Vintage Furniture
Welcome to Bohemian’s Vintage Furniture Guide! We have been dealing in vintage furniture for several years and have sold thousands of pieces of fine reproduction furniture.
Let me tell you, all vintage brands of furniture are not created equally. There are thousands of nuanced details in the field of furniture, so whether you are in the market for used furniture or just need some information about vintage brands of yesteryear, this online vintage store and complete guide will help you navigate your journey.
Additionally, we spend hours every day searching for the best deals, and the most stylish pre-owned home furnishings on the market today. We constantly update these searches with accurate available items that can be shipped to you in a matter of days or weeks. There is no better place to browse vintage furniture than Bohemian’s online store.
What is Vintage Furniture? Vintage Furniture versus Antique Furniture?
Vintage Furniture is different than antique furniture. While most dealers and experts use the term “antique” for anything 100 years or older, vintage furniture has less age. Generally, vintage furniture must have at least 15 to 99 years of age to be considered vintage.
The best American furniture companies produced great quality furniture domestically. Much of that furniture was made between 1930 and 1960, before the widespread use of particle board in furniture.
Why buy Vintage Furniture?
The best vintage furniture has style and quality that can’t be matched by manufacturers today! American-made Vintage furniture has lasted for decades. The construction techniques and high quality timber make vintage furniture one of the best investments for your home. Simply put, solid wood furniture can last a lifetime!
Expensive materials like solid oak, solid mahogany, solid cherry and solid maple were more plentiful even forty years ago. Unfortunately, old growth forests sadly don’t blanket the American countryside anymore. When trees have time to grow slowly, their rings are tighter and denser. Thus, the boards captured from old growth trees have more weight and strength then trees planted and harvested more recently.
So, when your elders say, “they just don’t make it like they used to,” they’ve got a point! One only has to take a look at the pine and Douglas Fir inside an old home and compare it to lumber sold today to see the difference an old tree makes!
Additionally, vintage furniture comes in all different sizes, colors and styles. Whether you love Colonial style furniture, French Provincial Style furniture, or Mid Century Modern furniture, Vintage Furniture can help you beautify your home in a totally unique way. The deep color and handsome patterns made by mother nature, enhanced with fine finishes of the factory, have a great look and durability.
Indeed, many of our customers talk about walking into “new furniture stores” and feeling the urge to run!
A lot of modern furniture manufacturers simply ignore Unlock the Secrets: A Guide to Determining the Age of Thomasville Furniture and cater to younger (shall we say, uninformed?) buyers. Often, we see cheaper materials taking form in modified dorm room furniture styles. (My husband has another word for all the grey, bland furniture that is “in” these days. He calls it “prison chic!”)
Sadly, trendiness and cheap imports have replaced good old quality wood furniture in many new stores today.
That is why Vintage Furniture stores are popping up all around the country. Our online Vintage Furniture Store serves as both an informational hub and a trading post for dealers and vintage furniture fans.
What Vintage Furniture brands are the best to look for?
Certain furniture brands have established a reputation for quality, style and finish. These brands generally have a higher value on the resale market. And for good reason! These brands might have cost the original owner quite a few dollars even back in the day.
As our country reached the turn of the 20th century, many industrialists looked back on handmade heirloom antiques as their guide. Indeed, they saw great design and Colonial ingenuity in antique furniture. So, they started to reproduce Queen Anne Style Furniture, Chippendale Style Furniture and Early American Furniture. Federal furniture also became a source of inspiration.
Copying Colonial styles, certain vintage furniture companies took things a step further and aimed to use age old techniques.
They trained woodworkers, finishers and joiners in factory settings. Of course, they managed to bring handcrafting and technology together in order to produce furniture on a mass scale. Thus, fine furniture was born.
High End Furniture from these companies continues to provide value and enjoyment to people all across the country. We can’t imagine our home without our vintage Ethan Allen table, or our cherished Kittinger buffet. Vintage furniture can give a home a very lived-in feeling, or it can set a very elegant formal home.
Best Vintage Furniture Brands
Informing yourself on the best vintage furniture brands can serve you when it comes time to shop for vintage furniture. Indeed, many vintage stores are crowded and overwhelming. Below is a list of our favorite and most reliable vintage furniture brands to look for!
Best Traditional Furniture Companies:
1. Vintage Kittinger Furniture: Kittinger has furnished some of the top homes in the country, including the White House! This Buffalo, New York Company was also famous for their Colonial Williamsburg Furniture.
2. Henkel Harris Furniture: Henkel Harris Factories started in the 1940’s in Winchester, Virginia. This fine furniture company produced elegant furniture for homes across the country, and continues to service customers today!
3. Stickley Furniture: Vintage Stickley Furniture has been around for a long time. The founder, Gustav Stickley has been credited with the invention of arts and crafts style furniture. However, in the 1940’s through the 1960’s they produced other great traditional lines and Colonial styles to consider.
4. Drexel Furniture: Drexel Furniture has had great popularity and is still in business today. Many Duncan Phyfe style vintage Drexel pieces continue to have popularity as traditional style furniture today. Oriental Furniture by Drexel has great popularity as well.
5. Kindel Furniture: Kindel Furniture high end styles in Mahogany. The Winterthur Collection by Kindel has traditional designs and high quality furniture pieces.
6. Craftique Furniture: North Carolina furniture company Craftique Furniture has a great reputation for mahogany vintage furniture. Their beautiful Craftique secetary desks, Craftique beds and Craftique tables continue to decorate fine homes.
7. Statton Furniture : Statton Furniture produced thousands of pieces of fine cherry furniture out of their Hagerstown, Maryland factories. Fine Colonial furniture by Statton can beautify any home!
8. Ethan Allen Furniture and Kling Furniture : Ethan Allen and it’s lesser known brother, Kling Furniture produced great solid furniture for years and years. The Kling factories were later subsumed by Ethan Allen.
9. Baker Furniture : This New York based furniture company, Baker Furniture, has produced scores of traditional furniture and some more trendy designs!
Best French Provincial Furniture Companies
1. Drexel Furniture: Drexel made fun French Provincial Bedroom Furniture and Dining Room Furniture. Some pieces have a white and gold factory finish, while other pieces have a cherry or wood finish.
2. John Widdicomb Furniture : Excellent Cherry French Provincial Company often called John Widdicomb Furniture. Widdicomb furniture has deep drawers in the French Provincial dressers and beautiful high quality hardware.
4. Permacraft Furniture : Another great North Carolina Company, Permacraft furniture made mostly cherry furniture in the French Provincial style.
5. Karges Furniture : Grand Rapids Company Karges (eventually purchased by Kindel) made exquisite French style and European style furniture. Elegant and Sumptuous, Karges continues to offer stylish furniture.
Best Mid Century Modern Furniture Companies
1. Willett Furniture : Known for their Early American style furniture as well, Willet also produced incredible modern style furniture in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Often you will see a deep cherry finish to these Mid Century Pieces.
2. Heywood Wakefield : Blond colored Heywood Wakefield furniture has a fun and fresh look! This beautiful maple Mid Century Modern furniture adds a bright look
3. American of Martinsville
4. Broyhill Furniture
Vintage Furniture Values
We can touch and see the value of vintage furniture. Of course, the fine woods, thick drawers and sturdy chairs of yesteryear add to vintage furniture values. Most fine furniture continues to look great and function beautifully many years later. Indeed, there are many ways to update the style or finish of a piece of vintage furniture if the style seems dated. However, many people see the beauty of the vintage dining room sets and vintage sofas just as they are!
There is something charming about vintage furniture in its original state. There often is an element of nostalgia that draws people to vintage furniture. Certain dining room tables or vintage hutches remind people of their grandmother’s home. Indeed, many people prefer these pieces with a bit of the natural patina. Certainly, as everything old becomes new again, vintage furniture values continue to climb!
Finally, buying vintage furniture can save you money. While genuine antique furniture can cost a pretty penny, most vintage furniture businesses sell their merchandise at a fraction of the cost of the original retail price. Often, you can find higher quality vintage tables, vintage dressers, and vintage cabinets for a lot less than you can purchase “new” today.
Vintage Furniture Manufacturers
Throughout our years in the business, we have heard stories from people who worked in these vintage furniture factories, at the showrooms and even in the delivery departments. Indeed, many of these furniture manufacturers were located within a hundred miles of our home. The stories often have more than a note of nostalgia. Often, it is mixed with a feeling of true sadness that these companies had to close or faced bankruptcy.
Fortunately, the memory of these incredible companies lives on in their virtually indestructible products. This blog explores our passion for these beautiful creations and the company stories that make them equally great. We sincerely hope that the stories here excite and inspire you, and help you learn about vintage furniture from the 20th century.
Thank you for inviting us into your vintage home!
Rachel LaBoheme