Furniture

When it comes to shopping for vintage, new and antique furniture — whether you’re finally moving into that long-coveted loft apartment, ranch-style home, townhouse or furnishing your weekend house on the lake — you should think of your home as a stage for the seating, tables, lighting, storage cabinets and other pieces that best match your personality.

Coziness, comfort and creating a welcoming space are among the important things to consider when buying furniture, whether that means seeking strict cohesion or rooms characterized by a mix-and-match assembly of varying shapes, colors and materials. And for those who now work from home, exercise, eat and relax within the same four walls every day, they’ll also want to think about flexibility and an innovative approach.

Have you built your dream kitchen?

Is your current living-room furniture all that it could be?

Does your toast-worthy bar or vintage bar cart exude equal parts class and cheeriness?

And importantly, is your home office — backyard or otherwise — a happy one, regardless of the design style you happen to gravitate toward?

Although mid-century modern, rustic, minimalist, Art Deco and contemporary looks remain popular, they aren’t the only styles available to design connoisseurs.

Furniture styles are nothing if not fluid, meaning what’s popular one year may not be the next. That’s why it’s crucial to not only pay attention to interior-design trends but also focus on the styles that speak to you. That way, you (and your interior designer, if that is in the plans) can work to create a home that’s entirely your own, complete with impressively modern decor as well as an array of history’s universally renowned iconic designs.

It’s difficult to single out well-recognized designs from what is a crowded pantheon of celebrated and seminal furnishings. Certain outstanding designs have such stellar quality they’ve endured for decades as bona fide cultural treasures, still being manufactured, in many cases, by the same venerable companies that shepherded them into being (think Herman Miller, Knoll and Fritz Hansen). Some works come immediately to mind as contenders for any short list. When you’re discussing the most popular mid-century modern chairs, for example, no tally would be complete without citing designs by Arne Jacobsen, Charlotte Perriand, Charles and Ray Eames and Hans Wegner.

Good furniture, be it authentic vintage furniture or new custom furniture, allows you to comfortably sit and tell your favorite stories. Great furniture tells a story of its own.

On 1stDibs, find everything from sofas to serveware to credenzas to coffee tables, and every other type of antique, vintage and new furniture you need to create a singular space that you’ll be proud to call home.