Inheriting antiques from family members or developing your own collection of items from the past can add to the character of your home. The scale and style of some antique furniture, however, creates a need for homeowners to consider early in the building or renovation process if and where you want to include antiques in your home.
Rick Anthony Bonner, co-chair of 42nd Annual Cathedral Antiques Show’s Inspiration House and one of this year’s designers, adds that working with antiques can be a green approach to living and designing.
“It’s the ultimate recycling,” he said.
Since antiques are handed down from generation to generation, they have a great story to tell, said Rogers King, owner of Atlanta-based Eumenean Construction. His company among 18 design firms transforming a Tudor-style house — the Lanier House — dating to 1910 into the Inspiration House.
Incorporating antiques doesn’t mean the home has to look or feel “old.” Builders and designers shared five tips for merging old and new.
1. Plan ahead
Share details and photos of the antiques you would like to use with your team of professionals in the project, such as the architect, interior designer, builder and contractor. “A lot of it is the upfront planning. Understand where those items are going to go well before the construction process,” King said.
However, having antiques doesn’t mean the house requires an architectural style that is traditional, or Old World, or Victorian, if you desire a modern look or another aesthetic.
“If you juxtapose them with a modern setting, you can see the antiques better,” said Warner McConaughey, founder and president of HammerSmith, a Decatur-based design and renovation firm and presenting sponsor for the 2013 Cathedral Antiques Show. He adds that he sees homeowners take one or two of their favorite pieces and find a way to use them in the home.
2. Consider a contrast
Sarah Price, a designer with Alpharetta-based Founders Kitchen and Bath, recommends if you are including ornate antiques, it’s best to keep the rest of the room simple. This strategy may be opposite of what you saw in a relative’s house that was cluttered with antiques.Antiques typically will be more decorative and heavy, so when planning space and cabinetry, she suggests having clean lines and not an over-abundance of detail. “You want it to complement each other,” she said. “It’s not fighting each other, but making a more updated version of that classic look.”
3. Look at the layout
When incorporating larger antiques, such as a dining table and sideboard, make sure that the layout accommodates those items. Dimensions of rooms or placement of items, such as windows, may need to change. If the plan calls for a dining room with large windows or wide openings, but you want to include your grandmother’s sideboard, it could wind up being a significant change later, if you have to move entrances or reroute hallways, King said. Hutches, tables, beds and other pieces, depending on the era and style, could be so massive that they impact ceiling heights or room dimensions. Furniture from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s could be on a smaller scale and low to the ground, Bonner said.
In a home in Ansley Park, the homeowner’s desire to use a 9-foot tall antique bed required Hammersmith to create a 10-foot ceiling in the bedroom. “Get your measurements right so that you know it’s going to fit,” McConaughey said.
4. Pull out a detail in the design
A pattern or motif used in an antique could be incorporated into the room. For the Inspiration House, Bonner pulled out the pattern from an antique door and asked the builder to bring the pattern into the room’s paneling. As the interior designer and architect plan trim details and other special features, King advises finding a way to connect them to the dominant piece in the room, without overdoing it.
5. Position antiques with a purpose
Consider building niches and adding features into a room that can accentuate the antique, Bonner said. For example, draw attention to an antique fixture by using a coffered ceiling or create a niche so you can recess your ancestor’s buffet into the space. Instead of having a wall of built-in bookcases, an antique may fit the space and serve the same purpose, King said.
Antique pieces can find new life in a bathroom. A chest or dresser, for example, could be converted into a vanity with vessel sinks. “The whole space should be planned around your chest because that’s the focal point of the whole room,” Price said.
Bonner also has placed antiques in children’s environments. He took a buffet with a hutch on the top, painted it a bright color and used it in an activity room.
“Now these small children were using that piece of furniture every day, just like their great-grandmother,” Bonner said. “It helps create a bridge to the past. It’s a wonderful way to tell stories and engage children in the past.”
42nd Annual Cathedral Antiques Show
When: Inspiration House, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Jan. 27, Jan. 31-Feb. 3, Feb. 7-10; Tour of Homes, Jan. 27, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; Antiques Show, Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.; 11 a.m. Jan. 31, Miles Redd Talk and Book Signing
Where: Lanier House, 2801 Andrews Drive, Atlanta (Inspiration House tour); The Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road, Atlanta (Cathedral Antiques Show)
Cost: Varies, depending on the event. $20 for show and Inspiration House, for example.
Info: www.cathedralantiques.org
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