Hi Everyone,
Caryl wrote a terrific comment about how to mix furniture styles. There’s a post about how to mix traditional and contemporary styles, and while it’s related to that, it relates more to the original premise of this post from Wednesday.
This is part 2 of this post, so if you’re landing here for the first time, please read from the top. If you have read the post, then please click the link below to read Part 2.
Part 2 Begins Here
Dear Laurel,
Ya know life is so difficult sometimes. My grandmother passed away 3 years ago at the age of 97, and then my mom just died last month. It was a sudden thing, and I’m lost without her. She was my best friend.
In addition, my husband and I have been renovating our home for over 13 months! I know you can relate, Laurel.
It’s winding down, but I’m exhausted and seriously have nothing left. I mean, don’t worry about me. I’m okay. My husband is a doll– works long hours. Our kids are in college now.
What’s the problem aside from just about everyone I’ve ever cared about dying on me? Well, when Gran passed, my mom inherited all of her furniture.
My dad died when I was four. Apparently, he had undiagnosed narcolepsy, and yeah… he was in the car when it careened down a deep ravine. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt. My poor mom. Rough go of it…
Our family is tiny.
My sister is a nun who helps run a home for Somalian orphans… And the only other relative is Mom’s brother, who is in prison for embezzling funds from his clients.
Oh, someone, please shut me up!
This note rambling letter is about Gran’s horribly dated living room furniture.
That’s the problem.
Sure, I could sell some of it, but I don’t want to, and even if I do, I don’t know how to incorporate what’s left with more contemporary pieces. I don’t know what pieces are maybe worth keeping. Maybe there’s something else I can do?
I imagine that others have this dilemma too?
Thanks so much, Laurel!
Barb Brake-Frunt
*********
In my years of practice, I encountered this dilemma numerous times.
Dated living room furniture!
To be clear, dated is not necessarily the same thing as vintage or antique.
But some vintage and antique pieces feel out of place in our contemporary interiors. Or, they are in rough shape, or something isn’t working.
Over the years, whenever I encountered this situation, we always found a place for the items, and we made it work.
Below is one of my favorite examples, and it is the only piece of my work that was ever published in a national magazine.
The setting? An antique farmhouse that was home to two parents, three kids ages 5 – 14, and a beautiful golden retriever.
Above is the living room. Incidentally, we worked on the entire home 25 years ago! It was published four years later in BHG. The big wing chair and striped stool were inherited furnishings she wanted to keep. However, they sorely needed to be reupholstered. So, we used a beautiful linen and the high-end stripe.
I seem to recall that my client already had the needlepoint fabric, and we incorporated it into the rest of the upholstery for the bench on the left.
Everything else you see, she purchased through me.
For more of this house, please check it out here. The magazine did the styling and took away the beautiful Aubusson pillows on the sofa.
Incidentally, those two Chinoiserie tables are tea table height, so taller than my preferred coffee table height. I got them through Brunschwig and Fils. You can’t see it from here, but the end tables are Pembroke style, like you can see here.
So, let’s jump in and discuss Barb’s situation.
If Barb were my client, I’d probably advise her to keep some of the most special pieces that we could make work, and perhaps give the rest to charity, a friend, or sell.
Not knowing what she has, I’m going to go over some ways to update your dated living room furniture. The focus of this post is upholstery. For wood pieces, you’ll find some of my favorite ideas here,
And, this is a good one for updating vintage dining room furniture.
Let’s revisit the notion of old versus dated.
Above, in this tiny vignette from one of the late Furlow Gatewood’s living rooms, is an example of old and timeless. The gorgeous antique that feels fresh and current in its updated linen fabric. Image by Rodney Collins.
Below is a dated “French” settee.
My grandmother in Chicago had a settee almost exactly like this. At least that’s how I remember it looking some fifty years later.
Yes, a classic tufted French, Victorian interpretation of the Louis XV style.
Below is what I would expect an authentic Louis XV canape to look like.
A similar settee and an after shot from the wonderful site Chairloom, not to be confused with Chairish.
In a fresh, new blue linen, the piece almost looks contemporary!
Another Louis XV-style settee in an astonishing makeover from Chairloom.
I’m pretty sure that the cool fabric is from Timorous Beasties.
Above is the classic “Granny sofa” I found on Chairloom.
And below, is another dated treatment, and that looks like it went to a spa and then a shopping trip at Barney’s. ;]
Another Chairloom Granny sofa before and after.
Wow! The sofa above is a classic Lawson sofa with some very tired, dated fabric. They took off the back cushions and the skirt. Then, they gave it a new upholstery job, and it looks like a completely different piece of furniture.
Taking off the skirt to expose the legs is something I’ve done numerous times.
If the legs are good, it’s a great way to update a sofa or chair and lighten things up. However, it is also possible to change the legs. It definitely is, if they’re the screw-on type of legs. Even if they aren’t, a skilled upholsterer can remove the old legs and add new legs with dowels that are anchored into the existing frame.
Another way to update a sofa or chair, if you’d like to keep the skirt, is do either a very tall or a waterfall-style skirt.
The short skirt above makes the chair look dated. Will the short skirts come back in style?
They’ve been out of style for at least the last 25 years. I don’t think they’re coming back in a big way, but who knows?
Above is the Serena and Lily Cutler Sofa with a waterfall skirt
For those of you who own the Laurel Home Paint Collection bundle, you may recognize the red chair on the right. It appears on about 3 or 4 boards because I adore it to bits.
And yes, this is the same chair as the one on the left.
The lesson here, and it’s a good one, is that if there’s something you don’t like about a piece, even an upholstered piece, it can often be changed.
For this piece, they moved the legs over to the traditional position and changed the back cushions.
It now has a less mid-century look.
Above is a beautifully upholstered Chippendale-style sofa with fretwork legs from Chairish.
(Sorry, it’s no longer available.)
You can also have a tailored slip cover made for sofas like these, which also removes some of the formality.
Above is a wonderful slipcovered Chippendale-style sofa at the fabulous antique salon owned by Gerald Bland.
Below are some other old-fashioned sofas that feel positively modern/contemporary.
That sure is one long drink of cool, don’t you think?
What keeps this from looking dated?
I think that a lot of it or maybe all of it has to do with context.
It’s the other pieces surrounding it. The white walls, the sleek Parsons coffee table…
Sleek and chic.
Above is a French settee reupholstered in white cotton, and below it’s in a fabulous urbane room setting. What’s interesting here is that all of this furniture is from a company called Rent Patina that rents vintage furnishings. It could be for a special event, but they also rent furniture for photo shoots, films, and other purposes.
Scouted Home
How gorgeous is this antique settee upholstered in two fabrics.
A pretty French vignette from Rue Magazine – photo by Jen Altman
Fabulous sofa upholstered in a natural linen by Nancy Fishelson
Above is a beautiful vintage flame mahogany breakfront from English Classics.
Over a decade ago, they made a custom-painted breakfront for a client of mine. (below)
I wrote a brief post about this breakfront here.
I realize that some pieces should not be painted.
Yet, if you want a painted breakfront or other item that’s in a wood finish, and it’s not a priceless antique, I don’t have a problem with that. Of course, you are also allowed to not paint your furniture! :] It really depends on the over-all look and what else is going on.
Here’s a smaller version by Holly Mathis and beautifully photographed by Becki Griffin.
I love how painting formal pieces like this knocks back the formality.
Please notice the lovely linen slipcover on the wing chair. These are great ways to update old-fashioned pieces of furniture.
Also, I love the linen slipcover on what is likely a vintage wingback chair.
For more about slipcovers, please look at this post that goes into greater detail.
Soon, I want to expand on some ways to update vintage upholstered furniture to make it into a totally updated, fresh piece.
There are some tricks I didn’t have time for today.
Oh, how I wish the old styles would return. Alas, it seems with each passing year, the furniture in this country keeps getting clunkier and more boxy.
Okay, that’s it for now. I hope you enjoyed these ideas for updating dated living room furniture.
xo,
*********************************************************
Part 2 Begins Here
Sunday August 24, 2025
Hi Everyone,
Caryl wrote a wonderful comment wanting to know more about how to mix furniture styles. Below is her comment.
This is a GREAT article and sorely needed by me. I’ve inherited a small truckload of furniture pieces from my mother, various in-laws, an uncle…you name it. The pieces are a mishmash of styles from Eastlake Victorian to Queen Ann, to farmhouse vernacular, to MCM.
An article on how to mix furniture styles so that your house doesn’t look like a junk shop would be much appreciated!
Okay.
I haven’t seen Caryl’s inherited furniture, but I can tell you that Eastlake is one of my least favorite styles. It tends to be overly fussy, ornate, disproportionate, and therefore, not classical.
Although there’s a subset of Eastlake that isn’t nearly as fussy, it’s always heavy. Below are some examples of Eastlake furniture from the late 19th century.
If you lived in an airy contemporary loft in New York City, or something along those lines, I’d be fine with one piece of Eastlake.
Now, if you love Eastlake, that’s fine.
One can also make a case for decorating a 19th-century Victorian home in this style.
However, you might also have a smattering of Queen Anne, which typically features cabriole legs and bun feet. The decor will most likely be dark, as it was in Victorian times. However, you could also opt for the Eastlake furniture and update it by upholstering it all in a neutral linen, then placing the furniture over a seagrass or other natural fiber rug.
Going back to Caryl’s comment, she goes on to say that she also has farmhouse-style furniture, which I take to mean more simple painted or pine pieces, as well as Mid-Century Modern.
Okay.
It’s impossible. The chances that a truckload of furniture from your mother, various in-laws, an uncle…you name it, will not all work together. The styles are too divergent, and if you put all those pieces in one room, it will look like a junk shop or a poorly laid-out consignment shop.
So, what do you do?
- First, decide if there’s anything you really love.
- It’s okay if you don’t particularly like any of it.
Then, go through everything again and think this:
- Would I like any of this better if it were painted, reupholstered, slipcovered, or altered in some way?
So, maybe you like some of the country and mid-century pieces. Can you mix them? You can, but a few things. The room has to be predominantly one or the other. We covered this in detail in our post about mixing modern and traditional furnishings.
But here’s the most important piece of this puzzle.
More than ever, you must have a decorating plan.
While the result may seem easy, I can assure you that planning a room with differing styles is not. It’s like any other discipline or art form. As many of you know, I am passionate about classical ballet. These days, what the dancers are doing is beyond unbelievable. And, they make it look easy.
It is not easy. It’s not even close to being easy.
But, Laurel, I have all of this furniture that I need to use!
Who said so?
If someone gave you a closet full of clothes you hated, would you keep them? No, you’d throw it all in your car and take it over to your nearest Goodwill.
Well, you can do the same with the furniture you can’t use.
I, Laurel, being of fairly sound mind and body, hereby permit thee to offload as much inherited furniture as you like.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KEEP IT.
Of course, if it’s a treasured piece you got from your beloved grandmother, that’s different.
My grandmother had a Victorian cabinet in her living room. Yes, the living room in this building in Chicago.
It’s where she “hid” the candy.
I can still smell that cabinet. The wood was dark, and there was a slightly musty smell.
My aunt (my father’s sister) inherited the cabinet, and then when she passed away 20 years ago, one of my cousins got it, I believe. However, my aunt was a talented artist with modern taste. She had a couple of gorgeous Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chairs.
I think her chairs might have been white. The rest of her furniture was also modern, as in late mid-century modern.
While some might think the Victorian piece would be out of place, it was actually quite cool in her dining area, especially because it held sentimental value.
The chances are that you will end up giving away or selling most of the furniture.
However, there are ways to make divergent pieces of furniture work better together.
For example, you could put down a sea-grass rug, which instantly knocks back the formality.
Then, you could have white cotton slipcovers made for all of the upholstered pieces.
One of my favorite ways to unify divergent furniture styles is to slipcover all of the upholstered pieces.
The above image was found on Cote de Texas, owned by the late, wonderfully talented Joni Webb. I know many of you followed her and miss her dearly. Her taste was impeccable. I don’t believe this is her work, but I found it on her blog. It’s an old photo, but this room is the very definition of timeless.
Above is the country home of Gerald Bland. If you want to study how to mix antiques, he’s the master.
I highly recommend following him on Instagram for ideas on what works well together.
(All Furlow Gatewood images by Rod Collins)
And then, there’s Furlow Gatewood. If you can only get one decorating book, this is the one.(below) I sleep with mine under my pillow. ;]
Another contemporary designer is William McLure. He’s the Shale Wagman of interior design and a fine artist.
Please follow him on Instagram.
Laurel, who’s Shale Wagman?
You don’t know? Well, you’re about to. He’s a young Canadian ballet dancer who won the Prix de Lausanne in 2018. After dancing gigs at two world-class ballet companies, he was hired last year to dance with the Paris Opera as a quadrille. That’s the lowest rank. However, I predict that within the next three years, he will work his way up the ranks to be an Etoile (principal dancer).
photo of Shale Wagman by Jack Devant
Not only is Shale a brilliant technician, but he’s also burning up the stage with staggering artistry and charisma.
Please enjoy Shale Wagman performing the variation from Le Corsaire.
Below are some other tips for mixing styles of furniture that I hope you’ll find helpful.
Less really is more. Fewer pieces of furniture look a lot better than a lot of mismatched chairs, tables, and lamps.
Speaking of mismatched. Once, someone sent me their room filled with consignment and tag sale furnishings.
Unfortunately, it looked like it and she knew it too. It’s not that there was anything wrong with the furniture. The problem was there was zero unity.
It was like sitting down to a meal with one dish being Chinese, another Indian, another French, and everyone was speaking a unique language. Too many styles and one-of-a-kind pieces instantly level down a room.
Do not have too many single pieces.
Just as having too many pairs can be a problem, having too many single pieces will always look unappealing.
Our brains crave and seek out symmetry. It’s how we’re wired.
Please be sure that the pieces are of similar proportions.
Above, the over-scale French armchair looks silly beside the diminutive loveseat.
Above, the Chippendale-style loveseat would look so much better with matching end tables and lamps. A slipcover here would also be terrific.
Unification occurs through paint, upholstery/slipcovers, or by staining.
For more info and inspiration for slipcovers please go here.
Please avoid cheap, weird picture frames. If money is tight, I recommend high-quality prints and simple frames. My Etsy Guide is filled with dozens of terrific sources.
And I would avoid big, disproportionate, made-up styles masquerading as French, Gustavian, English, or Italian. You know… fake, phony, ersatz styles we’ve discussed many times.
In addition, not all stains need to match. However, some woods don’t mix very well.
For example, polished mahogany and scrubbed pine.
Or, a very orange wood, like the one seen in Biedermeier, with red mahogany.
Please remember that wood tones are also a color in your room.
One final way to unify is to stick to a monochromatic color scheme.
Excluding the black chair, the upholstered furniture all works together but imagine everything slipcovered in white linen or canvas.
Above is a cool mid-century sofa with a too-small rug and an odd Queen Anne-esque coffee table.
The ornate piece in the back would look so much better in a chalky antique white finish.
Above in Furlow Gatewood’s dining room is an authentic Rococo (Louis XV) table in a chalky antique white finish.
In closing, my recommendation is to study the masters, take your time, and always have a master plan.
xo,
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