric design, or take a basic IKEA chair and replace its upholstery with a rick damask brocade.

Adding antiques to your home doesn’t have to mean shelves full of tchotchkes and curio cabinets filled to bursting with ornate glass and china. Thoughtfully adding or keeping only those pieces that you love, or repurposing them into useful pieces, can make your design sleek, simple and complete.

Find the perfect antique piece that matches your minimalist style. Let the experts at Gaslight Antiques help. Visit us today!