This is what you should look for when buying antique or used furniture.

“It would be a living room about seven meters long and about three meters wide. To the left, in a sort of alcove, a large worn black leather couch was flanked by two light cherry bookcases on which books were piled disorderly. Above the sofa, a portulano would occupy the entire length of the panel. Beyond a coffee table, under a silk prayer tapestry fixed to the wall by three large-headed copper nails, matching the leather curtains, another sofa, perpendicular to the first, upholstered in light brown velvet.

This is part of the beginning of Things, book by Frenchman Georges Perec. During the first seven pages of the book published in 1965, Perec describes in detail the objects of an ideal house, the place where a young “petit-bourgeois” couple, Jérôme and Sylvie, dreamed of living. If only they had been rich.

What’s a house without furniture?, you might say. Sleeping, cooking, eating, going to the bathroom, studying, working and so many other daily activities don’t seem possible without a piece of furniture to make it easier. Not, at least, for those who believe in “living well”, comfortably and comfortably.

But practicality is only one of the “needs” covered by the furniture store. Aesthetics is just as relevant, if not more so, depending on who says it.

Modern, old, rustic, designminimalist, Nordic, classic, aesthetic, Japanese, ethnic, Provençal, Mediterranean: there are styles of furniture for all tastes. Or rather, for all personalities. After all, in consumer society, tables, bookcases, shelves, chairs, wardrobes and even the bed are considered an extension of the personalities who own and inhabit them. Even when they believe they have no ulterior motive behind their membership. For those who admit it, it is more of a statement of principles.

This may be where the value of second-hand furniture lies, especially those classified as antique. “In the United States, for tax reasons, furniture and objects that are more than 100 years old are defined as antiques,” explains Jaime Navarrete, journalist and partner, with architect Jorge Arón, of The seven lives of furniture a project in which they have dedicated themselves for 14 years to rescuing and restoring furniture and decorative objects from yesteryear.

“Just like cats, we believe that antique furniture, by its nobility, its materials, its structure and the way in which it was made, lasts many lives. Our mission is therefore to rescue them,” explains Navarrete.

According to the journalist, antique furniture is attractive “mainly because of its origin, its history, its materials, its designs and above all its durability”. Unlike contemporary industrial furniture, furniture made 50 years ago or more guarantees a long lifespan.

“Today we are in the culture of the ephemeral, the ephemeral, where nothing transcends. The same thing happens with furniture. Today you buy a dining room, a table, chairs, and they have a certain life,” says Navarrete.

Traces of use, knife or hammer marks on a table, or even paint wear, are even desirable on old furniture. They are a seal of its authenticity, according to Francisco Moro, publicist and owner of Lost found a digital store for buying and selling antiques and other decorative items, in operation for four years.

“If you buy a table from the 1900s that was used for cooking, there’s a good chance it’s full of knife wounds. There may also be marks from an iron that was left on it, something could have fallen on it, or it could have been painted and over the years it wore away and there was a mix between that color and the original,” Moro explains.

These are the “traces of the life of furniture”, as Jaime Navarrete says. “In imperfections we see the passage of time. This gives them a value, a character that is much more dear to our hearts and that only antique furniture possesses.

According to Navarrete, there are two types of buyers of this type of furniture store. “The first is someone who finds cheap furniture and restores it. The other is the one who buys an antique piece of furniture ready for use; In this case, of course, the furniture costs more.”

In either case, there are certain details to consider when purchasing antique furniture – which, moreover, may very well delineate the type of buyer you are:

• That the furniture has all its original parts. For example, says Jaime Navarrete, a table has the original base and four legs, and “does not have any nails, screws or any type of foreign body.” This, explains Francisco Moro, is known in the industry as “healthy” furniture.
• What is your status? Is this optimal? Is it necessary to restore it? Is it worth restoring? Ideally, furniture should maintain a solid structure. . However, as we said, since these are antique items, they will most likely have signs of use, details or imperfections. Some of them are easy to restore. For example, if a chair or table is loose or the varnish is worn. Other types of restorations may involve significant investments.
• “Often the condition of the furniture does not determine whether to purchase it or not.” Despite the previous point, Navarrete assures that “often we can find pieces or objects that are very bad to bring, but which are very well visible in a certain space.”
• That it is not eaten by moths or infested with termites: something fundamental, but essential.
• That the furniture is “sobado”. This is a desirable trait among antique salvors. For example, that a table is polished, says Moro, means that “because of so many uses that have been given to it, of so many hands that have been placed on it,” its surface is soft, “aged, but rich “.

The “life of furniture”, to which Jaime Navarrete refers, is nothing other than the invisible testimony of the life of those who owned it: the people. An idea of ​​transcendence that Gaspar Noé staged very well in his latest film, Vortex (2021). After the death of those who live in a house, what survives them is their property, their belongings, their furniture. Until these are dispersed: they are inherited or sold second, third or fourth hand.

The reason many appreciate antiques is the reason others reject them. Ana Muñoz, for example, says she loves interior design. However, it gives him “chills” to have something in his house that “perhaps belonged to whom.” “I’m a superstitious person, I prefer to have furniture that is new or at least looks new,” he explains.

An alternative for this type of audience is second-hand contemporary furniture. The most obvious advantage of this type of product is that you can find almost new ones at much cheaper prices. “You spend much less than buying new furniture and you help the environment by giving new life to something that, if not sold, will go in the trash,” explains Daniela Awad, psychologist and owner of Matuttera an online store that he created three years ago with which he seeks to facilitate the marketing of furniture and other second-hand items.

According to him, one of the main mistakes made by consumers of second-hand furniture is that they do not do the exercise of comparing the price of the second-hand product for sale with its new counterpart to determine the convenience of the purchase. “The buyer always says the product is expensive, but doesn’t really check the price of the new or similar product to tell if it’s fair or not.”

According to Awad, Matuttera ensures that the products sold are at least 30% lower in value than the original.

Other common mistakes that occur when buying furniture, whether contemporary or old second-hand, we translate into advice:

• Measure or consider the space to use in the house. When you buy antique furniture, it is usually larger. “You need to have enough space so that the furniture is beautiful and appreciated,” explains Jaime Navarrete.
• Antiquity and modernity can coexist. “No one wants to live in a museum,” Navarrete says. But not just any antique will pair well with modern furniture. “You have to have a pattern in the decoration so that it looks harmonious and feels good,” he adds. In Las Siete Lives of Furniture they offer advice on this subject.
• Examine the product carefully. Daniela Awad says one of the big mistakes second-hand buyers make is bringing furniture home without examining it in detail. This is a major problem, whether it is a contemporary product or an antique, because these types of products are not subject to consumer law regarding exchange or return, provided you have been informed before purchase.

In other words, it’s better to buy good, because there is no return.