Bring Old School Charm into Your Home Décor with Vintage Interior Design

Vintage interior design has always been a popular trend, as well as an enjoyable way to express yourself when shaping your home’s décor. In this guide, we’ll be sharing some of our favourite vintage interior design ideas for inspiration, as well as looking at some of our top picks when it comes to vintage wallpaper ideas, all geared towards helping you achieve your ultimate vintage style interior.

What is vintage interior design?

Vintage interior design can be described as using furniture and styles from an earlier period.

You’ll find an array of vintage elements in all sorts of design styles, from Art Deco to shabby chic and Bohemian, and from French country to urban and industrial.

Generally, vintage is defined as ‘old’, and tends to be a mix of modern and classic styles. Its aim is to create a living space that sings of light airiness, that’s comfortable yet elegant, and that has period style naturally threaded throughout.

Vintage interior design inspiration comes from all corners, from antique furniture and accessories, to fabrics and finishes.

What are the main features of a vintage style interior?

Decorative elements lie at the core of vintage interior design, and they’ll be of the period. Candlesticks; grand clocks; vases; mirrors with ornate frames; paintings; subtle patterned fabrics. Ceramics, wicker baskets, chandeliers. A decanter set. A card table, a faded rug, a traditional telephone.

It’s all about taking a trip back in time, but to where you feel you belong. So, if that’s Victorian England, so be it. But if it’s the Swinging Sixties, that’s totally cool too.

Why vintage interior design?

A lot of people have become jaded by trying to keep up with modern interior design trends. The current clean cut vibe isn’t for everyone, and the fact that trends change at the drop of a hat doesn’t help when you’ve just finished redecorating your living space and are already being told it’s ‘oh-so-yesterday’.

Vintage interior design is homely. The array of classic artefacts in a vintage inspired home commands attention and creates a talking point. You’ll feel nostalgic, sentimental and more connected to your past. Really, you can think of a vintage style interior as the blank canvas for your imagination, and a key to your past.

How to achieve a vintage style interior?

There are a fair few ways to bring the vintage feel into your living space, and the good news is that you won’t need to put in too much effort.

A trip to your local charity shop or flea market is a great place to start your search for quality second hand furniture and accessories. Patience and a keen eye are key to finding those perfect pieces. Bear with the process, take your time and you could well strike gold and find just what you need to create the vintage style interior of your dreams.

You can also bring the vintage look to not-so-old things with a bit of effort. A dainty rub of sandpaper over paint or metal will take off the top layer and add texture, which can make objects look older than they are. A messy dab of a paintbrush on a picture or mirror frame or the bottom of table or chair legs can achieve the same sort of effect. It’s all about adding personality and character to items so they look like they’ve got history ensconced within them.

What you’re really trying to do is take your interior space in the opposite direction to today’s modernistic, minimalistic clean-cut vibe. Vintage interior design has cosiness at its core. It’s warm, it’s inviting and it’s interesting, without being overly cluttered.

Playing with colours is a worthwhile approach. Patterns and textures too. Try not to concern yourself over conflicts, as this will actually help to create that warmth you’re striving for. Vintage interior design is all for the personal, lived-in feel. By all means stick to a base colour palette, but go as wild as you like when it comes to mis-matching patterns and textures.

You’ve also got free rein to mix styles, including modern and vintage. Well, why not? That quartz kitchen worktop punctuated by an antique weighing scale set or wooden egg crate will look super-cool, as will that chrome light fitting focusing all eyes on a classic bronze statue.

Vintage wallpaper ideas – how to use wallpaper to create a vintage style interior

Wallpaper is an essential element in vintage interior design. A vintage wallpaper mural will instantly inject style and elegance into a space, with warm tones, floral patterns and pastel colours wonderfully reflective of this style.

Vintage interior design inspiration

A good place to start when looking at vintage wallpaper ideas is taking time to think about what inspires you from your past, or your family history. Maybe your great, great uncle was an intrepid explorer, so you might want to bring his endeavours to life by adorning your walls, or a feature wall, with something that recounts this.

This tropical jungle scene for example, bursting with exotic flora and fauna, sets an intriguing backdrop and pairs beautifully with vintage inspired furniture.

Paradise Lost – Original by La Feature Wall Murals

Creating the perfect backdrop

You may have the perfect vintage piece you’d like to show off, perhaps a traditional chaise longue, a chest or sideboard, or a chair.

With vintage inspired wallpaper, it’s easy to take those pieces and put them in the spotlight.

Take this classic leather chair and vintage sideboard, for example. Against a plain background, what would they be? What story would they tell? Now add this piece of textured art behind them, and suddenly, the storytelling begins.

Oh La La – Blue by Kiki Slaughter

This bold chest of drawers is brought to life and set off perfectly by this teal cherry blossom Chinoiserie wall mural. With its lightly distressed, shabby chic effect, the wallpaper perfectly offsets the deep rich reds of the blossoms that hang from the branches.

Takeda – Teal by La Feature Wall Murals

Simple yet oh-so effective, these vintage accessories are showcased beautifully by this abstract wallpaper that brings together a variety of textures in true vintage interior design style. It’s a fabulous way to use a splash of modernistic drama to complement an otherwise traditional scene.

Archipelago – Linen by Teiga Vartiainen

Looking for vintage interior design inspiration? Look no further than Feathr!

One of the key advantages of vintage wallpaper is you can put it to work to either set the scene and act as the main focus for your vintage style interior, or use it to showcase other vintage elements.

Looking for vintage interior design inspiration? Why not use our visualizer to see how you could create the perfect look in your own home.

Ready to buy wallpaper for your vintage style interior? With our customer promise of excellent free design services, fast worldwide delivery, high-quality materials and top-rated customer service, and a commitment to protecting our environment, you are guaranteed to be over the moon with your Feathr experience.