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antiques

Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s Paris Living Room Shows How to Style Antiques Personally

A photographed Paris living room associated with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward shows how a few characterful antiques, useful furnishings and personal objects can make a space feel collected rather than staged.

By ThatPainter Team 3 min read
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To style antiques in a living room, start with one or two pieces that have real character, then balance their age and visual weight with comfortable furniture, textiles and objects that belong to your daily life. A photographed Paris room associated with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward offers a useful example—not a period-room formula or a reason to buy a matching antique suite.

What the Paris living room actually shows

Homes & Gardens describes the photographed room with a marble fireplace, an ornate gilded mirror, crystal lamps and an antique sideboard. Its related feature also notes wood furnishings, stoneware, a woven basket, a Persian-style rug and a linen tablecloth. The photograph is credited to Leo Fuchs via Getty Images. Homes & Gardens’ feature treats these details as a visual example of collected decorating.

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Architectural Digest says Newman and Woodward lived in a Paris apartment while filming Paris Blues on location in 1960. In its gallery, Woodward is quoted recalling, “We lived in Montmartre and had a garden.” The gallery provides historical context, but neither it nor the interior-design features establish a complete inventory, exact address, ownership history or provenance for the pictured objects. Architectural Digest’s photo gallery offers the separate account of their stay.

How to style antiques without making a room feel like a period set

Choose one or two pieces with presence

A sideboard or mirror can give a room a focal point and a sense of age without turning every surface into an antique display. Pick something that earns its place through its scale, material, utility or distinctive finish. Darren Price, Partner at ADAM Architecture, puts the appeal this way: “An antique can bring a sense of character and depth that something new simply cannot replicate.”

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Balance ornate pieces with quieter textures

If a mirror has a gilded frame or a sideboard has a strong silhouette, let simpler elements give the eye somewhere to rest. Wood, linen, woven materials and useful everyday objects can soften formal finishes while keeping the room comfortable. In the Paris-room descriptions, substantial marble and crystal appear alongside a linen tablecloth, basket and stoneware—not just other showy pieces.

Mix old and new by contrast, not by matching

Set a substantial old piece beside a simpler or newer furnishing, and judge the pairing by proportion, material and visual weight. The goal is not to make every object look as if it came from the same decade. Price describes the value of “that layering of old and new, familiar and unexpected” in creating a room’s emotional quality. The contrast should feel deliberate, while the room still works for the people using it.

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Let the collection build around real life

Arrange objects that mean something to the occupants—art, books, pottery or a well-used lamp—rather than filling shelves to create a finished look. Architectural Digest quotes Newman and Woodward’s daughter Melissa Newman recalling in 2023, “My parents shared a passion for antiques and vintage items, the quirkier the better.” That family recollection suggests an affection for individual finds, not a rule about reproducing a particular style.

How to choose an antique sideboard for your living room

Before buying, compare the piece with the room and with the way you plan to use it. These practical checks matter more than whether a listing labels an item “French,” “vintage” or “antique.”

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  • Dimensions and access: Measure the intended wall, doorways, stairs and any tight turns along the delivery route. Check depth as well as width so the sideboard does not obstruct circulation.
  • Condition: Ask about structural stability, repaired or replaced parts, veneer, drawers, doors and hardware. Request close-up photographs of wear or damage, and clarify whether any restoration has been done.
  • Provenance and description: Ask what supports claims about age, origin and materials. Treat a seller’s description as a claim to verify, not as documentation by itself.
  • Use and visual weight: Consider storage needs, the room’s proportions and how the sideboard’s finish will sit beside your existing furniture. A large, dark piece may need lighter textiles or less visually heavy furnishings nearby.
  • Delivery and returns: Confirm who arranges delivery, what it costs, what happens if the piece is damaged in transit and whether returns are accepted.
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Make the room personal, not perfectly resolved

A collected room can keep changing: a useful new object may sit beside a much older one, and a meaningful find does not have to match the rest of the furniture. Price says a home should feel “lived in and personal, rather than perfectly resolved.” Use that as a practical test: keep the antiques and objects that add character or serve a purpose, and leave room for the ordinary signs of living that make the space yours.

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