Incorporating Antiques and Retro Pieces Into Modern Home Decor
When you pepper your contemporary home with occasional antique or vintage pieces, you introduce new texture and depth. Collections of family china displayed on a mantel, or even the individual framed mirror on the wall, aid a home from sinking into a homogenous mush of the mass-produced.
Mix and Match
When done right, mixing antique and retro items with your modern home décor can provide a number of benefits. It allows you to mix styles and periods. It leads to a totally original interior décor. It can make good use of what you already have. And it’s fun! So if granny left you an ornate old table that she never knew what to do with, if you stumbled upon a vintage dresser at a flea market or you have some thrift-store finds that you just can’t bear to look at any more, mixing and matching can help rescue those pieces and turn them into a compelling interior that’s perfect for you and your personality. A classic antique is a fine decorating foundation: make one the focus piece in each room you’re stumped with. An antique buffet or chest can be an instant architectural statement for an entryway, and a showy antique chandelier will transform a dining room. Antiques, if placed in the right period surroundings, belong, but if your home is all contemporary furnishings, add old pieces to the kitchen or bathroom, where antique sinks or simple picture-tiled backsplashes can look the most effective in lodging the past among the new.
Keep It Simple
For instance, when you bring antique things into modern buildings, you should choose them carefully. Antiques may be required for decorative materials if you want to give your home special touch and hour-old look. Besides, many of them need to be protected from damage when they are used for a long time. If you have antiques in your home, make sure they stay out of the reach of children and animals since most are quite delicate. Also, arrange them so they don’t clash with each other. There are several ways of doing this, such as repurposing old things. An antique gramophone could make a great side table. An old trunk could be used as a coffee table – not only will it add vintage charm, but it will help reduce demand for new furniture!
Keep It Authentic
You will make any room seem more historic and antiques can take on a magical ability to transport our current experience back in time. But, if you want to bring antiques into your home in a modern way, designers need to think carefully about how to work with antiques that speak to your past, but that do not overwhelm your home, your present, with styles that come from the past at the expense of the contemporary. An antique rug pads out a contemporary floor with its age and depth, while complementing traditional furnishings. Designers might repurpose a grain sack or tea towel as a pillow cover; vintage scarves can be framed for wall art; perhaps you’ll paint antique wood for your room’s modern furniture or upholster with contemporary fabrics. Getting the right mix of antiques and retro, however, can be a bit elusive, but with a creative spirit and a little elbow grease, homeowners who learn to trust their instincts in their quest for original, balanced and livable interior design will be well rewarded. Be prepared to dig a little at rummage sales, garage sales, thrift stores or online marketplaces to acquire vintage and retro items that add personality and warmth.
Add Visual Interest
Having antiques amid modern décor is a great way to inject history and personality into your home. Give an ‘heirloom’ piece a new lease on life or bring an ornate vintage accent table into the fold with ease, there are many ways you can adapt antiques to work for your space. A very good way of adding this is to inject visual interest, in the form of different textures, finishes or mixing antique with modern. An important way of doing this is to balance these design elements so that you have an eye-catching design, but without overpowering a room. A particular finesse is playing with relative scale and proportion, so that a large heirloom-sized seat or sabre-toothed status won’t engulf a smaller modern chair or statement piece. Antiques can blend into your home beautifully, too: repurpose old grain sacks or tea towels as pillowcases or artwork to bring an antique vibe without looking stuffy.
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