All About Austin

Austin, Texas is a great place to shop for antique furniture. Austin enjoys a unique mix of cultural influence, ranging from southwest to contemporary. This mix is partly what makes Austin such an interesting city, and it also carries over into antique furniture.

When shopping for antique furniture in Austin, Texas, you won’t be disappointed. And to make your furniture-shopping experience even easier, we’ve gather a list of resources related to Austin antique furniture.

Austin Auction Company
If you prefer to buy antique furniture at auction, this company is worth a look. According to their website: “Austin Auction Company conducts quality antique auctions every weekend. Our auctions feature decorator items such as antique furniture, collectibles, china and glassware, received from fine estates and countries around the world.”

Antique Furniture Shops in Austin
Here’s a helpful list of antique shops in Austin. This list might be dated, so you’ll have to look up these shops to make sure they’re still around.

Antique Marketplace
I could not find a website for this marketplace. They must not have one, but they’re mentioned all over the Web as a great place to shop for antique furniture. Located at 5350 Burnet Road.

Uncommon Objects
This is one of my favorite shops to visit in Downtown Austin. It’s located on South Congress, which is a great place to visit for any reason. They have a variety of vintage and antique items, ranging from clothing to artwork. It’s not an antique furniture shop in the traditional sense, but you can still find some treasures here.

Gypsies Antiques
This Austin antique shop is located on Burnet Road (near the Antique Marketplace, mentioned above). Their gypsy-influenced items have been “gathered from places like France, Spain, Sweden,Belgium, England and here in the States…” You’ll find quite a few photos of merchandise on their website.

Helpful Articles:

Is It Really Antique Furniture?

by Stephan Teak

When it comes to furniture, antique is glorious word. If you are wondering how to know if it is antique furniture, we have your answer here.For the modern collector looking to decorate their home with antique furniture, there are many different types and styles to choose from. You can choose from the various styles of Chippendale furniture, such as the French influenced pieces, the Chinese influenced pieces, the Gothic influenced pieces, and the Queen Anne style.

Or if you prefer a more American feel, you can choose Boston Colonial pieces, New York East Lake pieces, or Stickley pieces with which to furnish your home.However with all of these possibilities, you also need to be aware of the fact that many companies, often from Asia or Latin America, have manufactured “reproductions” of these types of furniture but attempt to pass them off as “antiques”.

Fortunately for you the consumer, there are a few tips and tricks you can use to tell the difference between an “old” antique, and a recently manufactured “new” antique.The first tip to keep in mind when you are attempting to authenticate antique furniture is to remember that furniture that was actually constructed during the 18th and 19th centuries is made up of several different types of wood.

Typically there was one, more expensive type of wood used on the surfaces that were exposed, and a secondary, less expensive wood, used on the surfaces that were hidden from view. In comparison, a reproduction will often be constructed entirely from one type of wood.Another characteristic to look for is to examine the way that the joints are held together on the piece of furniture. A piece built during the 1800’s or 1900’s will have joints that are reinforced with woodworking techniques such as dowels, splines, or a mortise and tenon, or hand carved dovetails.

Again, a modern reproduction will show different methods of connecting the wood-to-wood joints, with the use of a hot glue gun being most common. Additionally, the nails used in genuine antiques will be smaller “finishing” nails, with heads that are nailed down under the surface of the wood so as to be almost invisible, as opposed to the larger, more visible “common nails” used in modern manufacturing.

Finally, if you are looking to purchase painted furniture, a close inspection of some aspects of the painting techniques can also help you discern between a genuine antique, and a recent reproduction. For example, craftsmen of the 18th and 19th century only painted the exposed areas of their furniture. So if the piece you’re considering is painted on the inside of its drawers or the underside of a table, more than likely it is not a genuine antique. Additionally, the wear on the paint should be random and irregular, the kind of wear and tear that occurs as a result of everyday life. If the wear on the paint appears too regular or as if it is in a pattern, it is likely that the piece is a modern construction and was “distressed” by hand in order to make it appear older than it is.

Stephan Teak is with FurnitureStoresforYou.com - daily furniture tips.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephan_Teak

How to Select Antique Furniture

by Stephan Teak

or many people, antique furniture creates a special, unique theme for their interior decorating. Of course, you need to know how to select antique furniture first.Furnishing your home with pieces of antique furniture is a decorating option that has always been popular. And now, with all the instant and global methods of communicating and sharing information that are available, it is easier than ever to learn about and locate the antique pieces that will perfectly complement each room in your home. Of course there are, just as in any project you undertake, a few strategies that can make your experience progress more easily and more smoothly.

To begin with, it is important at the outset that you are very clear about what you want. Are you looking for a bedroom suite, a chest, some garden and lawn furniture, or a sideboard? Are you looking to buy a piece from a specific period, and if so, which one? A quick glance through various popular antique guides shows upwards of twenty different periods or styles in American furniture manufacturing alone. Are you also familiar with the different terms used to describe the characteristics of antique furniture? Another glance through those same guides lists almost twenty different types of feet found on American antique furniture alone. Do you know exactly where you’d like to place this piece in your home, and have you measured the space to know exactly what sized piece will fit in that spot? All of these are important questions to be addressed before you make your antique furniture purchase.

Once you are ready to go shopping, there are also specific things you can look for that can help you identify an authentic, high-quality piece of antique furniture. For example, if you are looking for a chest, look for pieces that have been constructed from a small number of wide boards, usually from soft woods such as pine or poplar. Additionally, there should be very few knots in the wood, and the hinges should be in the style of cotter-pin hinges, long, wrought-iron flat face hinges, or square-angled butt hinges. The backboard of the chest should also show traces of rust where the iron of the hinges has rested against the wood of the chest.

If you are looking to buy a type of painted furniture, there are also specific characteristics to look for there. The most obvious characteristic is the type of paint used. Acrylic paint was not invented until the 1940’s, and was not widely available until the 1950’s, so if you see acrylic paint then most likely you are looking at a reproduction, not a genuine antique. Another difference between a genuine antique and a reproduction is that the wood workers of the 18th and 19th century only painted the exposed surfaces of a piece, and did not paint the areas that weren’t visible, such as the inside of drawers. Finally, old paint is very hard and brittle, and should show signs of wear and tear from everyday life. If you find a piece whose wear appears to be regular or in patterns, chances are that it is a modern reproduction that was “distressed.”

Stephan Teak is with FurnitureStoresforYou.com - daily furniture tips.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stephan_Teak