Vintage style in interior design

The word “vintage” came to us from the French language, where it meant a wine of strong aging, waiting for decades in wine cellars. Then the concept was transferred to the interior in order to designate the style direction, where old things were transferred to a modern home. But the vintage style in the interior presupposes not only their presence in the house – the very atmosphere in it has its own specifics..

Vintage style in apartment interior design

Room interior in vintage style

Modern apartment design in vintage style

Retro and vintage are one and the same?

A vintage item is truly a time-honored item that is at least 30 years old and was fashionable for a while. Retro is a general concept of style, which is characterized by both antiques and modern, antique stylized “remakes”.

The grandmother’s chest, which once held her dowry, is a vintage item, just like the sideboard in which she kept the service presented for the wedding. And an artificially aged table, a crocheted rug, an old-style cross-stitched tablecloth is retro. Vintage uses once fashionable things that have become popular again. Retro does not depend on fashion, it just belongs to its era or depicts it.

Vintage style in the interior of the room

Apartment design in vintage style

The main features of the vintage style

Today, the vintage style of the interior is understood as the recreation of the furnishings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But we live in another century, therefore, things related to the middle of the last century can already be considered vintage..

Choosing a vintage style direction for the interior, you need to decide which era is closer to you in spirit, what you want to embody in your apartment. Do not forget that all dwellings should be decorated in the same style. Ultramodern or, conversely, classic and even more so – embodying the luxury of the Baroque and other similar styles cannot be combined on the same territory with vintage breathing with antiquity.

Important! The main requirement when decorating an interior in a vintage style is the presence of objects belonging to the recreated era..

Vintage style in apartment interior design

Room interior in vintage style

Modern apartment design in vintage style

In fact, vintage in the interior is not a jumble of old furniture, yellowed napkins and valances – things “with history” quite get along with modern ones, and there are no strict requirements here. But there are no random objects here either, so this design is created for a long time, gradually. You should not be like Plyushkin and carry all the old things that come across into the house – they must be carefully matched to each other.

It is not difficult to create a vintage interior – it is not necessary to purchase antique furniture and household items – your relatives of the older generation, parents of friends will gladly give away what is lying idle in attics and garages. Something can be found at flea markets, something can be created with your own hands, artificially aging.

The main features of a vintage interior:

a combination of old and modern items;
simplicity of the interior;
some randomness, light disorder – a blanket casually thrown on the sofa, magazines left on the table, a basket with needlework;
a touch of romance;
flower plots – on wallpaper, textiles;
scuffs, barely distinguishable inscriptions on things, as if (or really) erased from time.

Vintage style in the interior of the room

Apartment design in vintage style

Features of room design

If you decide to decorate your apartment in vintage style, you will have to give up some fashionable ideas:

stretch, suspended ceilings;
laminate;
ceramic tile;
plastic windows;
stone window sills, countertops;
recessed lights and similar modern finishing techniques.

Filling a room with antique items is not enough. We need to create an appropriate environment for them. Therefore, you need to start with repair.

Vintage style in apartment interior design

Room interior in vintage style

Modern apartment design in vintage style

Wall decoration

The best material for wall decoration is wallpaper. They must necessarily be paper, with a small or large pattern. Floral, geometric patterns, always contrasting, look good in a vintage interior. You can choose wallpaper in oriental style – Chinese or Japanese: butterflies, twigs, flowers, birds. However, if you plan to saturate the room with many decorative details, it is better to choose plain wallpaper for the walls, or simply paint them in one of the pastel colors..

As an option for finishing, you can apply a roll pattern to painted walls using a rubber roller with a convex pattern: by applying paint to it, you can transfer the pattern to the wall. For the same purpose, you can use stencils..

Ceiling decoration

It is better to paint the ceiling. Take a white water-based paint for him. You can decorate the ceiling with stucco molding – just do not use plastic imitations, only gypsum sockets, fillets are appropriate.

Important! Do not try to get rid of all the cracks on the surface of the ceiling, walls. This is vintage, and small irregularities, cracks will only emphasize the stylization, the main thing is that there are not many of them, and they would not be very deep.

Vintage style in the interior of the room

Apartment design in vintage style

Floor finishing

Laminate is not suitable for finishing the floor; it is better to use parquet or ordinary wooden plank. They will be the best option for a living room, bedroom, and other living rooms..

You can lay linoleum on the floor, because it has been known since the end of the 19th century, although it was not so popular until the 1980s. It is better to use it for the kitchen, hallway, bathroom. For these rooms, you can also use tiles..

The choice of materials for finishing a vintage interior will depend on what you decide to focus on, what creates the stylization – if furniture, then limit yourself to a calm color scheme for the walls, painting them in pastel colors or pasting them with light wallpaper with an unobtrusive pattern. If you want to create a bright environment for furniture, then you can choose wallpaper with bright ornaments or pastoral patterns, adding a few details to the interior..

Any finishing materials should be artificially aged to give the impression that they have experienced the test of time.

Vintage style in apartment interior design

Room interior in vintage style

Modern apartment design in vintage style

Vintage style color palette

Vintage is a romantic style, so the color scheme typical for it consists of pastel shades – ashy, beige, light pink and light blue, delicate green tones. White, milky colors can be used as the main ones, but against the background of soft warm colors, white, beige, shabby, patina-covered furniture will look harmonious, and the interior itself will be filled with light, warmth and comfort.

Important! Colors should appear faded from time to time.

Bright color accents can be burgundy, purple, blue. Brown, green colors are more often used in textiles. Decor elements such as napkins, tablecloths, bedspreads are often chosen white or the color of unbleached linen.

Vintage style in the interior of the room

Apartment design in vintage style

Furniture that bears the stamp of time

Correct, harmonious vintage style is the obligatory presence of real antique, retro furniture against the background of antique-styled walls. Suitable in the interior:

tall wardrobes;
sideboards with slightly peeling paint, scuffs;
wrought iron furniture;
chests of drawers covered with patina;
low coffee tables on a copper frame and large wooden tables;
shelves, carved shelves.

If the furniture is wooden, it may have traces of cracked varnish, and painted surfaces – cracks in the paint, scuffs.

Important! Do not create a “junk shop” out of the room – everything should be in moderation, although you should not combine ultramodern and antique furniture in one room.

There should be harmony in everything: a wrought-iron bed covered with a lace bedspread will complement a wooden dresser with a cracked facade; lay a knitted “grandmother’s” round rug on the floor. In the living room, you can put a round table with a white tablecloth, on it – a simple vase of flowers. A cuckoo clock on the wall and black and white photographs on the shelf complete the styling.

Vintage style in apartment interior design

Room interior in vintage style

Modern apartment design in vintage style

Features of the decor of a vintage room

To complete the styling, you need to choose lamps, textiles and other items that fill the space in the same style..

Lamps in such a room can be as simple as possible, having strict geometric shapes, and complex, with numerous details, volumetric compositions:

chandeliers with thick glass shades, an abundance of screws, brackets, metal parts. They are attached to the ceiling with a strong chain;
lamps with wooden shades;
floor lamps with large lampshades;
handmade designer lamps – made of metal, wood. Their shape can be different: in the form of an old kerosene lamp, a domed cage.

Important! Both lamps and other decor items should correspond to the era, the stylization of which you are creating..

That is why both an old copper samovar, a cast-iron iron, a sewing machine from the Singer factory, as well as a fan chandelier belonging to the Soviet era, an abundance of glass and crystal in a lacquered sideboard may be appropriate here..

Vintage style in the interior of the room

Apartment design in vintage style

To complement the interior of the living room in a vintage style, you can:

floor or wall cuckoo clocks;
a mirror in a carved frame – you will find an old one with black spots on the amalgam – it will be perfect;
black and white photographs on the wall or on the shelf of the cabinet;
carpet on the floor (the same as previously hung on the walls);
gramophone or reel-to-reel tape recorder – depending on the period that is embodied in your room.

On the walls of the bedroom, hallway, decorated in the spirit of the 50-60s of the last century, posters, posters, theater posters of that time can be placed, there is also a place for a wrought-iron or wooden shelf, a dressing table. Place a floor lamp on a high leg with a fabric shade by the bed.

Creating a vintage interior in a modern apartment is exciting and interesting. Registration does not take much time and does not require significant costs, but you and your friends, relatives will have the opportunity to plunge into past eras, to take a break from the reactive rhythm of modern life.