Combining Victorian and Modern Furniture

The Victorian style of antique furniture is very unique in appearance. Because of that, it can be hard to picture a home where modern and Victorian styles can be seamlessly blended. When you already have modern furniture pieces but also love the Victorian style, how can you combine the two without your home looking awkward or clunky? We have a few ideas that we think you’ll enjoy.

Refinish Victorian furniture so that it blends in well with a modern home.

The easiest way to make sure your Victorian furniture pieces will blend well with your modern furniture pieces is to have your Victorian pieces refinished and reupholstered to match your modern furniture. Traditionally, Victorian furniture is made from mahogany wood, which is a dark brown color with a slightly red tint. A lot of modern furniture, however, is made with lighter colors, which makes it hard for a Victorian piece to blend in. The easiest way to remedy this issue is to have your Victorian piece refinished or custom finished when you order it from your manufacturer. There are a lot of different stains/colors you can choose from, from lighter browns to grays. The possibilities are as limitless as your creativity.

Something else to keep in mind is the upholstery on your piece. Most traditional Victorian upholstery fabrics are dark and heavy, which doesn’t blend well with a light modern aesthetic. All you need to do to fix this problem is to have your piece reupholstered with different fabric.

Use Victorian furniture pieces as statement pieces, especially sofas and bed frames.

If the rest of your home has a sleek, modern style, you can use Victorian pieces as statement pieces within a room. This works especially well in the living room, bedroom, and dining room. You can use a Victorian sofa in the living room as your statement piece. With the right finish and upholstery fabrics, as we mentioned above, the sofa can blend seamlessly while still standing out enough to grab the attention and appreciation of your guests. The same principle can be applied to the dining room with the use of an antique china cabinet or buffet hutch. You probably won’t have many guests visit your bedroom, but using a bed frame as a statement piece is something that you can appreciate for yourself every day. The rest of your rooms can be filled with modern furniture, but having a statement piece will help your Victorian furniture stand out in a way that is still complementary to the rest of your furniture!

Mix and match different styles to create a uniquely modern aesthetic.

One hallmark of modern furniture is a turn toward eclecticism. If you want, you can use the tips we already mentioned above to feature Victorian-style furniture as more than just statement pieces within the home. You can go as far as to have half of your furniture in the modern style and the other half of your furniture in the Victorian style. Though your Victorian furniture will be more noticeable this way, the eclectic nature of your home will lend to a modern aesthetic over an antique one, especially if you also draw inspiration and use styles from other historical periods as well!

If you want to challenge yourself in this manner, try using all (or mostly) Victorian pieces of furniture within the home and make modern furniture pieces the minority of the style that you use. You can keep a modern aesthetic by choosing tasteful decorations; your guests may not even be able to tell that you’ve used Victorian pieces at all. It’s fun to experiment and see what you can get away with when you blend different furniture styles!

Get creative with the function of different pieces, i.e., repurposing a bookcase into a coffee bar.

Another way that modern furniture buyers have sought to incorporate antique styles into their homes is to repurpose antique reproduction pieces. There are a lot of ways you can do this; it all depends on the piece that you choose. A bookcase, for example, can be turned into a coffee bar for your kitchen or dining room; a dining room table can be used as a desk; a china cabinet can be used as a bookcase or display case for knick-knacks and collectibles, etc. You can get creative and use pieces in ways you’d never thought about before; you’re sure to impress your guests if you do!

Conclusion

Blending modern and Victorian furniture can be tricky, but it’s possible as long as you get creative with it. Try refinishing/reupholstering your Victorian furniture, using your Victorian pieces as statement pieces, going for an eclectic style within your home by blending a bunch of different styles, and getting creative with the functions of your pieces. We think you’ll be surprised by how easily modern and Victorian pieces go together with just a little bit of imagination and inspiration from your friends at Laurel Crown!