Six secrets to creating a chic home with preloved buys
Don’t go straight to painting furniture and vintage veneers. Clean the wood first, just lightly and consider its value as is. File picture
From furniture to decorative accessorising and even electronics — the sustainable call is to make use of everything that’s not desiccated and fit for the bin. However, when it comes to stuff we bring into the house, there are a few ground rules worth remembering before embracing the pre-loved.
Mistakes can not only be costly, but can send that piece back to the market, or even see it misdirected to the tip. I’ve made every blunder known to mankind, but outside of appliances there’s very few conventionally “new” things in my home. With a rusting car trailer and a pinched budget, here’s what I’ve learned.
Unless you are an aesthetic purist, mixing up period styles is allowed, and best done using a blend of older items, genuine antiques, brand new discoveries and home-made things. Interiors stiffly recreating a very particular look can feel uneasy, whereas rooms layered in honestly accrued personal picks have an easy authenticity.
Grand country house and glittering Parisian apartment leased by old money don’t just favour Georgian or art deco treasures. They are composed of centuries of hum-drum stuff (some of it worth next to nothing). There’s a certain tension between old and new that’s perfectly understood by interior designers and savvy homemakers. Take a wide-eyed stroll on Instagram for inspiration. My current favourite is Ciara Denvir and husband Peter Boyle’s home in Belfast, @orminstonhousedesign.
Avoid new reproductions and fakes: Generally, cheaply made (often in non-sustainable materials), and smashing copyright laws intended to protect artists, creators and their estates, steer clear of cheap imitations of vintage classics. If you love the line of a table, chair or piece of lighting, and cannot afford an original or patented new example, process what it is about that piece that speaks to you.
When exploring the second-hand market, you might find something by a lesser known or even a prolific maker that has everything you’re after and that’s all quality. Trust your eye. I love seasoned collector and stylist Ali Heath’s lovely guide Create: At Home with Old and New”, Mitchell Beazley (2023), €33.60, Eason.
Learn to recognise quality. We live in a highly industrialised era that’s at least a century and a half old. Just because something is vintage or older, doesn’t mean it’s good. There are dusty heaps of what is termed “utilitarian furniture” piled up in junk shops, and much of it has been heavily used and abused. Look for signs of good manufacture, hand-crafting or assembly and a recognised maker with a proven reputation. Only the best of second-hand Ikea and lightly used pieces would get in my door. It’s not all made to last (outside of solid wood designs).
In period storage pieces, dove-tails and hardwoods free of worm and water damage can have another century of use ahead. Mid-century sideboards have shot up in value, as made in small studios across Britain and Europe they still carry the signs of heritage cabinet-making. Research what you’re likely to be buying in and utilise Google Lens on your smart-camera to generate instant comparisons from a single shot.
Is it stable? When your eye is taken by some gorgeous old-dear reclining in the half-light of a crowded auction room, it’s easy to over-look the all-important judgement on condition. Take an old balloon back chair by the top of the rail and rock it across the seat. If the legs curtsy under her, she’s going to need a lot of tender loving attention from a skilled carpenter (never mind that lumpen upholstery you refuse to acknowledge).
This is not a deal-breaker, especially in a market of cheap brown furniture stretching back to the mid-19th century. How and ever, budget for the restoration if you don’t have the skill-set. No-one needs a garage full of broken things, and sitting out in the cold and damp long-term, won’t do timber any good. Minor wear and a bit of lost veneer? Rather than jumping to over-brightening an old thing, remember that a little history can add up to a lot of character.
It’s unlikely you will walk into a second-hand outlet or spot something at a boot-sale that’s all but made to measure. Old and vintage things can have quirky dimensions and when it comes to big furnishings with carved pediments and deep drawered bases for example, they can go beyond what’s comfortable under a 2.4m ceiling. Keep a tape in the car together with the rough dimensions of rooms you’re trying to style up stored in your phone.
Don’t forget that this elephant has to come into the room. Will that side-board or four-poster come apart? What shade is the timber? Does it have extravagant decoration or eye-watering colour that could bully other things you already have in place? A small torch (you could try your phone) is also useful for lighting up the back of cabinets and examining fine detail.
Buying sight unseen? Check those dimensions with the vendor. Collector Ireland has listings of auctions and boot sales nationwide, collectireland.com.
Don’t paint (or strip) everything. There are some horrendous projects going around Instagram with grinning posters “refurbishing” the past, stripping off veneers, slathering on paint, whopping off legs and generally vandalising good old and vintage furniture.
I’m a participant in the chalk-paint renaissance but bending every bit of old stuff to your will and creativity, can decimate its attributes and in some cases destroy the item’s value.
Dark furniture is out of favour right now, it’s true. However, dark furniture is not only intrinsically classy but can be lit-up with items placed on or around it, including the use of glass tops made to measure. With glazed cabinets, think about doing something radical to the inside of the piece before painting the outside Barbie pink.
Fabric, paint, wall-paper — these can all lift a darker example. With good wood and fine veneers, at the very least, try to gently clean and then wax the piece to see the secret sensation you may already have on hand. HG do a range of products including Meubeline Restorer that removes drink rings, stains, white marks, scratches, water-marks, bleached deposits and the jaded appearance from everyday wooden tables, desks, coffee tables and more; €12 from B&Q.
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