Just because it’s 17th century doesn’t mean it can’t feel modern. But when it comes to adding antiques into the mix, it takes some skill. In today’s blog, Drew shares his take on styling with antique pieces. Let’s get started.
While some people prefer to decorate their home in a particular style (French Country, Shabby Chic, Mid-Century Modern), mixing different looks is a wonderful way to create a unique space and showcase your individual style. This approach adds a bit of excitement and an element of the unexpected, but filling a room with an eclectic, unplanned mishmash of styles is rarely a good idea. Before getting started, it’s a good idea to know what you’re trying to achieve. Here are a few possible directions to consider:
Antique decoration with modern or contemporary accessories
Paired or grouped items built around a particular contemporary or antique showcase item
Modern and antique decoration selected around a theme such as “simplicity,” “shabby chic,” “shades of blue,” etc. Whatever theme you select, you’ll be able to use that theme to select, mix, and match contemporary and antique items and accessories.
Reflect Your Taste Creating a blend of any time period or design style in your space requires a critical eye. So, if you want to mix modern items with antiques don’t just rush out and buy any items to fit the bill. You want to create a look that appears as though it’s evolved over time. Wait until you find just the right items that will add the proper form and function to your home.
Although there are rules of scale, balance, and proportion in decorating, you should never sacrifice using items you love in order to follow the rules. Your home needs to look good to you, and if you truly love a piece, then there’s a place in your home for it.
Drew Pritchard is an antiques dealer & salvage hunter. Find out more about Drew Pritchard online here. Follow Drew Pritchard on Facebook to learn tips on how to incorporate antiques into your home and more. See Drew Pritchard‘s must have antique finds here.
An antique wood piece is something to be treasured and cherished. It serves as a reminder of generations past while offering a touch of class and personality to any room in your home. Whether you’re a collector of fine wooden furniture, avid antique shopper or simply looking for some help taking care of a family heirloom, when it comes time to clean your pieces you may have a few questions. In order to maintain the elegance of your wooden furniture, keep the following tips in mind.
Whether it’s an ornate chest that traveled with your great grandfather across the Atlantic, or a small desk that held your grandmother’s sewing machine, even a piece that was extremely durable in its youth should be cared for gently. Even a small scratch or mark could devalue the entire piece.
2. There are two primary materials used to clean vintage wood – lemon oil and wax. If you’re using lemon oil, spread a layer of the oil evenly across the wood, and then gather a few soft rags – such as worn down old t-shirts. Gently rub the oil into the wood using the rags and making small, circular motions in the same direction as the grain. Several hours later, use another clean rag to scrub dust and grime loose.
3. If you choose furniture wax, invest in some 4-0 steel wool and dip it into the pot of wax. Again, using a circular motion, rub the wax into the wood following the direction of the grain. This will instantly remove any dust and will reduce the appearance of scratches and other marks.
4. Finally, keep in mind that wood can easily become damaged by weather extremes. Whether it’s high humidity, low humidity, extreme heat or severe cold, over time it will take its toll on the wood. Always store your antique furniture inside and, if you must put it into storage make sure the storage unit is climate-controlled. When it comes to antique furniture, preservation is key.
There you go. Check back for more tips.
Drew Pritchard is an antique guru and has been previously featured at Liberty of London but is now concentrating on his Showroom in the medieval walled town of Conwy, where his space features exquisite antique collections managed by his team. See pieces Drew Pritchard currently has for sale here. Watch and get recaps of Drew Pritchard‘s Salvage Hunters episodes here and more. You can also ead the latest Drew Pritchard news here.
Salvage Hunter Drew Pritchard reveals how he first got into buying antiques and discusses his quirky collections.
Drew Pritchard, the star of the Quest TV’s Salvage Hunters, moved into a Methodist chapel in the Conwy countryside in north Wales on 23rd June 1995. He was then just 25 years old and it was the first property he’d ever owned. ‘Oh it was a total mess,’ he says. ‘Completely derelict. There was no water, no drains, no planning permission. A friend told me I’d be better off pulling it down and starting all over again.’
But he wasn’t to be put off. ‘It’s the highest church in the valley and was built in 1812. I was determined to turn it into a home even though I had no money at all. Our bath, for instance (a Victorian claw-footed affair) came from a friend who was using it as a planter in his garden. I bought it for 80 quid.’
Since then Drew has accumulated a fascinating array of finds. Before the man the press calls the ‘junkyard genius’ sells up, take a look at the intriguing pieces in situ.
Drew’s home is filled with ecclesiastical pieces – perhaps not a surprise given that in the last 20 years he has cleared more than 500 religious buildings. The boxes with long handles, pictured above, are chapel collection boxes. The car on the wall that they sit below is from an old fairground dodgem ride.
The copy of a late-1950s Vespa was bought at Newark International Antiques & Collectors Fair 16 years ago. Next to it is a stained-glass church window, c1850-60. Drew gets what he calls an ‘artistic kick’ out of placing of unlikely objects next to one another.
Drew is the son of a sign writer and has some unusual signboards in his home. The board by the window above details the good deeds performed by the rich of a Parish in the Lizard, Cornwall. It dates from the 18th century.
Drew has been familiar with church interiors for a long time – he started out apprenticed to a stained-glass restorer. His collection of ecclesiastical pieces includes crosses, statues, pews, an altar and a lot of kneelers. ‘I own so many kneelers I hardly know what to do with them. When the kids were small, they would use them to climb up the dining table,’ he laughs. The embroidered kneelers in the dining room come from St George’s church in Llandudno.
The cistern of this elegant lavatory is Edwardian but the seat is Georgian. It once belonged to Mick Jagger – Drew bought it from his plumber.
The claw-footed Victorian bath, overlooked by a taxidermy swan, was rescued from a friend’s garden. The mirror above it came from Drew’s parents’ garage (Drew grew up in nearby Glan Conwy). They used it to help reverse their car in accurately. ‘From the age of eight, my parents would take us around museums. It was my father who taught me how to look at things,’ says Drew. ‘Even as a young child I couldn’t understand why people would buy new things. I used to think, “Are you mad? Why not buy something old?”‘
Drew Pritchard is one of the UK’s best known antique dealers and is the presenter of Salvage Hunters. Pursuing a lifelong talent for rescuing and restoring rare items, Drew is a real life treasure hunter. Read more about the antiques dealer & salvage hunter himself, Drew Pritchard here. Follow Drew Pritchard on Twitter for more useful antique hunting tips, news, how-to guides and articles here. See Drew Pritchard‘s vehicles for sale here.
Welcome to the Drew Pritchard blog. Here we share how to hunt out unusual pieces of salvage and and reclaimed stonework for your garden. Read on to find out more.
We’re all guilty of tending to our homes more than our gardens, but with summer days stretching out into balmy evenings, now is the time to stamp some style on your plot.
Know where to look. Reclamation yards and decorative antiques shops – even skips, for that matter – yield old pieces of beautifully weathered or aged garden furniture, statuary, gates, terracotta pots, plant supporters and unusual objects, which can accentuate an existing theme or bring character to a specific area in your plot.
Take your time. Hunting for such items can take more time than buying new, but it’s well worth the effort. Not only will you save money and find unique pieces that will make your garden an expression of your style – you’re also helping the environment, by reusing and upcycling.
Choose pieces carefully. Look for genuine character, authentic patination and beautiful form when we’re sourcing architectural salvage, whether it’s a petite stone goose or a life-size 19th-century statue.’
Get creative. While an old carved stone plaque is a thing of beauty in its own right, it can easily be converted into a wall fountain by drilling some holes into it.
Consider placement. Once bought, take a look at the garden and think carefully about placement. Consider the existing textures and tones of the setting to see what will blend in. Enjoy it – play with scale as well as expectations.
Make a focus. Alternatively, use salvaged pieces as a focal point. Garden fireplaces are becoming increasingly popular, with stone chimney pieces evoking a baronial feel to evenings spent outside around the fire.’
Check back for more.
Drew Pritchard is an antique and vintage shop specializing in found treasures. On his successful TV show in the UK, Drew Pritchard can be found turning what could be considered junk into trendy gems. Pritchard, who has been restoring furniture since he was 15, has found and reclaimed everything from vintage cars to antique hobble-horses. Read more about Drew Pritchard here. See garden antiques pieces Drew Pritchard currently has for sale here. Explore more of Drew Pritchard‘s found treasures and antique tips and tricks on his official Facebook page here.
Welcome to the Drew Pritchard blog. In today’s blog, Salvage Hunter’s Drew Pritchard explains what fuels his continued passion for antiques. Read on to find out more.
I can’t quite explain it and, believe me, I’ve tried because I’ve been asked why I’m so fascinated by antiques many, many times. What I do know is that, even as a child, there was nothing better than hearing that there was a derelict barn or building that I could explore. The feeling I got racing across the countryside to reach one of these places in north Wales on my bike was the exact same sensation I get now when heading to a great antiques fair such as Newark or Ardingly. You just don’t quite know what you’ll find.
Two years ago, we got a call in the office from Salford Magistrates’ Court. They told me that deep underground in the cellars of the building were the original 19th-century wrought-iron racking systems, and they wanted to know if we would be interested in buying them. We were there like a shot.
It was a glorious summer and my team spent two months underground sweltering in what would have once been cells for prisoners. We could even see the tracks that had been made to bring the prisoners in by horse-drawn carriage on the solid stone floors. Weeks went by. The atmosphere of the cells was unrelenting. Some of my guys started to joke, ‘Don’t send me down there again, Drew!’ but we reclaimed 70 exceptional racks and they all sold immediately to major design houses and international interior decorators. We all pitched in until we could take no more. It was a great find – but it wasn’t the real treasure we unearthed in Salford.
On our way down into the cellars each day we saw a huge steel box that appeared to be part of the staircase. I mostly ignored it, just tapping it every now and then, wondering what it was. Then one day I said, ‘Let’s drag this out,’ to Gavin, one of my chaps, but we instantly got pulled on to something more urgent. The next day, I heard Gav shout for me. He had finally opened the box and, when I reached him, he was stood, aghast, in front of a 6ft-tall coat of arms wrapped in horse hair and straw (pictured below). It dated from the 1860s and was a thing of absolute beauty. We discovered that it had been made for the main court’s wall when the court was built but had never been fitted. We couldn’t believe the craftsmanship of the thing, its scale and the mint condition it was in.
Back at our warehouse, we pulled the heraldic bearings out of the crate, cleaned them all down and put a light air line on them to blow the dust off. We replaced all of the original straw and horsehair wrapping and put it in its original thick, heavy crate, for sale at the concession we had at Liberty. It was a serious piece – with a price tag to match. It sold to Liberty’s biggest American client, who shipped it to the US to display in one of his homes. Funnily enough, he was so happy with it, he called us and asked for a second example for another one of his houses, as if such things were available on tap!
It’s that sense of excitement when you stumble across something astounding and unexpected that keeps me fascinated in antiques. It’s spine-tingling when you walk into a country house and you know how old or rare a piece is, and it’s not been touched for years. Pieces are becoming much harder to find in their original settings but through auctions or even the internet, a long-forgotten item of furniture can give you the same feeling.
Some people might say that it was a shame that the coat of arms left Salford and travelled overseas. But someone is enjoying it and looking after it, they know its provenance and they have a responsibility to pass that on, to make someone else tingle when they discover an unlikely antique, a million miles from its original home.
Drew Pritchard has been dealing independently antiques since 1993. Focused on originality, good design and wherever possible completely untouched pieces. See Drew’s pieces for sale at the Drew Pritchard‘s website here. Read more about Drew Pritchard online here. Like the official Drew Pritchard Facebook page here for more tips about antique restoration & the Salvage Hunter himself.
Drew Pritchard tips on becoming a successful antique dealer
Welcome to the Drew Pritchard blog. Drew Pritchard is a salvage hunter and his successful antiques company boasts many prestigious clients from all over the world. In today’s blog Drew Pritchard reveals the secret to his success as an antiques dealer and why he lives for the thrill of the next find. Read on to find out more.
I go to great lengths to get the best deals. It’s a constant of the job and it often means extremes of discomfort. When a dealer takes a stall at an antiques fair we call it ‘standing the fair’. I stood Newark for 13 years. You have to be there at the crack of dawn, not only to set up your stand but to get a handle on what your favourite dealers are selling so that you can cherry pick what you want before the gates open and ideally before they’ve unpacked their vans.
I go to great lengths to get the best deals. It’s a constant of the job and it often means extremes of discomfort. When a dealer takes a stall at an antiques fair we call it ‘standing the fair’. I stood Newark for 13 years. You have to be there at the crack of dawn, not only to set up your stand but to get a handle on what your favourite dealers are selling so that you can cherry pick what you want before the gates open and ideally before they’ve unpacked their vans.
Every month for 13 years I slept in the back of my battered old van, fully clothed, in a sleeping bag with my Russian army hat pulled down tightly on my head. I only stopped when, at 36 years old, I awoke one morning to find that a leak from the roof had frozen on my head in a solid ice drip. During those years I made decent money but dealing always had its losses and gains. One good choice at a fair would pay for 14 mistakes. But even when I was making good money, I’d find myself sleeping in my car and driving hundreds of miles a week.
When I trekked one time to the Hebrides with a couple of the guys, I started to wonder if things were getting out of hand. We had heard that there were 36 beautiful opaline ceiling lights dating from 1910 we could buy from a church on the Isle of Islay – but there was a big catch. The journey to get them would involve a drive followed by two boat crossings. It would take 24 hours one way. Now, if there’s one thing I hate it’s being in a boat on the sea and we were crossing on open-deck vessels holding just 10 cars, in winter, in choppy waters. We were blown to bits and everyone was unwell. But when we reached dry land we went straight to the church to get the lights, which were just as good as we’d been promised.
The guy selling the lights on behalf of the church was amiable. ‘I know you’ve had to come a long way, so I’ll take that into consideration with the price,’ he told us, and we bought the lights for half their value. We thought our luck had changed. But that night, the weather took a turn for the worse and we ended up being stranded on the island for a whole week. We stayed in a local pub. There was nothing to do and no licensing laws. Needless to say we ate and drank the profits before a 15-hour drive home after another rough boat crossing, knowing that, even if we sold the lights for the best price, we’d be penniless.
While not all of our adventures paid off, the disasters never deterred us. I love old cars and I also deal in them. A friend of my father’s knew that I was into old Volkswagens and told me about a seriously rare split-screen pick-up truck that he had once owned. ‘I’d love to see a picture of it,’ I told him, having only ever heard about three or four in existence. We were in north Wales visiting him in Corwen. ‘Don’t worry about a picture,’ he told me, ‘it’s still here.’ ‘Where?’ I asked. To my amazement, they’d buried it. ‘If you dig it up and tidy up after yourselves, you can have it,’ he told us.
So that’s how we found ourselves on a windswept hill, putting spades to good use to unearth buried treasure. The truck was 50 or so years old and it had been underground for at least a decade. It was in a terrible state when we finally unearthed it, but it was a rare barn-door model and it was ours for free. We pulled it out of the ground with the Morris Minor pick-up we had arrived in and sold it to a specialist restorer in Germany for a fair profit. I’ve owned about a hundred Volkswagens throughout my career but that was the only one I’ve dug up from the ground. Who knows where the next piece lies? Or where the thrill of the chase will lead us?
Drew Pritchard is one of the UK’s best known antique dealers and is the presenter of Salvage Hunters. Drew’s hit TV show Salvage Hunters. Drew is a real life treasure hunter! See Drew Pritchard vehicles here. Follow the Drew Pritchard as he takes you to various antique dealers around the country, in hopes of finding antiques at great prices for restoration on his official Twitter page here. Read more about Drew Pritchardhere.
Welcome to the Drew Pritchard blog. Drew Pritchard is a restoration expert and has been dealing in architectural salvage and antiques for 33 years. Today Drew shares on how to get that country house you like for less with these tips using antiques. Read on to find out more.
I’ve always enjoyed messing around with architectural antiques and industrial vintage, but I inevitably come back to the country house style. I return to it because it’s all about comfort. I like my modern luxuries like my mobile phone, but I also want a squidgy old sofa that I can sink into when I have a glass of red wine in my hand and the dog is jumping up to sit beside me.
This is a warm, classic English look that is about layering and being playful. The best country homes have evolved over centuries, as their various owners have added layers of history with antiques. It’s all about solid pieces and timeless appeal, but it’s not precious. In a room with a roaring fire you might find a late 19th-century velvet upholstered Howard sofa that’s worn and slightly threadbare, alongside really good gothic revival English oak furniture. There may also be Grand Tour finds nestling beside ammonites and fossils from the Victorian era when natural history was all the rage. There could be art and mirrors on the walls, some oriental touches and the air that everything in the room is an heirloom. My favourite country house is Highgrove for its quintessential look.
The country house aesthetic has been around for a long time and is set to remain, so it’s a great look to invest in. Think of the work of Colefax & Fowler or more recent interior decorators like Robert Kime, who execute the style brilliantly. Many of my clients also snap up the books of Christopher Gibbs – a designer, antiques dealer and collector, prolific in the 1960s – for inspiration. Country house style is a difficult scheme to pull off, but it doesn’t have to be expensive – if you’re clever. This is mostly down to the fact that what you put into a room can be incomplete, unpolished and worn. That’s all part of its charm. You can add a unique stamp to it, as I do, with industrial pieces.
Yet there are some essential elements you will need to evoke the mood. You’ll find my tips for these key pieces, as well as how to achieve country house style on a budget, below. But before you take a peek, here’s a final word of advice. This isn’t ideal for every type of home. Generally, if you want to adopt country house style, you’ll have a sympathetic environment such as a cottage or house with some age. Don’t try it in a modernist 1970s flat. The best country homes have developed over decades, so if you put in a great piece now, you’re adding to its history. Don’t be tempted to add modern pieces that aren’t examples of good design – if you’re on a budget, look for antique bargains. This was a cool avant-garde look for many years, so be brave, bold and a bit mad. Buy what you love, but remember – in the case of design periods such as art nouveau or art deco – because they are so specific, they are complete looks on their own. Finally, don’t rush. As you look for items to add over time, think about what will work and where. Once you start, you’ll be hooked!
KEY ELEMENTS OF A COUNTRY HOUSE SITTING ROOM
Upholstered furniture Choose wonderful patterned fabrics – the brighter and more floral the better. Wear, patches and repairs really don’t matter – it will only make these pieces more of a bargain. Layer with cushions and a blanket or throw over the back of a sofa.
Rugs Layer small ones over large ones, pattern on pattern. Faded Aubussons and antique carpets work and are cheaper than those in pristine condition.
Tables Dot them around the room from little antique tripod-leg gypsy tables, which can be bought cheaply, to a big sofa table. For the latter, use a console behind a comfy sofa with a couple of reading lights positioned on top.
Lighting Replace wall and ceiling lights with standard lamps, table lamps (such as brass column lights) on your side tables. Mix styles, eras and shades.
A fireplace Add a club fender, if you can find one.
A pair of club chairs Mix and match them – this is a cheaper option than buying a pair.
An ottoman Pile it high with magazines or books you’ve thumbed through and place in the middle of the room.
A desk A great addition, if you have space. Team with a nice old desk chair, a lamp, vintage pens, books, pictures or lots of little photographs. It makes a great surface for displaying a collection of curios.
Drew Pritchard is one of the UK’s best known antique dealers and is the presenter of Salvage Hunters. Pursuing a lifelong talent for rescuing and restoring rare items, Drew is a real life treasure hunter! See pieces Drew Pritchard currently has for sale here. Follow the Drew Pritchard as he takes you to various antique dealers around the country, in hopes of finding antiques at great prices for restoration on his official Twitter page here. Read the Drew Pritchard news here.
Drew Pritchard 