Get The Look: Choosing Your Vintage Home

When it comes to setting up a vintage home, creating that vintage ‘experience’ is crucial, whether you’re buying/renting a retro inspired pad or even choosing a shop to sell from. For those who are setting up home, deciding upon the actual bricks and mortar building is crucial as this will always be the backdrop to your vintage treasures.  Here’s a look at what to consider as you make this important choice:

Potential vs budget

No doubt, your budget is going to be the most influential factor when choosing a home. You need to go into every property with an open mind to the potential a building may have and how it can relate to your budget. If you’re viewing something at the top end of your budget, it needs to be ready-to-go with little to no work required to get it how you’d like it. Opting for a house that’s cheaper but will need a little TLC will require careful time management to get it ship-shape before you can relax truly, but can be a nice way to add your own stamp to a place and really create the space of your dreams. Take our word for it..we’ve renovated 3 properties so far which has enabled us to have the space of our dreams, working brilliantly with our things. The amount of homes we looked at which were finished but not to our taste made us focus on a house that needed work.

our kitchen!

History vs future

Vintage plays on the beauty of the past, so really a home with a fitting history would be ideal. If you can find yourself a house which has an intriguing history stacked with original features that can be the perfect back drop. A Victorian or Edwardian home works so well with vintage, just as a 1960s home looks great with retro furnishings. We have always made sure though that the fixtures and fittings are in keeping with the style of the home so that if we move away it still looks right to the next person who may hate vintage! Plus having a captivating story to share in the form of fireplaces, doors and floors can only add to the value as well as the look.

photo courtesy of Simon Whitmore, FW Media: Style Your Modern Vintage Home

However, there are benefits to choosing a new build. A contemporary build will allow for more modern facilities and freedom than a listed building, and there’s also the positive aspect of not being tied to the associations of a previous owner, such as a kitchen you hate. It may not shout vintage to you but clever interior design can also transport yourself to a time gone by. This look works so well with 1960s design as the shapes of rooms are very similar: think a low day bed, atomic lamps and Ladderax units with neutral colour schemes.

Functionality vs character

As you begin browsing properties, you may come across the dilemma of choosing between character and functionality. It’s easy to fall in love with period windows and glorious wooden floors that would look fabulous with your vintage furniture, but you don’t want to find yourself without the means for wi-fi in your office or a practical kitchen for your family. Again, character can always be added through the use of clever interior design and authentic vintage furnishings. Make sure you choose with your head as well as your heart!

photo courtesy of Simon Whitmore, FW Media: Style Your Modern Vintage Home

We are always on the look out for great homes to feature on the blog, whether they are new or old builds. Send in your photos to yourvintagelife@hotmail.com

 

 

 

Have you heard about our new venture VintageBizClub? It is a year long distance learning version of our popular Vintage Academy, broken into 4 terms of 12 weeks that covers all (and more) that your would learn at our one day events.

We have a scholarship to give away. All you have to do to apply for this scholarship is email us as info@vintageacademy.co.uk tellingl us about yourself, why you would love to win a place at our club, how you would benefit and how it could change your business!

Please label the email VintageBizClub Scholarship. Remember to share your website address, social pages and anything relevent to help your application. We will choose the worthy winner on Monday 7th April and announce it at #vintagebizhour on Twitter 9-10pm.

So want to join our club? Find our more on the website and if you have any questions, ask away!