With every season change, I find myself sometimes growing bored of my style. The re-emergence of past clothing and hair trends pulls at my threads and begs for a new look: shall I go 1960s mod this year or go for the 1920s Downton look? Fortunately, it’s easy to change. An on-line shop here, a vintage shopping splurge there and I’m good to go. While it’s easy to appease my styling needs (and boy do I!), I sadly get the same urge when it comes to my interior design. Luckily this urge does not show up on a quarterly basis, but definitely does every year or two.
While I have found that I can’t fully quell my need for change, I have found ways to keep me happy longer. The answer is simple. Design with timeless style adding punches of modern.
Much like a little black dress, a vintage inspired room will never go out of style. Use some of these tips to transform your bedroom into a beautiful and unique vintage oasis.
Start with colour
Paint is the easiest and cheapest way to transform a room. You’ll want to keep your room feeling airy and light as well as timeless, so opt for a soothing neutral tone like a warm grey, taupe or ivory. Choose wisely because your room will be made up of variations of this colour.
Add a little texture
Vintage inspiration is all about building upon neutrals with a little 3-D textural aspects. You can do this with fabric or wallpaper. Find a textural wallpaper or lace fabric that nearly matches your paint colour. Then determine which wall you will be placing your bed. Make that wall your textural wall and start applying your wall paper or fabric.
Up-cycle your furniture
Try to avoid the pull of modern flatpacked furniture, then you’ll be able to up-cycle what you currently have. If you don’t like your furniture or are in need of an upgrade, don’t worry, you can skip on spending a large amount of money on a new bedroom suite by heading to a local vintage market, charity shop or nearest garage sale and find furniture that has a similar leg and decorative shaping. Then haul it home or haul your existing furniture outside. It’s time to start sanding and painting. Buy another neutral that will compliment your wall colour, such as a darker brown, white or navy blue. Lightly sand your pieces, apply a primer and a few coats of paint. Follow up with a hardware upgrade, think crystal door knobs, and you have a whole new bedroom set. However, don’t skimp on the mattress. Skip the secondhand mattress situation for the most important piece of furniture in your house and instead head to one of your local mattress stores like Dreams Beds.
Change the lights
Remove the standard ceiling light you have and replace it with a decorative chandelier. You can choose one with any finish as you can prime and spray paint your chandelier any colour you want. Go for a fun accent colour for this piece to break up all of the neutrals. Yellow, orange or green could make for a beautiful chandelier.
Go dramatic with fabrics
Now that you’ve got furniture, you need bedding. Pick a lush, textural duvet cover or bedspread, once again, in a neutral. Pair it with comfy throw pillows in colours that compliment your chandelier. Get dramatic floor to ceiling curtains in a matching colour and a rug that grounds all of it by mixing lighter versions of your colours with neutral.
The finishing touches
Painted walls won’t be enough to complete the feel. Find old family photos or vintage magazines and frame them in oversized, wide matted frames. Be sure to hang them at eye level height or they won’t seem natural to the eye and will throw off the balance of the room.
What have you done to add a little vintage to your room?
