All the terms that fly around your ears, sometimes it is difficult. Is the cupboard that is in your house vintage or retro? And what does it actually mean if your cupboard is vintage, or perhaps second-hand? We will explain it to you in detail, so that the next time you see a piece of furniture you will know exactly which category it belongs to!

Vintage

Let's start with vintage, that's what our furniture is after all; vintage! We can call furniture vintage when it is older than 30 years, but not older than 100 years. If a piece of furniture is older than that, we call it antique. Vintage means that a piece of furniture was made between 1920 and 1980. So this is drinks cabinet one of the oldest pieces of furniture we have in our store, and this vintage audio furniture comes from 1980. The difference is big, but both are vintage.

The reason that vintage is still so popular is of course due to the authenticity, the craftsmanship and a bit of history. A vintage piece of furniture is of course a lot older than a new piece of furniture and is no longer produced on the assembly line. As a result, there are a lot less of each type of vintage furniture left, and that of course makes them unique. And that of course also makes the bit of history that comes with it so special. You can sometimes see from a piece of furniture that it has been used, but maintained. A vintage cupboard often already has a few scratches, but has been cared for. Because there is so much craftsmanship involved, people also find it important that a vintage piece of furniture is well preserved. And with us, if that is not the case, we will restore it and it will be as good as vintage again!

Retro

With retro, the story is a lot different. A piece of furniture is retro if it is inspired by the past, but is made new. Often, when we hear the word retro, we immediately get certain colours and styles in our head. That a piece of furniture is only retro if it meets a certain style is not true, it is retro when it is new, but with a vintage look. However, furniture with a 50s to 80s look is the most popular in the retro category.

Second hand

Second hand, who hasn't heard of it? Second hand simply means that you are not the first owner of a product. For example, if you buy vintage chairs on Marktplaats, then you know that these chairs have been used before. Or for example a vintage lamp in a thrift store, you also know that it was previously hanging in another house. It is good to remember that something that is second-hand does not always have to be vintage. For example, a second-hand piece of furniture can also come from 2007. We may not call the piece of furniture vintage, but we can call it second-hand.

Even though the word “second hand” contains the word “second”, that does not mean that you are actually the second owner. It could be that you are the third, fourth or perhaps even fifth owner of a piece of furniture. In that case, the piece of furniture is still just second hand, and not fourth or fifth hand.

You can almost always say that vintage furniture is second-hand. Most furniture has already had one or more owners. When you think about it, the furniture is of good quality, otherwise how could it last so long?

What is best now?

Of course there is nothing right or wrong when it comes to furniture. The most important thing is that you think it fits well in your interior and that you are happy with it!

But if we have to be honest; we are not fans of retro. Why would you buy a new piece of furniture when there are so many good second-hand or vintage pieces of furniture available? And finding a real vintage gem feels great!