Frequently asked questions

We personally select the furniture in Belgium and Hungary, from where it then arrives in containers. We import the carpets directly from Iran, and we get the lamps from Belgium and a domestic lamp manufacturer. A very limited amount of the furniture comes from Finland.

For example, in wardrobes, we make the interiors according to the customer's wishes. When the wardrobes come to us, they will have a rod, shelves or both. We create the interior in a way that best serves the customer's needs. We can also paint or otherwise surface-treat the furniture in the shade the customer wishes.

Yes, it is! Personal service is particularly important to us and we are happy to serve you outside of opening hours if necessary. Please contact us and we will arrange a suitable time! You can find our contact information on the Contact tab .

Yes, we do! We import the carpets ourselves directly from Iran, washed, checked for condition and with sewn edge reinforcements. The carpets are hand-knotted semi-antique wool carpets that retain their value and last for years. Semi-antique means that the carpets are approximately 30-50 years old.

Unfortunately, we are no longer easily accessible once you spot us on the motorway. Of course, you can do that with a navigation system, but the best route from the E75 motorway is to exit the Renkomäki ramp (Lahti E) and follow the signs for Miekkiö until you see Antiikkitukku.

We never paint furniture that is clearly in its original condition and is of particular value in some way. However, most of our products are those that were once ordinary furniture and have already been painted or otherwise surface-treated. In some cases, the surface treatments may also be in such poor condition that they need new treatment. We think that it is a better option for everyone to modify furniture to fit today's interior, so that the furniture can be used, and not buried in warehouses when it is not suitable for use as is. Most of the painted furniture is already painted when it arrives to us; we paint surfaces in good condition mainly according to customers' wishes.

We personally deliver to a fairly large area from Lahti, but we can send products to Lapland and Åland, for example, using reliable transport companies. In practice, home delivery to all of Finland is possible by some means.

If you don't want to come to the store or can't make it to the store for any reason, shopping can also be done remotely. You can shop by email, phone, text message or even video call, which makes it easier to present the products in the most comprehensive way. Payment is easy with an invoice.

We will try our best! If you have a picture of the product or a similar product, please send us an email with the picture and tell us that you are looking for something similar. We do not always have all the products visible on the website, because hundreds of products are added at a time, and unfortunately we do not have time to photograph, measure and add them all to the website on the same or the next day. If we do not have the product of that type available at that moment, we can keep our eyes open on the next shopping trip, in case we find it!

There are no rules to these and the old saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” applies here too. When the residents of the home like the whole, then the interior design is successful. Above all, the home must look good to its residents and be comfortable and functional for them. If you are in doubt, you can, for example, take a photo or video of the home and the measurements and come to the store with them and tell us what kind of furniture you would need and together we can think of the best solution! This can of course also be done remotely if you so wish.

Our business idea, selling used furniture, is already an act for the environment! The more used products we buy, the less we need to produce new ones. In addition, we always try to import full containers of goods and avoid short loads. We use environmentally friendly lime paint for painting and actively recycle all our waste. We have received the Environmental Activist of the Year award in 2018.

Antique furniture is often of very high quality and can last for centuries. Buying used furniture is always an eco-friendly act that avoids the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing new furniture. Often, old, high-quality furniture also lasts longer than new furniture, which in turn helps the environment.
Solid wood old furniture is a great piece of furniture that can be easily modified to suit your needs and interior design. Most old furniture is not a national treasure that you should be afraid or afraid of painting or modifying. Instead, it should be renovated and modified as needed so that it can serve its purpose again in places that are worthy of its value!
Antiques are a wonderful addition to an otherwise modern home. Antiques can easily be used to decorate a personal home that stands out from other homes! A home never has to strictly follow a certain style, but bold combinations create wonderful, personal homes. When a home pleases the eyes of its residents, the combination is successful. A serviceable antique store will help you design a suitable ensemble for your home!
Old furniture is also always a good investment, as the value of quality furniture is more likely to increase than decrease over time.

Antiques are usually divided into styles and eras. We have furniture in all styles. A brief history of furniture styles:
Renaissance
c.1420-1560 (in folk furniture in Finland until the 19th century)
In homes, presentation and comfort were important. Movable, loose furniture became more common instead of fixed interior solutions, and with this, chairs, for example, became more common. Furniture was arranged in ensembles. The furniture consisted of handsome cabinets, tables were rectangular, often pub tables or tables with cross-legs. The frame of the chairs was of a cross-leg structure, the seat was square, usually with two support frames. The back legs continued as the side beams of the backrests and were connected at the top by a shoulder board. Seat furniture began to be covered with curtains. Mirrors were surrounded by silver frames.

Baroque
c.1600-1715
Baroque was originally a mocking name used to describe the disproportionate expansion of forms and lavish decoration characteristic of the style. The style was pompous, but comfort was also important in furniture. The back of a Baroque chair was high and narrow. The seats were hard-upholstered, for example, with gold leather or brocade fabric. The legs of the chairs had sculptural decorations, and spiral turning was characteristic of the Baroque (so-called spiral baroque). Crown sculptures and rattan braid were also used in the chairs. The colors in the Baroque were green and red. Crystal chandeliers were common. Furniture included a 2-door cabinet with a drawer at the bottom, ball feet and spiral columns. The furniture was lacquered. In the Baroque, the furniture was arranged in a precise order, and it was not moved.

Rococo
c.1730-1775
Rococo had a very comprehensive impact on interior design. Rococo's hallmarks were asymmetrical ornaments resembling shells, the letter c or s, floral and leaf ornaments, light curved lines and skillful carving and intarsia decorations. During the Rococo period, a shift was made to a fresh, light color scale, the most common colors being pearl gray, slightly greenish, pale blue and pink. The popular cover for chairs was large-checkered linen, and loose covers were used to some extent. Important pieces of furniture were sofas and lounge groups, chests of drawers and small tables, sideboards and mirrors. The paw-shaped base was popular for chair legs. The name Chippendale became familiar in furniture.

Neoclassicism
c.1775-1830
Neoclassicism originated in France. Its phases included, among others, the style of Louis XVI c.1775-1795, the Directory style c.1795-1805, the Empire style c.1805-1830, in Sweden-Finland the Gustavian style c.1775-1810, which remained dominant well into the 19th century; the style of Charles John c.1810-1830.
Neoclassicism was based on the admiration of antiquity and the Renaissance. The elegance and comfort of Rococo were preserved, but, for example, the legs became straight and tapered downwards. The furniture was straight-lined, balanced, and the fittings were decorated. Common furniture included, for example, a writing desk with tall and slender legs, a corner cabinet, small tables, hairdressing and sewing tables, and four-poster beds. Marble was used a lot on table tops. It was common to gild or paint wooden parts light, and striped patterns began to replace floral patterns on fabric covers. Mirrors were rectangular and decorated, for example, with an urn motif.
The harmonious proportions of Gustavian neoclassicism and the carefully executed antique ornamentation were well suited to Finnish wooden furniture. Gustavianism remained an influence on folk furniture well into the 19th century. A common Gustavian piece of furniture was the pinna chair, whose popularity and folk-like manufacturing continued for a long time in our country. The furniture was made from domestic wood species and painted pearl gray or other pastel shades. Mahogany, which was popular abroad, was also imitated with a reddish-brown color.
Empire, or the emperor's style, was an ostentatious style. The Empire was the culmination of the idealization of Roman antiquity and Egyptian antiquity. The imitation of stone and metal made furniture heavy and uncomfortable. Antiques were imitated at the expense of usability. The material of Empire was mahogany and other types of wood treated to resemble mahogany. The surfaces of the furniture were shiny. Monochrome surfaces, ornaments and striped patterns came into fashion. Rich and heavy bronze inlays and gilding were used to decorate the furniture. Military motifs were preferred in the ornamentation, e.g. eagles, sphinxes, laurel wreaths and lyres. The most common chair was the Gondoli chair, which had lion heads on the sides, for example, and the seat was square, tapering slightly towards the back. The front legs were straight, turned and decorative, the rear legs curved somewhat backwards. Other pieces of furniture included e.g. Recamier sofas, a centipede table (a dining table that can be extended by pulling out) and a bed that can be pulled out from the head. The table took the shape of an ancient altar, and marble was often used as the tabletop. Empire furniture was designed as a unit; the sofa, table, and armchairs and small chairs were arranged as a group. Mirrors rose to the ceiling, and the swivel Psykhè mirror came into fashion. The double-rimmed and closed crystal chandelier was common as a light fixture.
In Sweden, a more modest Empire style developed as a continuation of Gustavianism, which also became popular in Finland. Furniture was painted white. Bronze ingots were imitated by carving or shaping from mass and they were gilded. White and gold belong to this Empire of the Charles John era. At the same time, people learned to make marbling painting imitating marble and woodcarving imitating wood. The most common type of chair in the Charles John Empire was the pinna chair, in the back of which the small parts could be grouped only at the top of the shoulder board, or they were made of wider slats than in the Gustavian era.

Biedermeier (Late Empire)
c.1830-1850
Biedermeier was born in Germany as a continuation of neoclassicism. The style is also called late empire, because the style is a cozier and lighter interpretation of empire. The pursuit of coziness became the goal in home decoration. Biedermeier changed the rigid lines of empire to round ones and removed metal decorations. Round, gently s-shaped lines appeared on the legs and backs of furniture. Chairs and sofas usually had a back that curved backwards, veneered with mahogany or walnut, and armrests that pointed forward in volute spirals. The backs of chairs often had a graceful, carved crossbar. Some sofas had padded backs. The seat part adopted coil springs to improve seating comfort. Wooden surfaces were polished to emphasize the wood grains. In Finland, materials used included curly birch. Furniture became more common: sofas, armchairs, small chairs, and tables. Chests of drawers were more simple than in the Empire style. The graceful rectangular mirror was one of the most beautiful Biedermeier objects. Biedermeier changed the color scale to dark.

Repetition styles
c.1830-1900
During the revival period, historical styles were re-implemented, now using machines. The furniture industry made furniture lifeless. A new technical solution was coil springs, which increased seating comfort and made the upholstery of the seats solid. During the revival period, different stylistic features were combined with each other and it was common to find furniture from several stylistic directions in a home.

Neo-Gothic
c.1830-1870
Gothic Revival was born in England around 1830. The style was mainly used in the interiors of libraries, stately homes, billiard rooms and various public spaces. Gothic Revival was manifested in the high pointed arch-like shapes on the backs of chairs and in the arched lines on the doors of cabinets reminiscent of church windows or vaulted beams and in the tower-like projections of cabinet clocks. Gothic Revival furniture was made of medium brown or dark, matt lacquered wood. Rattan suited Gothic Revival furniture well. It was either natural-colored or stained. In Finland, Gothic Revival was mainly realized in decorative objects and some furniture.

Neo-rococo
ca. 1830-1890
The neo-rococo was graceful, small and comfortable, perhaps the most practical and therefore the most popular of the revival styles. In Finland, the neo-rococo appeared restrained, but in Central Europe it took on flamboyant forms that were often unnecessarily difficult to implement. The materials were dark wood, walnut and mahogany. In Finland, domestic wood species were used, which were stained dark. The surface was polished or varnished. The front legs of the furniture were turned or shaped like the letter S, the wooden parts had carved decorations and there were wheels under the front legs to make it easier to move. The textiles had, for example, large-patterned flowers. The most popular upholstery was red plush. The colors were also strong lilac and green. The upholstery was abundant. Cord braids, fringes and tassels were used in the upholstery. The so-called fully upholstered Emma furniture also appeared during the neo-rococo period. Neo-Rococo came to Finland in the 1840s from St. Petersburg and was therefore also called Russian Rococo. In Helsinki, the elegantly designed Neo-Rococo furniture made by carpenters is called Helsinki Rococo.

Later Neoclassicism
c.1850-1890
Later neoclassicism was very similar to its predecessor, mainly only the color of the wooden parts distinguished the furniture from the original style. Most often they were made of black, glossy or matte wood. The wood species was often dark stained oak, in the Nordic countries also other native wood species. The ornamentation and shapes remained largely similar to their predecessor. The collection of this style intended for salons included sofa furniture, which included oval or round coffee tables as well as small decorative tables and flower columns.

Neo-Renaissance
ca. 1860-1890
The Neo-Renaissance favored large, stately, showy, and heavy objects. The most popular material was oak, but walnut and mahogany were also used. The wooden parts of the furniture were almost always treated with brown or black. The surface was shellaced to a glossy or matte finish. Typical of the Neo-Renaissance were dining rooms, whose furnishings included a large two-part crockery cabinet with rich decorations. The dining table was plush and often extendable. The edge of the tabletop had a molding, which often had sculptural decoration. The heavy legs were decorated with wire turnings and grooves. The legs of the furniture were straight and turned to shape, the back of the chair was bordered by fluted columns ending in a ball, and the seat was made of rattan, perforated plywood, or upholstered. The chairs were more Baroque than Renaissance in structure. A favorite piece of furniture during the Neo-Renaissance was the panel divan, a large, high-backed sofa with a shelf for decorative items along the back. The sofa's padded armrests folded out to the sides, allowing the soft sofa to be converted into a bed.

Neo-Baroque
ca. 1880-1890
The neo-Baroque also favored dining room furniture. In addition to the dining table and small chairs, the furniture included much smaller sideboards and lower cabinets than the originals. During the true Baroque, the concept of furniture was foreign. The seats of neo-Baroque armchairs and sofas had springs that were not part of the original style. The back of the sofa was solid and softly upholstered. There were no sofas in the true Baroque style. During the neo-Baroque, the color scale of the wooden parts became slightly lighter. Medium brown tones came alongside dark ones. Glossy varnish was not part of the neo-Baroque. Rattan was still common in seats and backrests.

Viennese style
1849-
The Viennese style began when German-born Michael Thonet developed a chair in Vienna in 1849 using a wood-bending method he had developed. The chair was graceful, timeless, durable and easy to manufacture industrially. This marked the beginning of the global marketing of Viennese furniture. The chair's popularity continues to this day and the chair has had many imitators.

Modern
1890-1915
Art Nouveau developed in Europe at the end of the 19th century. Its goal was to free art and creativity from imitation and soulless mass production. Art Nouveau is based on genuine art, genuine natural materials, good craftsmanship and reduction, as well as the purposefulness of furniture. Typical ornaments were plant and animal motifs taken from nature, such as the swan's neck line. Art Nouveau colors were dark. Wood was used in its own color or stained darkly. The surface was matte, not varnished to a glossy finish. In Finland, Art Nouveau was the first original design style, the beginning of streamlined Finnish design. Finnish Art Nouveau is characterized by robust geometric shapes and national ornamentation, such as squirrels, bears, pine cones, and fir needles. Finnish Art Nouveau survived in our furniture manufacturing until the 1930s. Simplified, but clearly Art Nouveau-style furniture types became established in the collections of furniture factories.

Art Deco
1920-
During the transition between Art Nouveau and Functionalism, the Art Deco movement emerged in Paris, adopting a more graceful and lighter line than Art Nouveau and using Chinese and Japanese lacquer paintings and decorative motifs as decoration. The colors were strong and brilliant.

Functionalism
1917-
During the period of functionalism, or funk, uniform furniture was abandoned, and chairs and tables became separate, to be combined according to each customer's taste. The colors were the basic colors alongside black, white and gray. Lighting was improved, with glass balls as lamps, among others. The development of pressed plywood had a significant impact on furniture design. The best-known designer of furniture made from bent plywood in Finland is Alvar Aalto, whose furniture designs are still popular. They are currently manufactured by Artek, but there are also many cheap imitations. In addition to these pieces of furniture, during the funk period, tubular furniture and rectangular wooden factory-made furniture were also manufactured in Finland.
In the 1960s, fiberglass furniture was designed in Finland, which became global classics. Eero Aarnio's Ball Chair is from 1965 and the Pastilli Chair from 1968. Yrjö Kukkapuro designed the Casino Chair in 1961 and the Carousel Chair in 1965.

Sources:
Our Old Chairs, Riitta Pylkkänen, 1974, WSOY
Interior styles from antiquity to the present day, Leena Nokela, 1981, Otava
Antique furniture, style and repair guide, Leena Nokela, 1985,
Big Dipper