Antique interiors can be quite expensive to set up and maintain. Akin to skincare, a genuine antique interior requires maintenance. Unlike skin, no amount of maintenance will save a poor setup. This is where most people passionate about antique decor fall. The prices of many pieces of furniture and decorations reach far above affordable prices, meeting thousands, sometimes even tens of thousands of dollars. Not all of us can afford these exorbitant prices, however not all is lost, for it’s possible to make an antique interior on a budget.
Planning Your Antique Interiors
If you’re trying to put together antique interiors on a budget, you’ll need to carefully plan your design. We are unlike rich collectors who can simply buy whichever items they like. Only after this can we put together an interior at our leisure, we on a budget must plan first, and hold strictly to the plan. Take a design program, or simply jot down on paper how you want it to look. Where the antique vanity mirror should go, where you’ll put the high chair if you need newspapers etc.
It’s important to have a vision in mind when crafting your interior. If you don’t have a vision you could, and most likely will find yourself buying things you might not end up using. Even things like furniture you don’t like might sneak into your shopping list. Contrary to this, it is also important to be flexible, don’t turn down an amazing looking beige chair just because you wrote down it should be brown.
Looting For Furniture
While it can be hard to put together antique interiors on the cheap, it’s a lot easier if you know where to look. First, you need to make a budget you’ll stick to, decide how much you’re willing to pay maximum, then divide it onto the items on your previously written list, keep these as ballpark figures, for example, if you wrote 300$ for an antique vanity mirror, it being 330$ should still be alright.
Next, you’ll need to look. Finding antique furniture on the cheap is much akin to treasure hunting. Don’t limit yourself just to one source, look around for garage sales, private sales on Craigslist etc. After that, feel free to check out online auction sites such as eBay, while these often have more trash in them, they also have more affordable prices. Once those have dried out, take a look at specialized shops online, stores such as 1stdibs and FleaPop have many sales for antique furniture. When it comes to peripherals, such as candelabras, cast iron skillets etc. Etsy can be an excellent source.
Some Closing Thoughts
The most important things to take home from this are: – Set a budget and stick to it. – Have a vision in mind, write down how your interior should look. – Set a budget for every item, and search for them both on, and more importantly off the internet. But in the end, the most important thing is that you find an interior which satisfies you, which fills you with joy and makes every step in your abode feel just right.