Charlie’s Online Antiques Black Book
Since moving to an old home in the Cotswolds, our love of antiques has gradually grown – to a point where antique shops are now our first port of call when it comes to furnishing a room. While prices can vary hugely, and of course quality variations as well, we typically find that antique pieces are generally better value and better quality than more modern creations. Add to this the sustainability element of re-using old pieces, and the fact that they’re typically timeless in their style – there’s just so many reasons to love antique furniture!
We get a lot of questions via our home instagram account asking where we get our antiques from, and we purchase antiques from a variety of places, including antiques shops local to us such as Station Mill Antiques, and many online dealers. In today’s post, we will be sharing Charlie’s favourite websites for browsing incredible antiques. Whether you’re new to antiques shopping or are a total pro, we hope to introduce you to some antiques retailers that you haven’t tried!
Collinge Antiques
If you’re in the market for anything made out of the finest Welsh oak, then look no further than Collinge Antiques. We recently purchased our grandfather clock from them, and the service from start to finish was excellent. We are incredibly pleased with our purchase; the quality of the wood is outstanding and the grandfather clock is a true investment piece which I’m sure will remain in our home for the rest of our lives. Collinge Antiques don’t only stock clocks – they stock a range of oak furniture as well as tapestries, sculptures and more.
Retrouvius
I’m sure many of you will have heard of Retrouvius. Retrouvius are known for their incredible range of reclaimed materials, such as oak doors, marble fire surrounds and reclaimed tiles. We recently bought a load of reclaimed Iroko worktops which were once school worktops, for our Strawtop 2 project. We turned the reclaimed worktops into a kitchen worktop, a boot room worktop and we even had some spare for window sills. In a cottage that has few architectural features remaining, these antique touches add such character!
Max Rollitt
Max Rollitt is a great source of your more statement investment antiques. We’ve purchased several things from them including our big log basket in the drawing room, as well as the Knole sofa and some of our table lamps. Max Rollitt has a very carefully selected range of products on their website, and it’s therefore a great place to look for a special piece to add to your home.
Lassco
Lassco is a very well known antiques dealer based in London who stock a vast range of architectural salvage including windows, doors, flooring, stone garden structures and much more. If you are renovating your home and you wish to add an abundance of character, then Lassco is the perfect place to browse. If you have no need for architectural features for your home, you can also get smaller pieces on Lassco such as paintings, mirrors and lamps. If you happen to be in London, do pop into Lassco Brunswick House for a mooch. If you’re more local to us, then you could visit Three Pigeons which is another of their showrooms, this one located in Oxfordshire.
Ron Green Antiques
Ron Green is a third generation family business and is a great place to find sturdy pieces of antique furniture, and it’s where we’ve purchased many of our bedside tables from, as well as the tallboy in our bedroom at home. If you’re a fan of mahogany furniture then you’ll love Ron Green!
Lichen Garden Antiques
As the name suggests, Lichen Garden Antiques sell a great selection of garden antiques, as well as reclaimed stone flooring. If you’re planning a garden revamp, investing in some reclaimed stone cobbles or tumbled limestone slabs for your patio can make your garden design look like it’s always been that way, in the best way possible. We got a load of York stone flooring for my greenhouse from Lichen Garden Antiques, as well as some stone planters. They have such an interesting choice of planters; from little antique terracotta pots to huge stone troughs.
Violet Grey Decorative Antiques
If you’re a fan of antique French style garden furniture, then you’ll love Violet Grey Decorative Antiques. We got our beautiful outdoor dining set from them a few years ago and we still love it and use it regularly. The great thing about buying antiques is that they will stand the test of time, and they often look better as they become more worn!