These days, everyone wants his or her home to get back to a simpler time. As technology and the Internet dominate our social and working lives, a growing emphasis is placed on the home as a place to slow down. The paradigm we are beginning to embrace is that the speed of the modern world is too great; we need a release, a chance to throw on the brakes. Being at home should give us that chance.
When we relax at home we seem to step into an older time, when the world was simpler and moved at a slower pace. For modern home architects, the challenge is to somehow build this mode of thinking into the physical home itself. In other words, the home of tomorrow is starting to look a lot like the home of yesterday. Old designs and antique furniture are making their way into more and more homes, signaling a shift in home architecture away from the shiny steel and glass so popular only a few years ago. These days, people want wood; preferably, wood that looks and feels as though its heyday was before any of us were born. But just because something looks antique doesn’t mean that it has to function like an antique. Indeed, a major trend in home architecture these days is an effort to learn how to make old things work like new or, conversely, learning how to make new things look old as is the case with “antique bathroom vanities“. This trend manifests in a number of ways, including:
• Increasing Use of Antique Furniture
Some antique furniture can be used for its original purpose; other pieces may, out of necessity or preference, be repurposed. For example, an antique chest of drawers can have a space cut out on top for a sink, and thus be converted to a bathroom vanity.
• Refurbishing Old Pieces
Instead of buying new furniture every time an old piece begins to show its age, exercise a little ingenuity, and you can have something that feels vintage but looks great. The Chicago Tribune tells the story of a woman who gave new life to a pair of ugly old bathroom vanities with simply new coat of paint.
• Letting Your Garden Grow
The overgrown garden is not an old style per se, but having one gives your home a sense of having been lived in. They are also attractive and fun to explore.
These techniques, among others, can make your home a place where antiquity thrives and an escape is made from the busy, modern world.
