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The Vintage Advantage "Decade" doesn't have to mean dated - vintage furniture adds style without stuffiness  Image courtesy istockphoto Nothing looks more fun than kids slurping milkshakes at retro popsicle-bright cafe tables and lilting on chrome stools. It's an unforgettable image propped up by unforgettable vintage furniture. "They had great kitchens in the 1950s," says Amy Hazam, owner of vintage specialty shop Vintage Swank in Front Royal, Va. "They had pink refrigerators! Something like a bright red Formica table will make any kitchen pop." Red Formica, pink refrigerators and chrome stools are certainly good reasons to think vintage. And recycling - saving a piece of furniture from a landfill - is another good reason to go for the old. And an intrepid retro-lover with sharp eyes can find vintage flair at any moment - plus, if a chair is 40 years old and still standing, that means it can take a beating. "Vintage pieces were really well constructed and made to last - made out of real materials like solid wood or chrome," Hazam says. Vintage furniture, roughly defined, is anything made between 1930 and 1980. Anything older is considered antique and anything newer is contemporary. Jerusalem Greer, a contributing editor for Vintage Indie magazine who owns Storia di Vita Design in Little Rock, Ark., says the best way to find vintage furniture is to go to garage or estate sales in neighborhoods that were built during the era of the furniture you want. "Many of those houses are furnished from the decade in which they were built," Greer says. "Because I love the 1940s and '50s, I primarily shop in neighborhoods where the houses were built in the '40s and '50s." So you've finally met the curvy retro coffee table of your dreams, but a puppy was there long before you and some stranger's coffee scalded a ring in the top. It's a burning question for many vintage items: Can this be salvaged? Greer says there are three questions someone looking to rehab oldies should ask: 1) Can I fix it myself? 2) If not, do I know someone who can? 3) Is the cost of the item plus the labor and materials worth it? Some things just need a coat of paint or some new hardware, but anything that requires reupholstering quickly gets complicated (and pricey), Greer says. "The easiest thing is to just buy wood or metal," Greer says. If they're in mint condition, those 1950s chrome stools might look good even without a milkshake and a black-and-white tiled floor. |
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