6 Vintage Home Design Ideas For 2022

Designing a home can be a painstaking process. Everything from deciding what overarching home style you want to go for to deciding what specific aesthetic you’d like for each room isn’t easy.

Unless you are an interior designer (or want to pay for one), it can be hard to develop ideas, and it can not be easy to string different ideas together into a matching, uniform home design idea.

In this article, we’ll be looking at vintage home design ideas. Whether it’s the charm of 50’s art deco or the variety of browns from the 70s, we’ll provide some inspiration for all the lovers of vintage aesthetics out there.

Let’s delve!

Think About Your Radiators 

The radiators are one of the hardest home features to get right (for any aesthetic). But it can become particularly difficult when trying to construct a vintage aesthetic, as vintage radiators weren’t very efficient at heating the home while keeping energy efficiency at an optimum. 

But if you want to invest in a vintage aesthetic, you’ll need radiator units to match. Thankfully, there are selections of radiators in today’s market designed with the vintage style in mind.

Cast iron radiators are a prime example! Get creative and see what radiator units will match the vintage theme you’re going for.

Bring Back Wallpaper

Most modern interior designs will switch out the wallpaper in favour of a smooth, slick paint job using neutral colours or numerous shades of white. It often tends to be a hallmark of a modern or minimalist design, partly due to the popularity of wallpaper historically.

Wallpaper is still a valid option for modern homes, but they are often synonymous with older-style aesthetics, which is why wallpaper is ideal for a vintage look.

Look at some old photographs and get a feel for what looks vintage. You probably already have an image in mind – don’t be afraid to go for it!

Choose Your Flooring Carefully

The type of flooring you decide to go for can help you place your home theme into a specific historical era. Thick, dark-coloured carpets are hallmarks of a 70s feel, whereas pristine geometric tiles or laminate flooring can give more of an art deco or 50s feel.

The colour palette of your flooring is pivotal to setting the mood and overall style of a room, so don’t rush into it and be sure you’re choosing a flooring option that’ll help tie your vintage style together appropriately.

If in doubt, a neutral shade of carpet is always a good option if you don’t want to commit to anything too bold.

Lamps Are Important

Lamps have always been a big part of home design, and they are essential for helping you craft the kind of mood and feel for a room that you want without having to invest in dimmer lights (as they can be particularly pricey). 

But lamps also carry an inherent aesthetic value to add to the room. Worst case scenario, they can contrast in a room and stick out like a sore thumb! You’ll want to avoid this to keep your theme consistent.

Vintage lamps can be a bit harder to get a hold of, so it may be worth your while going for modern reproductions of older lamp styles. These will also come with the added benefit of being more energy-friendly than their retro counterparts. 

Get Rid Of Wall Mounted Shelves

Removing wall-mounted shelves in favour of furniture pieces such as consoles, side cabinets, display cabinets, and bookshelves is a great way to exemplify your vintage aesthetic. 

There’s nothing wrong with shelves; it’s just investing in vintage or vintage style reproductions of these bigger furniture pieces that will bring your rooms more in line with what homes were really like historically. Of course, this will depend on the era you try to mimic, but this is a great tactic for constructing a brilliant vintage style.

Get Some Rugs

Rugs were a hugely popular choice for homes of the past, so to pull off a vintage aesthetic, you’ll need to figure out what kind of rugs you want and where they should go.

They are often great additions to hallways or landings and can easily be used to border a coffee table for some extra style points!

That said, vintage carpets are few and far between (good quality ones), so opting for reproductions is probably your best bet.

To Conclude

There are many ideas to play around with when choosing the vintage aesthetic. As a final parting tip, try to look back at old family photos of your grand-parent homes if you have them. These are great for inspiring you!