Antique Furniture Guide for Decorating Your Office

 

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Whether you work in a home office or corporate office, your office design says a tremendous amount about your personality. This might not seem important, but first impressions are everything in business. You stand a far better chance of signing your next client if your office is well furnished and organized, rather than a cluttered mess. Office furniture and organization does, indeed, leave an impression on potential clientele; therefore, it behooves you to present an office with style. One aesthetically pleasing approach is vintage office furniture, and this antique furniture guide will help you choose the best antique furniture for your office décor.

While part of decorating your office is to impress your customers, you need to love the furniture as well; after all, you're going to be using it. It is believed the first office chair was designed by Charles Darwin, and while his design was based more on functionality than style – he added wheels to the bottom of his chair so he could quickly roll between specimens – the concept did not go unnoticed. Your antique office chair must be functional, stylish and comfortable, and the materials you desire in your décor will determine the time period in which the chair was built.

Elegant styles crafted from woods such as mahogany and walnut and embellished with embroidered seats and backs bring the 18th and 19th Century to your office. An antique office chair from the early 20th Century is a bit more modern, some even crafted in the Art Deco style, and manufactured in beechwood, oak and even bamboo and steel. Seats and cushions use embroidery embellishment as well, although not as Victorian as the older chairs, and fine suede and leather also complement some of these classic chairs. Materials used in designing these earlier chairs were rich in color and texture, yet oddly functional. White House guard and doorman Thomas Pendel recalled Tad Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, finding a rather clever use of some extra office chairs in the 19th Century presidential office.

"Tad pitched the chairs and settee over into the middle of the floor in front of his father … [Lincoln] roared out laughing." – Thomas Pendel

You need an antique office desk to match your perfect chair. Antique desks can be either magnificent, crafted from fine woods and hand-carved embellishments, or simple – still crafted from fine wood, but smaller in size and simpler in appearance, allowing the wood to speak for itself. The elegant antique office desk tends to come from the gothic and renaissance periods. French empire and Italian pieces are also beautifully crafted from mahogany and walnut woods. Early 19th Century desks are still elegant and beautiful, but oftentimes smaller in size, making them more functional within limited space.

"As it used to be said, they're strictly mom and pop stores. Well, that's probably not so true today … " – David R. Hayworth

Sadly, what Mr. Hayworth says is true. The best antique furniture is what it is because making furniture in those days was an honored art form, designed and built by craftsmen in their tiny shops. Today, office furniture is produced for the masses and sold by large retail chains. You're looking for something more, something personal, something better. Peruse our antique furniture guide to find the vintage office furniture perfect for your work space.

 

Office Chairs, Seats & Stools Desks, Tables & Workstations Ergonomic Office Furniture