Vintage Interior Designs - Interiordesignipedia

What is vintage interior design?

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‘Vintage’ is a term used to refer to old items, preferably more than 20 years old.

Recently, this style has been popular among influencers in industries like fashion, interior decorations, photography, and graphics, among other areas. The style is known for the elegance, lightness, simplicity, comfort, and nostalgia that it tags along.

Vintage and antique items usually get people reminiscing about ‘the good old days.’ This includes glamorous 1940s designs that were customized to fit the owner’s desire and the item’s function.

Vintage interior design doesn’t have straightforward rules that govern its implementation. Rather, it is based on mixing and matching looks, styles, and pieces to come up with an appealing finished product or design.

How to achieve the vintage interior design?

Most vintage spaces have materials made of wood. Such items are easy to paint to adjust the colors for a more appealing look. A variety of color tones can be incorporated to give the wooden items an old look yet modern vibe.

One of the most crucial pieces of vintage design is having a wooden floor design with just the right color. For this reason, deep, neutral colors such as mahogany are often used.

You can, however, use gentle, brighter, elegant colors such as light blue or cream to give a more modern look to the design.

Wallpapers are instrumental in completing a vintage look and feel. Colors such as cream, beige, and pale pink are often used.

Wallpapers with floral patterns are ideal for adding freshness to the space.

Laced cotton or chiffon fabric curtains provide a complimentary texture for a vintage interior design.

Decorative lights are also used to give a vintage ambiance to a room.

It is necessary to note that, depending on the room, appropriate lighting should be given to match a design. Gentle natural light should be incorporated into lighting options for a natural feeling.

Copper chandeliers are popular for vintage lighting because of the warmth and the golden tint that they give the room. Lightbulbs with a yellow tone are preferred but you can also have some lamps with white or brighter light to avoid monotony.

To add to the main ideas, a vintage space usually includes paintings, antique clocks, flower pots, bronze lampstands, and pillows, among other things.

Second-hand items, when matched with other objects like throw rugs or tablecloths, give the perfect finish to the vintage space.

Trends in vintage interior design.

1. Vintage eclectic

Vintage eclecticism involves the careful and artistic combination of antique pieces from different eras to come up with a beautifully detailed space. This style enables designers to show the uniqueness of every piece and have it claim its space in beautifying a room.

Color and texture blend together to evoke a nostalgic, comfortable feeling. This style embraces creativity, rather than perfection.

The art of balance is important to avoid overdoing a style on a group of pieces. You should consider mixing various styles—rough and smooth, dark and light, glossy and dull—while incorporating your own ideas for a more personalized vintage space.

Ready-to-assemble pieces are ideal for this style because it enables you to save money. It could, however, going to give you a headache if not properly planned.

Try building your design from the inside—placing focal point furniture like tables first, followed by other supporting pieces when curating a customized vintage space.

An added advantage to this is that the large pieces will inform you on how to choose other finishing pieces such as carpets, lamps, and curtains.

luxury table setting with vintage colors

2. Pastels

This style is all about color. Most furniture and decorating pieces go well with a range of colors.

Colors create an ambiance that is welcoming and refreshing in all kinds of settings. Pastels tend to promote a more relaxed feeling in long, open spaces.

Pastel colors in the kitchen were popular in the ‘good old days‘ and modern kitchen decor is returning to this fad.

Pastels lend a lively and inspiring feel to a kitchen and come in a wide range of colors to suit every theme.

Pastels often go well with larger pieces, however, it is important to balance shades to avoid overdoing one color. Grounding neutrals help pastels from appearing as too feminine.

Traditional styles of paint and color matching are used to address this, such as featuring brighter colors on the walls, to balance draperies and furniture.

3. Modern vintage

Achieving modern vintage design entails mixing both old and new pieces to create a stunning interior design.

It has no rules for sourcing pieces, other than having specific vintage items blended with modern pieces, and it can be as simple or as complex as you can afford.

This style is specifically appreciated by those with a taste for both eras.

When repurposing pieces, it is important to consider each item’s proportion and scale. In this regard, one can use soft colors to lighten up and modernize rooms with vintage pieces made of wood and leather.

Assembling styles with similar shades works in blending bold accents and bright colors to avoid a cramped look.

Grouping similar items also helps in organizing a modern vintage space. For instance, arrange vintage pieces on a particular side of the space, with other designs in the room, for a more appealing look.

Furniture styles from different eras can also work well together. This can be achieved by placing two modern chairs around a vintage table, creating attractive cohesion and comfort.

Most importantly, lighting is a vital factor in achieving a modern vintage interior design. Having a vintage lamp like a chandelier over a modern piece of furniture, such as a table, creates a visual spark of appeal and spices up the designed space.

4. Elegant study

As it suggests, this style is about the vintage space appearing in a graceful and stylish manner. The design has to be attractive, sophisticated, and mature.

To keep it approachable, the pieces in the design do not specifically have to be expensive, but should rather have style and grace and at the same time be of the best quality.

In this regard, elegant designs need to be clean and nice-smelling. Elegance is achieved through keeping all your pieces clean, well-organized, and tidy at all times. Fragrance and lovely scents also play a major role in keeping a vintage space elegant.

In a vintage elegant room, having quality pieces that speak for themselves with sophistication and confidence achieves the classic, timeless factor that the style aims for.

table served for dinner with vintage interior

5. Vintage kitchen décor

In achieving a vintage kitchen, there are a number of factors to consider, as well as balancing them too. Among them are the colors to incorporate, appropriate accessories, furnishings, and the appliances most suited for this design.

To transform a modern kitchen into a vintage one, colors have to be blended well to give an antique look. For example, one can use one color for the main area on the tiles on countertops and use a lighter or darker color for the edges.

For kitchen accessories, it’s totally fine to mix old and new pieces such as enameled bread boxes and colorful kitchen linens with other pieces of art that you may like, as long as it brings out the desired look.

Modern appliances can also be painted to achieve a retro look, so as to blend in with the rest of the kitchen. The only shortcoming is that most vintage kitchen items can be a bit pricey, but may be worth investing in.

Consider painting modern chairs in bright colors, as well as other kitchen furnishings if you intend to keep them. Chrome-legged tables are a perfect way to finish the design.

If other furnishing pieces are modern, play with a contrast of vintage chairs and bar stools at the kitchen counter to achieve a vintage feel.

Conclusion

To achieve a vintage interior design, you don’t necessarily have to go for all old pieces. Instead, it is more appealing to mix both old and modern pieces in a room. With planning and some of these design tips, you can have an attractive and well-balanced vintage space.