Saturday, April 28, 2012

Coffee tables in historic homes

The tricky thing with furnishing an antique house is that the pieces of furniture we need for our day to day lives are frequently different from the furniture used in the 18th and 19th century home. No one now uses candle stands, pembroke tables, or tilt top tea tables (well you should! they're all great pieces of furniture). And our early American ancestors did not use coffee tables, kitchen islands, or TV consoles. So how should the thoughtful homeowner find a happy medium between modern convenience and period appropriate ambiance? Let's take the coffee table for example. Here are some images from design savvy folks around the web using blanket chests, farm tables, and various other tables to fulfill the coffee table need, and keep their historic home looking historic.
Love the simple airiness of this, and those casters add so much flexibility
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Can't find the perfect coffee table? Make one! This one is Swedish styled and restrained, you could do an equally fabulous one out of salvaged barn boards.
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Made from a wonderful antique door that the home owner found in their barn. LOVE. That love seat's pretty fantastic too.
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A coffee table that I did last winter. With the classic Queen Anne lines, it would be perfect in an 18th century home!

From Pottery Barn's new catalog. I'm currently looking for a coffee table to re-do for our jazz studio, and this is very close to the look i'll be shooting for.
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An antique table, cut down. The length and dimensions are playful and functional. The patina of the aged wood makes it perfect for an antique home
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