What Are Primitives And Where Do You Find Them?

Dictionary.com defines primitive in part as; old fashioned, simple, crude, or unrefined. These are very good words to define the style of decorating called "primitive".

Think of walking into a farm house in the early 1800's. Life was hard; things were rugged and made with the materials on hand. The flour and feed came in cloth sacks; those sacks were recycled into clothing. Worn out clothing and left-over scraps were made into quilts, rugs, and dolls. Many functional items such as tools for both the handyman and the lady of the house were made from hand carved wood. The blacksmith wasn't hired only for tool making; he also made candle holders and other function decorations.

You may think it would be hard to decorate with these simple items in today's complex and modern world, but you'd be mistaken. The simplicity of these items takes us back to our roots, uncomplicates our surroundings, and even helps us be grateful for our modern day conveniences.

The first thing you'll need to do is find the primitives you want to decorate with, do you want reproduced by hand, mass market reproduction, or the real deal?

There is a very large market of handmade reproduced primitives. These are items that are made with new materials but artificially aged to look like they just found their way out of great grandmother's attic. The techniques vary from using coffee for a fabric dye to using chains to beat up a new piece of furniture. This is quite an art form and not as easy as it sounds to achieve a truly old look. Sometimes people won't even be able to tell if it's old or not unless you tell them. You can find these handmade reproductions online, at art and craft fairs, or in niche market stores.

You can find a lot of reproduction primitives at your local big box store, this is not a bad thing if you are on a budget and don't have a lot of time for treasure hunting. Just keep in mind that it doesn't generally lend itself to a one of a kind look. There are also many online stores that sell mass produced reproductions if you decide to go that route.

Now if you want authentic primitive, you're in for a treasure hunt! We all know eBay is a great resource for the out of the ordinary, a search for "primitive" on eBay will yield you over 17,000 results. Be careful, many are reproduction. You can also find authentic primitives in antique stores, flea markets, auctions, and if you are really lucky thrift stores.
Do a little research and once you're armed with an idea of what you want, don't be afraid to think outside of the box. See that broken wagon wheel in the back of an old barn? It might make a cool statement hanging on the wall. That old metal chicken feeder becomes a unique candle holder for your dining room table. Those old tattered dolls will look great gathered up and displayed with that primitive quilt you spied covering some furniture in the back of the thrift store.

Whether you decide to go with old or new primitives the search is half of the fun, so enjoy!