Furniture of the Soviet times

Furniture of the Soviet times sought by today’s smart homeowners

The interest in Soviet furniture seems to be reignited once again. Modern apartments are often being furnished with chairs on slim legs, vintage cupboards and dressers, although some 20 years ago such pieces were ruthlessly utilized. Nowadays, however, they are being sought by those who keep up with the interior design trends and want to make their homes look cosier.

How come more and more people are buying Soviet furniture?

1. Unique appearance

Furniture produced in the Soviet Union is not considered typical nowadays but rather unique and even exclusive. People enjoy that pleasant feeling of uniqueness, when their apartment is completed with an exceptional piece that is unlikely to be found in someone else’s house.

Although furniture used to be associated with something common and familiar, nowadays those typical armchairs and dressers are serving as a highlight to the household. Thereby the best way to follow this tendency is not to replicate the interior of typical for Soviet era 5-story apartment building but rather add the vintage decor from the past piece by piece.

Furniture of the Soviet times sought by today’s smart homeowners

2. Affordable prices

Modern furniture factories put mind-baffling price tags on their products. Whereas a typical wooden armchair would cost you around 10000 rubles or more to buy online, you can easily get a similar one for around 750 rubles at a flea market. At the end of the day, wouldn’t it be better to have your priorities straight and acquire something from Soviet past?

3. High quality

Furniture produced in the 50-70s is sturdy, reliable and relatively compact. It was made from natural materials such as wood and plywood. Most of the products were completed with tall legs to give them a sense of lightness.

Furniture was produced not only to satisfy the needs of consumers in a comfortable and democratic environment, but also for people to be able to furnish their apartments for a relatively small price and make them look cosy.

Soviet citizens appreciated the products so much, that in no time every household was fit with a standard list of furniture pieces as follows: furniture with slim legs and armrests, couch and a tiny kitchen, everything done in a typical colour scheme.

The process of bringing old furniture to life

Objects from the past give that warm feeling to people over 60. They are reminiscent of likely the best time of their lives. However people of our generation are also quite passionate about antiques. They are striving for rational consumption and advocate for renovation of old furniture.

A great way to reinvigorate objects from the past that lost their perfect appearance throughout the years is to refurbish them, for instance, to repaint them or replace various accessories. This way the restored furniture would appear more aesthetically pleasing and would remain intact for years.

It’s also possible to do it yourself. The first step is to cover the old outer layer of the furniture piece with upholstery fabric like tapestry, velour or artificial leather, which can be picked to match wallpaper or curtains or just be exactly similar to the old covering. It’s also better to replace the foam if your armchair contains any.

Furniture of the Soviet times

Both slightly restored or untouched same armchairs and cupboards as you granny had back in the day are coming in handy. They are usually taken from abandoned buildings and added to new interior designs to give that aesthetical feeling of the past.

Armchair with slim legs

Minimalism became popular in 60-70s causing the armchairs to be less cumbersome and clunky. They are often referred to as Romanian armchairs and are characterised by slim legs and short backrest. Such pieces were always the most desired due to low quantity shipments and rather big number of people wanting to get a hold of one for themselves. Such armchairs last for ages as they are made out of natural wood.

Frankly speaking, they usually end up costing a lot of money after being restored. The armchairs look classy, perfectly fit the loft style and are comfortable enough to sit in them for hours without getting sore.

Furniture of the Soviet times

However some people charge less for such furniture especially if it’s pretty worn out. If you find restoring tings quite enjoying, you can renew such pieces yourself by covering it with brand new fabric, replacing foam and padding polyester, removing damaged varnish from all wooden parts and applying a fresh layer on top of that.

Prices for Romanian armchairs start from 2000 rubles.

Radio receivers

Only a hand full of fully functioning radio receivers managed to survive to this day hence they might as well be considered furniture.

These receivers could be found in every apartment in the Soviet times, they were used either to listen to the news or as an alarm clock, but mostly just as a fancy background. Nowadays their application is less complicated, while they are mostly used to brighten the interior. Most commonly they are used as a dresser or table. People usually put pictures or posters on or beside them in order to give them the vintage look.

Furniture of the Soviet times

Prices for such radio receivers start from 600 rubles.

Dresser

Another extremely popular piece is a dresser with tall tapered legs. They are actively being used in various designer projects nowadays. Most valuable are those that managed to survive to the modern days in authentic and untouched condition.

Aside from the charm intrinsic to products of the Soviet times, these dressers are considered quite functional. Those will perfectly fit in any kitchen, living room or bedroom easily accommodating something heavy and clunky inside while being perfect for holding books, pictures etc.

Furniture of the Soviet times

Finding dresser with tapered legs is not an easy task, although it’s still possible to find those willing to sell them online. Be ready to pay around 6000 rubles for this functional piece of interior in a good condition.

A cupboard for tableware

In the Soviet times such cupboards were used as a showcase for the most valuable things in the household such as: crystal glassware, sets of unique tableware, books and figurines. Sometimes such cupboards accommodated long shell life products, such as candy, for instance, to be able to quickly lay the table in case of unexpected guests.

Such cupboards fit nicely in modern interior designs. You can put them in the living room or kitchen. But in order to make those look spectacular it’s better to reinvigorate them, by painting them in bright colour, covering the surface with varnish, replacing old glass or completely getting rid of it in favour of sashes. The cupboard itself is able to fit tableware, various vases or beautiful wooden trays inside.

Furniture of the Soviet times

This piece of interior design is the least demanding financially. People often tend to give these away for free but only if you are willing to pick it up yourself, and more rarely for a token amount of money just under 500 rubles.