There’s a timeless quality to antique furniture that makes it truly covetable in modern spaces. From the extravagant to the elegant, pieces throughout the centuries continue to delight designers and breathe unique life into interiors.
For more than 25 years, our antique shopping experience provides designers and collectors with four gorgeously presented centres, filled with everything from period furniture and kitchenalia, antique buffets to Edwardian bookcases. Here are some key pieces you will find wandering our floors that lend a distinctive look to any interior:
1. Antique bookcases
Any room can be elevated with an old-fashioned bookcase. Despite being some of the priciest furniture ever made, many of our antique bookcases for sale can be snapped up at affordable prices. Take your time choosing the right piece for your space - there are often various changes made to antique bookcases over the years. If you’re fitting out a large space, Queen Anne bookcases are often easy to find. These earliest large examples of antique bookcases - often veneered in walnut with a simplistic style - usually sell for less than smaller ones. What style you choose depends on the room you’re adorning: you’ll find everything from Gothic and Rococo to Classical and Victorian on your hunt for the perfect piece.
2. Antique chests and trunks
What started out as a humble storage solution transcended into some of the most magnificent pieces in antiques. The simple design and brilliant functionality of antique trunks and chests mean that there’s a huge volume to choose from. From travelling trunks to antique Chinese chests, take one look at our antique chests for sale and you’ll soon see that the range of forms and styles is varied enough to suit all kinds of interior space. These superb pieces are often crafted in oak, although you may find them in walnut, chestnut, elm and ash. If you’re on a budget, you can get a real bargain with Victorian copies of antique chests from the 16th and 17th century. While earlier examples cost anywhere from £1500 to £6000, you can find Victorian Gothic and Elizabethan Revival pieces for as little as £300-£500.
3. Antique Chandelier
It’ll be the first thing that catches your eye as you enter the room - that twinkling chandelier bouncing light from wall to wall. These ornate fixtures are powerful statements, standing out in modern or
old-fashioned rooms and injecting tonnes of character. Antique Chandeliers may bring frivolous, super-luxe settings to mind, but there really is one to suit every interior. The best way to check for quality is to examine the sharpness of the cut, something that can only be done properly by seeing it with your own eyes. We have a vast collection of antique lighting and chandeliers at Hemswell, particularly in Building Two and The Guardroom, so spend the day exploring and pick the perfect pairing for your space in mind.
4. Antique buffets
Wander our inspiring antique centre and you’ll always discover a treasure you can’t find anywhere else. Our range of furniture is phenomenal, with rare pieces such as antique buffets for sale at genuinely affordable prices. These sideboard pieces are wonderfully versatile, making unique television stands in modern homes - with decorative facades that hide electronics and other household items. Antique buffets can also be altered to incorporate a sink and faucet, then used in bathrooms as a stunning vanity unit.
Once part of RAF Hemswell, our perfectly located antiques centres are a fascinating day out. The collections of a whopping 400 dealers are exquisitely presented throughout, helping you imagine each of the pieces in the spaces you’re creating - whether that’s an antique travelling chest for a lounge or an unusual retro clock for a cafe.