How to Incorporate Antique Furniture in a Modern Room

Use antique accessories with modern pieces to give the room flow and cohesion. Small touches help furnishings and accessories from different eras to work together. Replace contemporary doorknobs and drawer pulls with antique versions that match other vintage items in the room. Decorate a vintage sofa with new throw pillows or place a pair of modern candle holders on an antique dresser to highlight its aged charm while infusing it with modernity.

Avoid parallelism between new and old pieces. Antique furniture should be allowed to stand on its own and make a statement, even in a modern room. Avoid forcing new and old pieces to work together in a "matchy-matchy" way, as recommended by "Antiques Magazine." For example, don't place new and old end tables on either side of a sofa. Instead give the antique table a place of its own, allowing to serve as a statement piece, not a counterbalance for something new.

Combine antiques and modern furniture from a variety of eras to avoid a cliched look. A room decorated with a few new pieces and several antiques from a single era appears trapped in the past. Filling a space with a mix of vintage pieces makes it "look as if it's been collected over time," according to My Home Ideas. Try combining a rustic, Victorian sofa with a few bold accessories from the '60s, for instance.