How to Build a Room Around Second Hand Furniture

If you shop wisely, you can use second hand furniture to create design-savvy environment. One of the major challenges is gathering furniture from different places and pulling off an effective look. The following keys will help you pull the used and even abused together into a look that everyone envies.

Consider the size of the room

In general, bulky pieces look out of place in a small room, while delicate pieces look completely lost in a large room. At the same time, decorating rules can be tweaked. For example, if your goal is a cozy feel, then overstuffed chairs accomplish that goal. Look for pieces that fall somewhere in the middle, size-wise.

Keep a color scheme in mind, but be flexible

You may find a second-hand living room set that you really love, but the colors don’t match your walls. As long as the color doesn’t clash with the carpet or flooring, consider changing the color of your walls. Paint doesn’t cost that much.

It’s important that the colors of your second furniture work together. Wood pieces come in different colors and grains. The Swedes get away with combining distinct opposites such as birch and walnut because they share a common grain. They pull the look off by sticking with simple design lines. The patterns or solids in the fabrics and other accents tend toward geometric lines.

Keep texture and pattern in mind

Nothing looks more like you shopped the local Value Village than several pieces of furniture sharing the same space with none of the upholstery sharing a common texture. Every piece can be the same color, but if the textures don’t match, the furniture just doesn’t look like it belongs together.

Paying attention to the texture in textiles and furniture surfaces is vital. You can combine smooth, glossy surfaces with heavily textured surfaces, but you need something that unites them—color or shape, for example. You might find chairs in the same style for example that use contrasting fabrics. As long as the colors coordinate, the different fabric textures can add interest.

Florals can work with geometrics, but it usually takes several elements to make it work—common color scheme and shared texture. For example, a floral chintz might work very well with a stripe as long as both pieces have the typical shiny finish of a chintz and share coordinating colors.

Be Patient

One of the biggest mistakes people make when they buy second hand furniture is settling for things they really don’t like that much, saying, “It’ll do for now.” To be honest, it’s better to sit in collapsible camping chairs for a while. When you find a good second-hand buy, you not only save money now, you enjoy what you purchased.

This is one of the main reasons why so many people think they couldn’t enjoy using “old” furniture. They don’t wait until they find something that fits their style. Unlike walking into a furniture store, your perfect buy is dependent on someone else parting with their furniture.

Gather as many ideas as you can

Pour over decorating magazines at your local library. One advantage of the old stacks is the ability to get ideas where the decorators find theirs—from the past. You’ll see how some of those older pieces were used originally. Then picture them in a retro setting. Remember, today’s retro was the style forty years ago, so the styles of 10-15 years ago may only need a fresh approach—change in color, new upholstery, a slipcover. Don’t be afraid to be on the cutting edge. The ultimate goal is to love the look and feel comfortable in it.