Will there be antique furniture in the future?

Question

Given that furniture these days all seems to be made from veneered particle board or mdf; no mortise and tenon or dovetail joints - just plastic fixings, which loosen and fall to bits if you move it too much. (Ikea - please take note.)

In fact, nothing that makes for a lasting piece of furniture that will improve with age, care and polishing.

Answer 1

i understand what you're saying, but you're wrong. there is high quality furniture being crafted. there's a little place right down the street from me that turns out very nice furniture.

it's a mistake to think all furniture made a hundred years ago was of high quality. it was not. what has lasted as collectable antiques was exceptional.

it is a shame, however, that craftsmanship has gone down the toilet in favor of cheap disposable krap. but go out and try to find quality lumber. it has become quite rare. this is the price we pay for consumerism.

Answer 2

The simplest approach to a 'distressed' paint look is to lightly sand some scuff marks into the paint. Since you mention using this in an outdoor living space, you will want to apply a good sealant to all of the surfaces, to help protect it from moisture also. Using a standard urethane top coat can result in some yellowing of white paint over time, so if you want a urethane finish, use a 'marine' grade finish, also commonly known as a 'spar urethane'. Now - since you mention an 'uneven' paint and question if it was sold as a 'bleached' piece of furniture, I have to question - is this actually a paint finish, or a stain? Because it does make a difference. Stain soaks into wood, where paint sets on top of the surface. There is also a 'pickled' type of finish which some folks like - while I've done a lot of it over the years, it was never one of my favorites, lol. IF this is a stain and not a paint, you would spend a lot more time sanding, trying to get thru the layers of wood that have soaked up the stain. The easier approach to a distressed look with stain, is to actually use a solvent, to help 'strip', or remove the stain from selected areas. If this is a stain, you could take a little acetone on a clean rag, and make some swipes along the wood grain, not hitting all of the surface, just here and there. Afterwards, using another clean rag, and some cold water, wipe over those locations again, rinsing out your rag often. This step is to help 'neutralize' and remove any acetone that was left behind in the first step. Acetone keeps working over time, after it has been applied, if left unchecked. I would recommend giving the piece a few days after the 'cleaning' step, before applying any kind of sealer or top coat...otherwise you'll find that the new top coat will tend to bubble off. Paint is especially affected by acetone, which is why I mentioned it is important to know if this is actually a paint or stain. You can take a rag or paper towel with a little acetone, and just wipe it across a painted surface - immediately wipe it again with a dry cloth - and it looks ok - but give it a day or two, and that surface will actually wrinkle up, and come off. Have Fun

Answer 3

There is still some good quality furniture being made today, but like anything qualty, it has its premium price. But the best 'antique' furniture of the future will probably be the same as what's considered antique now.

Answer 4

You can still find new quality furniture. And after 100 years, it will officially be considered antique, provided the world doesn't end in the mean time. Yes, Ikea has cheap furniture, but what do you expect? They're like the Wal-Mart of the furniture industry. Those particle board furnishings are very economic though, and environmentally friendly, as 80% of the world's hard woods are harvested from the rainforest... the ones used in making quality furnishings.

Answer 5

But you forget all the stuff made before that is considered antique! The stuff from fifty/sixty plus years ago and older should do pretty good, and pre-20th century stuff will still be around... so they'll have antiques...

And the historians will wonder what we used for furniture... unless they dig through our dumps and use a lot of glue...

Flippin' awesome question! Amazing what crap we build today.

-dh

Answer 6

the only antique furniture we will have in our world are ones from the most glories moments in the history ( Louis XV , Empire , Directoire , ......)and these time period will never happened again so i think we will not have any antique furniture in the future

Answer 7

my opinion is
what we call it antiques these days
will be more valuable and much more reliable than the future antiques.
today's staff will be the future antiques, but u never know what will be the future products that will be compared to ours which are caleed antiques..
i think it will be even worse than our's and that's the good reason they will think it's good antiques upon there view not ours!!

Answer 8

of cause when your old your furniture will Antique

Answer 9

Maybe in a museum but most stuff is too cheap to last for personal collectors

Answer 10

of course!! antique funiture will not fade away..its like history and diamonds(forever)