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Antique your interiors

Antiques work brilliantly with contemporary pieces. Here, some of the UK’s top antique dealers tell you how to mix and match.

1. In large rooms with tall ceilings, don’t be afraid to use the maximum height when using objects, so collections can sit on the tops of furniture and pictures mixed with mirrors can hang above them.

2. You only need one key piece, which should have integrity, quality and ideally unusual features, to create atmosphere and impact.

3. If you think you’ve run out of space to hang pictures, use the backs of doors where they can look very effective.

4. Theme pictures together so if you have a collection of works showing sleeping people, group them together in a bedroom.

5. If you have two or three fantastic works, they can be mixed with less expensive pieces and that will bring up the quality. Less expensive pieces should be quirky or academically interesting. Choose pieces that are not trying to copy another period.

6. A wall full of convex mirrors in a hall is very dramatic and will create the illusion of a much larger entrance.

7. Don’t be afraid of mixing periods and countries e.g. Regency with Georgian and French with English. Country houses have evolved with history and it’s better to recreate this than to follow all the same period and country.

8. Try covering antique upholstered furniture with bold modern fabric.

9. Experiment with antique screens to divide rooms and create different spaces. The screens can be covered in leather, lacquer, woods, fabric or collage.

10. Antique French and English farmhouse tables with beautiful colour and surface patina juxtaposed against the sleek clean lines of a modern kitchen can create a great effect.

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Antique your interiors

Antiques work brilliantly with contemporary pieces. Here, some of the UK’s top antique dealers tell you how to mix and match.

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