Hi friends! Happy Wednesday to you! Is it just us or does it seem daunting to keep your home looking fresh and new while incorporating some of your treasured collected items? Julie’s personal design style is definitely more collected with antiques incorporated throughout a modern, clean, and natural space… Lot of whites whether it be paint or furniture, wood grains, beautiful art, with relics that all tell a story incorporated throughout. Julie’s personal home consists of white walls, white linen draperies, and lots of white upholstered furniture. Her walls are adorned with lovely antiques that she’s collected over the years and you might find that some of the most memorable pieces in her home are collected items she’s been holding onto from years past. Today we wanted to share some tips on how to incorporate old with new and also share some of our favorite places to source antique pieces!
How to Incorporate Old With New
When we think about ways to incorporate old pieces with new in a way that still feels fresh and modern, we lean towards items like antique mirrors, art, figures/ statues, china, candlesticks, and accent chairs. In Julie’s new home built about 4 years ago, she incorporated gorgeous collected pieces throughout to give the space more character and tell a story. For example, if you’re out antique shopping and find any kind of old print, textile, sketch, photo, etc. you can easily have these reframed and layer them on a mantle in front of a mirror or even group a few together to hang. When it comes to china or dish ware, if you can create a collection of like items, you can easily showcase these throughout your home. Julie displays her collection of vintage mint green and turquoise dishes collected and gifted to her by her mom and grandmother all together in open shelving in her working pantry. By keeping like items together in a group, your collected items feel less out of place and more like an amazing and finished collection. If you find an amazing pair of antique chairs with great bones, you can can easily have them recovered in a simple white linen or pretty fabric and use them as pieces to add interest to your living room or flanking your dining room buffet table. We did this more recently with a pair of antique chairs that Julie had found years ago and had in storage. They went from a dated and dirty pink fabric to fresh and beautiful after we had them recovered with a white linen fabric. These are just a few examples of easy ways to think through incorporating antique finds throughout your home in a way that isn’t dated or overbearing.
Where to Source Antique Items
Some of Julie’s favorite places to source antiques are websites: Chairish, 1st Dibs, and Everything but the House. There are hundreds of items from art to mirrors to furniture and new items are added every day! We source a lot of neat finds for clients from some of these sources that are so easy to access online. Click on the links above to shop these sites now! Locally in Nashville: Eneby Home, Robin Rains’ showroom, Gas Lamp 1 and Gas Lamp Too, and 8th Ave Antiques are all favorites of Julie’s. Definitely check them out and if you find something you love, think through how you might layer it in or display them as a collection to add character to your home!