Antiques have been targeted in burglaries lately with a theft from a home last week resulting in 500 different antiques being stolen. The owner of the home returned home to find that the door of his house had been broken down and his collection of antique watches had been taken by thieves. Some of the watches stolen were worth as much as £8,000 each.

Another burglary earlier this year saw a valuable collection of antique coins, books and clocks stolen when a property that was unoccupied was broken into by thieves. The property was being handled by an estate agent when it was left empty, with the priceless antiques inside, making it an easy target for criminals.

With the theft of antiques being so prevalent in today’s society, what measures have you taken to ensure that your valuable antiques are protected in your home? Plus, should the worst happen, you should make sure that your collections are adequately listed and insured for their correct valuations.

Antique collectors aren’t the only ones looking for antiques. Your antiques have sentimental as well as financial value and deserve protecting. You should check the security of your home and consider installing or upgrading any existing home security system. For home security information and a discount store, visit Home Security Bargains.

Bedroom Furnishing is not just to soothe your senses, but also to enamor you with its beauty. Nowadays, Antique Bedroom Furniture comes with an exquisite headboard with gold trimmings, and nightstands with vertical mirrors. Antique Bedroom Furniture sets come with a bed along with a chest of drawers, a mirror and two nightstands. It makes your room soaked in the tranquility and classiness of bygone times, coupled with the functionality of the traditional beds. Many companies offer Antique Bedroom Furniture equipped with TV armoires and cloth hangers, too.

These days you just don’t have to settle for normal antique pine furniture, as there is a wide array of choices waiting for you. You can choose from any of the designs and finishes, such as mahogany lacquer, cinnamon lacquer and dark brown. Antique Bedroom Furniture is not only sturdy, but also gives your room an antique and innovative appeal. What makes Antique Bedroom Furniture score over others is its distinct style, charisma and elegance.

Antique Bedroom Furniture’s aesthetic value and eternal appeal cannot be expressed by mere words. You have to feel its grace, quality and presence for yourself.

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Antique furniture is very popular today. With the real estate market in the state it is in now, many real estate marketers believe that placing some antique furniture in a home will greatly increase the assumed sale value. Additionally, spending money on buying antique furniture for a home is a wise investment. The antique furniture never loses its value, and in many cases appreciates; the value of the antique furniture may increase as time goes by. Although it is very easy to buy antique furniture today (you can even get the delivered to your doorsteps by ordering it online), several factors are to be considered to make your purchase more profitable. This guide will help you to identify and buy the best antique furniture available out there.

Identifying the real Antique Furniture

You should always remember the fact that the word "antique" refers to any object that is more than 100 years old. When it comes to antique furniture, there are two types such as "real antique furniture" and "Antique design inspired furniture". The real antique furniture is a great treasure, which will be many years old. On the other hand, the antique design inspired ones will only reflect the antique design. The material will not be really antique. Identifying the real antique furniture is very easy. You may be aware of the fact that woods shrinks as a result of aging. Antique furniture will have irregular dimensions. If the finishing of the furniture is excellent and new looking then it may not be a real antique.

Determining the value of the antique furniture

All kinds of antique furniture will not have the same value. It depends upon several factors like age, quality, application, style, make etc. In order to find the value of the furniture, you need to be knowledgeable about antiques. You can get lots of information about antique furniture if you spend a little time researching on the Internet. Commonly, antique furniture will be valued based on the condition, rarity, and history.

Checking the Solidity of the antique furniture

You should also remember the fact that antique furniture retains its value only if it is fully functional. Most antique experts insist on moving and using the furniture to ensure the solidity and functionality.

Buying Antique Furniture online

You can buy antique furniture online and get it delivered to your doorstep while you just relax. However, it is very much important to make sure that the online antique furniture store of your choice is genuine as you won’t be able to check the furniture before they get shipped to you.

No matter how you buy it, the real antique furniture is a valuable asset in any home.

You’ve taken the time and expense to create your collection. To ensure that it holds its value, it’s important to care and protect it. By practicing certain basic conservation practices, you can make sure your house is a safe environment for your collection.
Maintaining a consistent temperature of around 70 degrees during both the winter and summer months is most important, especially with furniture and items made of wood. Veneered furniture is particularly vulnerable to dampness.

Try not to place objects near vents where they may be in the direct path of hot or cold air. Also, keep items out of the path of direct sunlight, particularly paintings, works on paper, textiles, and furniture. Lastly, reduce the amount of exposure to natural light by partly lowering shades, drawing curtains, or closing blinds.

Storing Your Collection
Sometimes a collection becomes so large that items need to be stored. Always select a dry, clean space in which the temperature remains fairly consistent. If possible, avoid storing objects in attics, basements, and garages. Plastic storage bins are excellent for smaller objects like cameras and provide a watertight and airtight seal.

When storing objects that must be wrapped or placed in boxes, be sure to use acid-free materials. Paper and cardboard products are made with acids that hasten the deterioration of objects that come into contact with them. For this reason, it’s best to avoid either wrapping objects in newspaper and normal tissue paper or placing them in old cartons. A number of companies make acid-free tissue paper and boxes for the safe storage of artwork and smaller antiques that can be easily wrapped and boxed.

Fragile objects made of glass, pottery or porcelain should never be stacked on top of each other inside a box. Attempt to arrange everything in the box in one layer. Under-the-bed plastic storage bins are best.

If at all possible, store objects on open shelves instead of crowding them into a box. When objects are evenly spaced on shelves, the potential for damage is greatly reduced.

Tablewares such as plates, bowls, and cups & saucers are frequently stacked in boxes or on shelves. When the pieces rub against each other, surface decoration can easily be removed in the process. To avoid this problem, place acid-free tissue paper under each piece in the stack. The tissue paper provides a buffer between objects that come into contact with each other. Also, make certain that the stacks don’t reach teetering heights! Otherwise, everything can come tumbling down.

You should never stack or jam furniture into a tight space in which the pieces bang against each other. Otherwise, you risk scratching, gauging, or splitin g it. Arrange all furniture directly on the floor with space between each piece.

Cleaning Your Collection
Use a dry paintbrush with soft bristles to dust porcelain, pottery, and glass objects. A cloth may snag on small details and cause breakage. For tight areas or small details use pressurized air.

When cleaning silver and silverplate, try to avoid using creams and polishes that must be rubbed onto the object to avoid scratching. Instead, use a solution into which the object can be dipped to remove tarnish and dirt. This approach is particularly advisable for silver with gilding or silverplate. Constant rubbing with a cream or polish will eventually cause the gilding or silver plating to wear away.
Never clean antique furniture with a damp cloth. This can result in the removal of the surface finish and cause the wood to expand and then contract. Always use a soft, dry cloth or a paintbrush with soft bristles.

Gilding on furniture should never be polished, as this will result in the removal of the gilding. Simply leave the gilding in the condition in which it was found.

Making Repairs & Restorations
You should always consult with a professional on the repair or conservation of an antique that’s severely damaged or in poor condition. The professional will know exactly what measures to take. A home repair could result in even greater damage and will lower the value of a fine antique.

• Antique furniture should never be "polished" or cleaned with commercial cleaning products or polishes. Instead, use a soft cloth sprayed with some glass cleaner.

• To remove stains from stoneware dishes, soak them for 24 hours or more in one gallon of hot water in which two denture cleaner tablets have been dissolved.

• Never use furniture oil such as lemon oil on antique furniture. Just wipe it with a damp cloth or use only clear paste wax (Minwax or beeswax) to keep the wood in good condition.

• To prevent mildew damage to old photographs and art work hung on damp or outside walls, tape or glue a sheet of plastic to the back to create a vapor barrier.

• Use only white glue to adhere broken pieces of porcelain, stoneware, or pottery together. After applying glue, press pieces together and shift slightly for a tight fit. Wipe off excess glue from both sides with a damp cloth and let dry. Use masking tape to hold pieces snuggly while drying if necessary.

• To remove minor water marks on furniture, use a mixture of Vaseline and ashes. Sift 2 tablespoons of fine wood ashes with a dab of Vaseline or cooking oil to form a paste. Using a circular motion, work the paste into the surface with a soft cloth until the white ring vanishes.

• Never use rust-remover on china as it can remove the glaze or protective coating of the china. Also, calcium, lime or rust-remover products should not be used on gold or platinum-banded crystal because these items can stain or permanently change the color of the metal-banding.

• Wear cotton gloves as much as possible when handling your silver. This will prevent the oils and acids from your hands from ending up on the object. Cotton gloves are very inexpensive, and can be purchased at photography supply stores and some drug stores.

• Burn marks can be taken out of furniture with fine steel wool, a razor blade, a scalpel or craft knife. The shallow hole that results may be filled by artists' oil colors, mixed with linseed oil, or if a glossy finish is desired, with varnish, or mixed with turpentine, it will be matt. A filler can also be made from colored beeswax, from powder stain mixed with a medium such as epoxy resin, or shellac mixed with powder pigment.

• Jade, ivory, horn, and marble should be lightly dusted with a soft brush or dry, soft cloth. Keep these objects out of direct sunlight, since they may dry out and become brittle. Always handle these objects with care when moving them.

Why Is This A Good Idea for You?
Rare and beautiful objects never go out of style, while good craftsmanship speaks for itself. Furthermore, it's difficult to beat the charm and interest a good antique or vintage piece brings to any setting. When you add the fact that an antique grows in value over time, the initial investment is money well spent. The craftsmanship of earlier times created truly beautiful furniture that can't be replicated in the same way today that is anywhere near cost effective. Here is an opportunity to make a wise purchase for both love and money.

However, as with any significant investment in high quality, it's important to educate yourself before you take the plunge. It's a big world with a lot of wonderful antiquities for sale. You need a knowledgeable overview of what you find most appealing. You don't want to miss an exceptional find because you don't have a clue about what appeals to you in advance.
In the same way you determined what your personal style is, (and by extension the style of home you want to live in), the same process is used here. Antique furniture can be segregated into four broad categories; English, European, American and Far Eastern. You might begin with an investigation into each category to distinguish the features that are consistent to the category and which of these you prefer.

Browsing with an adventurous and open-minded outlook as well as a scholarly approach, can net you unexpected “found" treasures. You could start out looking for an English side table but find yourself transfixed by the beauty of a pair of French Fauteuil (Fauteuil are otherwise known as “chairs").

Fortunately, the pursuit of your higher education can easily start near home with the fine antique stores in the area. Take a field trip. Ask questions. Good dealers want to share their knowledge. It's in their best interest that you are a well-informed buyer who understands the quality, the market and the value of their inventory. There is no substitute for seeing and handling real furniture and accessories. It's the best way to learn. You can't appreciate the difference between a hand-rubbed wood finish that has the patina of age, and the standard wood finish you see on most new furniture, unless you see for yourself first-hand.

You can also broaden your horizons by attending lectures and seminars. Pore over auction catalogs and go to auction viewing rooms. They're great places to see, handle and learn about antique furniture as well.

While the best advice is always to buy the highest quality you can afford, a fine antique need not be museum quality (with the consequent price tag) to find a place in your home. There is such a thing as an excellent and reasonably priced antique.
Another avenue to explore is high quality reproductions. Chris Mead of English Country Antiques & Home Furnishings (26 Snake Hollow Road, Bridgehampton, 631-537-0606) says that while his store specializes in what he calls “usable antiques" such as small tables, or chests of drawers, there are times when it's neither practical nor cost effective to wait for the perfect specimen to arrive on the market.

Says, Mead, “This is particularly true with dining tables. The table of your dreams may not only cost roughly $10,000, but if you do find it eventually, there's an excellent chance that it simply won't be a workable size." In a case such as this, a reproduction of the table you crave can be made to order, with workmanship, finishes and patina so fine, only a seasoned expert would be able to distinguish it from the original.

Developing Your Own Designer Vision
You did your homework, legwork, and (Glorious Day!) finally, you found “IT." You love it, but where do you put it? There are two schools of thought on how to incorporate antiques with your current acquisitions. One school says, “Think in terms of contrast and juxtaposition." This concept works best if you use pieces from different time periods. For example, what if you placed a very modern steel and leather chair from the 1950s next to an antique Japanese Tansu? The design quality of both stands out in high relief.
Pulling the above approach off so it looks like you know what you're doing is tricky. It can backfire to the point of complete discord. The idea is to create a composition in three-dimensional space. Re-imagine what you see, so that all you are looking at is the color, shape, size, texture and/or design of the pieces you have chosen for your setting. Put everything in place and ask yourself if your vignette looks balanced. Does the scale work? A small delicate item sitting next to a massive heavy object just looks wrong. Do all the assigned furniture and accessories work in relationship to each other, or is any one piece placed too far out of the picture? Do you have a range of light, medium and dark tones? Is there a color punch somewhere?

When you work this way, the provenance of each item becomes coincidental. An unexpected combination of elements, and a mix of style “opposites" can elevate the aesthetic level from the “nicely decorated but ordinary" to “A Really Great Looking Room."

The other school of thought takes a more deliberately harmonious stand. Start with all of the suggestions stated above regarding creating a composition of your furniture arrangement. These suggestions are the “building blocks" you should always use. From here, take the basic framework further and look at the specific details of how things look together. Look for repetition or similarity in shape, size, curve, angle, color and/or design. How do the pieces reference each other? For example, you might have two lamps that are different but the same height and/or material. They could work flanking a sofa on either side if they both have the same type of lampshade. How about patterns that relate to each other? This visual process is how great designers manage to mix the best with the common to get a fabulous result.

Don't neglect to think outside of the box. Did you know that coffee tables didn't even exist before the 1920s? Be creative. That fabulous antique chest you just spied could also be used as a coffee table, and your living room will be more interesting for the addition.

A historically accurate room that looks and feels like a time capsule isn't a living space; you want an environment that's out of the ordinary because of judicious use of carefully selected, unique and special furniture and accessories. The final goal is to create rooms that you love to be in, the place you call “Your Home." No decorating scheme should be so rigidly constructed that it can't accommodate a “found treasure," even if it takes some time for the “found treasure" to land in the place where it will fit in the best.

In the end, the provenance of an antique doesn't matter as much as how it appeals to you. “More than any other consideration, the most important thing is to buy what pleases you aesthetically," says Nancy Toon of Hound Hill Design. “Rooms are meant to be lived in with objects you love".

Observe the dimensions. Authentic antique furniture does not have uniform dimensions since wood, which most antique furniture are made of, shrinks with age. Otherwise, there is a strong possibility that what you are eyeing for is not genuine at all. To clearly see the various angles of furniture, take the time to view it in broad daylight.

Test the solidity of the item. Antique furniture has no real value if it loses its functionality. What use is an authentic antique chair when you cannot actually sit on it? Antique shops allow buyers to sit or move items for verification. Antique experts also suggest this method.

Make sure that parts are available. Good quality antique furniture has complete functional or decorative parts as well.
Look for proof of antiquity. Since the age of an antique is one of the major determinants of authenticity, you should have the assurance that the item for sale passed the age definition of an antique which is at least a hundred years old. One way to verify this is to look for signs of depreciation in the item such as dust accumulation in its corners which are hard to reach by regular dusting. If these simple signs are not available, experts say, the item might not be as old as an antique should be. You must also consider whether a piece of furniture has been restored or refinished. Restoration on antique pieces may decrease the value of the item especially if done poorly.

Examine the surface color. The surface finish of a piece of antique furniture is also a significant detail to observe. A quality piece of antique furniture should show flat coloring except for some shades which might have naturally occur due to age. The back side of a piece may differ in appearance with the surface but it should have unvaried shades as well.

Ask questions to get more details. Ask about the era and style of the furniture which you may later research on to be more familiar with the item. You may also request for a warranty of the item.

Consider antique restoration. While some would no longer consider unstable antique furniture, you may choose to have the item restored to its former glory through the help of a professional antique restorer.

Antique restoration is the art of restoring an antique to its natural appearance with the purpose of making it appear new. In some cases, antique restoration refers to the process of restoring an antique for preservation or conservation of its features to avoid more wear and tear.

#2 - To remove stains from stoneware dishes, soak them for 24 hours or more in one gallon of hot water in which two denture cleaner tablets have been dissolved.

#3 - Never use furniture oil such as lemon oil on antique furniture. Just wipe it with a damp cloth or use only clear paste wax (Minwax or beeswax) to keep the wood in good condition.

#4 - To prevent mildew damage to old photographs and art work hung on damp or outside walls, tape or glue a sheet of plastic to the back to create a vapor barrier.

#5 - Use only white glue to adhere broken pieces of porcelain, stoneware, or pottery together. After applying glue, press pieces together and shift slightly for a tight fit. Wipe off excess glue from both sides with a damp cloth and let dry. Use masking tape to hold pieces snuggly while drying if necessary.

#6 - To remove minor water marks on furniture, use a mixture of Vaseline and ashes. Sift 2 tablespoons of fine wood ashes with a dab of Vaseline or cooking oil to form a paste. Using a circular motion, work the paste into the surface with a soft cloth until the white ring vanishes.

#7 - Never use rust-remover on china as it can remove the glaze or protective coating of the china. Also, calcium, lime or rust-remover products should not be used on gold or platinum-banded crystal because these items can stain or permanently change the color of the metal-banding.

#8 - Wear cotton gloves as much as possible when handling your silver. This will prevent the oils and acids from your hands from ending up on the object. Cotton gloves are very inexpensive, and can be purchased at photography supply stores and some drug stores.

#9 - Burn marks can be taken out of furniture with fine steel wool, a razor blade, a scalpel or craft knife. The shallow hole that results may be filled by artists' oil colors, mixed with linseed oil, or if a glossy finish is desired, with varnish, or mixed with turpentine, it will be matt. A filler can also be made from colored beeswax, from powder stain mixed with a medium such as epoxy resin, or shellac mixed with powder pigment.

#10 - Jade, ivory, horn, and marble should be lightly dusted with a soft brush or dry, soft cloth. Keep these objects out of direct sunlight, since they may dry out and become brittle. Always handle these objects with care when moving them.

So what’s the difference between authentic antique vanity and antique-design vanity?
First and perhaps the best indicator of the authenticity of it is the price. Authentic antique vanity can go 10 times more expensive as its antique-design counterpart, or even more. And just like a good pair of jeans, it looks better through the years. Antique pieces are often made from mahogany, cherry and oak, types of hardwood that are known to last a lifetime, even more if it is treated properly with wood sealant. A good crafted one will not suffer any water damage.
Antique-design vanity on the other hand is relatively cheaper than its authentic counterpart but is still quite expensive. The price of a single piece can go from $400 to $2,000 depending on its size, design, and type of wood used. While it is not authentic antique, it is designed and crafted to appear very old and to reflect the age gone by using the same type of wood from which authentic vanities are made from. One of the advantages for choosing this type is that you can get it brand new. Meaning, they have the look of all the antique beauty and elaborate designs, but without the wear and tear. Also, your options are almost endless if you choose to buy brand new pieces without spending a lot of money.
Whether you buy an authentic or an imitation antique vanity, there are things that you have to make sure of. First, buy from a reputable manufacturer or antique store. Second, check the warranties that the company offers whether you buy it online or at your local antique or furniture store. And last, choose a vanity you really like.

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