Have moved into new-ish house but prefer older style furniture... wwyd?

[SugarSkyHigh]

Well I say we have moved into a newish house, actually it was built early '60's so oldish, by many people's standards! Most of the rooms are making do with our current furniture so there's not much choice, but the dining room is currently empty and awaiting furniture. My natural leaning is towards older furniture, ideally NOT repro, but does this look odd if you don't live in a period house? I would love a wonderful old dining table and chairs...

TIA for any thoughts....

No I don't think it looks odd. I think in a 60's house you can get away with lots of different styles of furniture so go for what you like the look of - the most important thing I think is that the house is coordinated iyswim

IMHO there's three options, depending on how 'into' design you are:

1. Modern stuff that's easy to come by, easy to clean, cheaper etc.
2. Go for the full on 60's-in-keeping-with-the house style. Done properly this isn't cheap or easy but can look stunning!
3. Go for exactly what you love and that will give you pleasure every day.

Personally, if I had the money I would love to do 2. But saying that, surely you have to love it if you're putting your hard earned cash into it?

I think antiques look absolutely fine in any setting, and you cold always funk it up by doing a very deliberate contrast between the 1960s house and interior and the antique furniture. Can work very well, and in any case, you should have what you want, not what is "good" taste.

My parents live in a 60s house packed full of antiques, and that's just the furniture .

My heart says it's your house and you should choose whatever you love and not worry about some perceived idea of what looks good or not....

but my eyes say no, it looks very odd.

Oh no, I adore a deliberate contrast between old and new - that's what we have in our house. I think you have to be quite firm about what styles of furniture you have, though - I think that you can mix 'contemporary' and one style of antique furniture in a room, but not multiple styles of antique furniture - so you can't have Regency and Victorian, say.

But I have to say that if I lived in a 60s house, I would love to go for 60s pieces.

thank you all for your replies! lowlevel I don't think I have the time or design nous to do the full-on 60's in keeping with the house decor thing, but I know what you mean and if I had no family I would love to throw myself into a project like that. your no.3 option opposes chloehandbag's eyes though... and I am now thinking perhaps I should rip up the carpet in the dining room first and put down a wooden floor and then see what dining table would look good?

How about some retro 60s pieces Gplan ercol style stuff? Vintage 6os/70s fabrics are in' just now too but would suit the house-just keep pictures lamps etc more modern so the whole look doesn't become too retro- eBAY and local auction houses are good for this type of stuff-not quite old enough to be really sought after but becoming popular-My SIL lives in a victorian house full of original features but she has filled it with 70s stuff and it looks great-

If you decide to go for the 60s look, and don't want to spend the time looking for originals (which can be pricier than antiques these days) then Ikea's Stockholm range is a good alternative - very reminiscent of G-Plan & Ercol stuff.

One problem with putting older style furniture in a modern house is that unless you have a good eye, it can just look like the house is lived in by middle-aged, conservative people (esp if it's repro stuff). But mixing styles and eras is very "in" now so if you buy a few Interiors magazines you should get some good ideas (I would go for ones like Elle Deco & Living Etc rather than Ideal Home though!)

I know just the period of house you mean, we have one too

we have some period stuff but have worked hard to make it work with the house, iyswim, rather than opening the door into a timewarp. Stuff like ceiling height, window shape/size/placement etc really makes a difference and you can't just create a Regency dining room in a house like ours.

So eg our kitchen has wide floorboards, gloss cream cupboards with brushed steel handles, a big silver fridge and a dark Victorian dining table and chairs.
Living room has one square 60s cream sofa and one dark leather chesterfield.
But when we bought it the bathroom was a full-on Victoria-fest - black and white chessboard tiles, high level cistern, mahogany loo seat, oversized bath and it just looked freaky, so we now have a totally modern one that works much better with the poky boxy compact square room.

So long as each room works as a room, the house works for your lifestyle and it doesn't feel like someone has downsized from a stately home, you'll probably be ok.

I don't think it looks odd.Historically,people didn't always buy what was 'new',but had hand me downs and inherited bits of furniture.Everything the same period would look a bit odd,but I think a mix of old and new looks great.

So just get furniture that you love! Then you can drool over it every day, even if no-one else does.

Oh, it's so boring to follow the period style in every detail and rather 'simple' as well, shows no imagination
Antiques can look great in every setting, throw down some antique persian rugs and have fabulous lighting and hey presto, amazing house!

I must admit I am a sucker for Simon Horne beds - but do not actually have a need for a bed at the moment. I wish he did dining room tables, even though that stuff is ££££!!!

Thanks for all the wonderfully helpful input. I really cant see myself going for much of a sixties/seventies look - my natural inclination is towards georgian/1920's-30's/provence-style........... how random is that mixture! Repo mahogany type stuff is a big no-n0.

perhaps I will go a bit mad and just follow my heart... I do like the idea of flinging a few persian rugs around...

I think older furniture can look great in a 60s house. It's trying to recreate the entire look in the wrong shape house that looks peculiar - you really should be putting dado rails in a house with modern ceiling heights (yes, I mean you, previous-owners-of-this-house).

I think it is a big mistake to want to have all your furniture from the same era as the architecture of your home, unless you are amazingly rich and have built a spanking new house somewhere and can afford lots of gorgeous bespoke modern furniture...

So, it is quite OK to mix and match eras, providing you do it with style, and are principally driven by functionality and comfort - if the thing works for you, it will generally look right.