DESIGN NOTEBLOG
Vintage made easy
Get the Vintage interior theme going on in your home
I am back again with more interior design notes and tips and I hope you all enjoyed my first post on my new ‘Design Noteblog’.
Did you all have a good Easter break? And the kids (& adults too) found all the hidden Easter chocolate eggs? Am sure you all had a fab time.
I thought about what I should write about this time and some words/phrases kept on playing on my mind a lot. Most especially the ‘VINTAGE’ look. So what exactly is vintage? Well it certainly means old (for sure). It’s not really retro but typically it’s a throwback to the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s era.
The vintage look, in the world of interior design, means different things to different people. A ‘general’ yardstick to determine what might be vintage is if an item or piece of furniture is between 30 – 100 years old.
Vintage interior design is a fast-growing and catchy trend. It’s stylish without looking horribly out-dated. It’s also nostalgic and reminds many people of their grandparents homes.
Some of the features of the ‘vintage-look’ are the country-style distressed look furniture, floral chintz prints, hand-made accessories like cushions and quilts or even tin wall signs,
Easy ways of achieving the vintage look in your home
- Home decor pieces you can add to your home are things like vintage clocks, nest of tables, rugs, dining tables, armchairs. You don’t need to change everything.
- You can create a feature wall in your living room, bedroom, kitchen or even the cloakroom (yes!) using vintage wallpaper like the ‘dandelion heads’ print which can be sourced from eBay and www.wallpaperdirect.com (they’ve even got helpful tips in wallpaper hanging too).
- Second-hand and charity shops as well as flea markets and car boot sales are fabulous hunting grounds for unique vintage furniture. Pick out pieces that are solid and of good quality.
- Also high street shops like John Lewis, Next, Cath Kidston (to name a few) all carry a good range of reproduced vintage products
- Try mixing and throwing different colours, styles and patterns together to create that authentic look without making the room look too busy or cluttered.
- You can even change the look of your dining chair seat-pads or the tired-looking armchair material by simply buying vintage fabric from fabric stores or local markets and upholstering them to create a vintage vibe.
- If you are also considering repainting your walls as well, pastel and muted colours go best with the vintage look.
I like to support and promote local trade and I have found that there are a lot of fantastic local independent shops which specialize in the vintage, dated look. Like Staffy B (in Baldock), Emporium and Secret Garden (both in Letchworth) and Dressing Room Boutique (in Knebworth). Also if you like the ‘decoupage’ look a nice little shop called ‘eco-me’ in Letchworth do great vintage designs
I would love to know if you have any vintage pieces in your home.
As always feedback and comments are always welcome.
By Tola Laseinde, Interior Designer at Dezine Konnections Interior Design
