Tag Archives | Decorating

Vintage Kitchen Design, Accessories, and Decor Ideas

Design Styles: The pictures above have been group together into the two styles of a vintage kitchen. You have the more colorful ones that use pastel colors and have porcelain enamel fixtures, and weathered painted furniture. Then there are the vintage kitchens that are more rustic in design – using more raw wooden furniture, less colors – more like a French country styled kitchen.

Furniture and Fixtures: For a vintage inspired kitchen, barn style light fixtures work best. You have the shallow bowl/pancake lights that look great, with their porcelain enamel as seen in picture (1). Or there are the gooseneck lights. A chandelier is also another great lighting fixture to have in a vintage kitchen design.

When it comes to the sink, a large rectangle porcelain one with rounded edges is the go to choice. These are usually left fully exposed, but in picture (5) the countertop covers it. Subway style tiles make for a great vintage style backsplash (6).

Decor and Accessories Ideas: Using vintage style containers and having them out on display makes for great decor. Vintage bottles can be used for keeping washing up liquids, while glass jars can be used for storing pasta, snacks, etc. For more vintage storage ideas have a look this post: Vintage Kitchen Storage Ideas: From Milk Baskets to Wicker Baskets. If you have great looking pots and pans these can be left out in the open too, to act as decorative pieces.1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10

When creating a vintage kitchen style, some other kitchen design styles to get inspiration from would include:

May 7, 2013 in Kitchen, Vintage Design

All Things Dip Dyed Mood Board

There is not much that can’t be dipped into some dye to create a nice soft gradient. Above there is the dip dyed: lamp shade from Design Sponge in picture (1), beanbag from PB Teen (2), strand of beads from AMM, and a dip dyed paper lantern from Susanna (4). Then there are dip dyed candles made by Martha Stewart (5), and an assortment of pillows that can be bought from West Elm (6).

Simply dipping fabric straight down into dye is the most popular way of creating a dip dyed piece. But there are ways to experiment – like folding the fabric to create stripes like the table runner in picture (7) by Sweet Paul. You can also roll the fabric up, or scrunch parts up and only dip those parts – kind of like tie dying, creating an effect like in picture (8) by AMM. Or how about sprinkling salt onto the fabric when the dye is still wet to create a textured effect?

And if you really love that soft gradient style why not use it on the walls as seen in the ombre paint DIY tutorial here (9).

April 14, 2013 in Decor, DIY

Elegant and Stylish Plant Decor Ideas

When it comes to decorating with plants, vintage bottles make for great decorative vases. Go for a uniformed look like in picture (1) by having the same bottles for your arrangement, and group them together in a vintage style milk bottle basket. Another idea is to use different sized and colored bottles to create a more lively arrangement.

A great DIY project is to use oven-bake clay to create miniature clay pots. Rachel at Transient Expression goes through step by step on how to make the faceted pots seen in picture (2).

Picture (3) shows Amanda’s (Wit and Whislte) hanging terrarium she got from Score and Solder.

Another DIY idea is to mount bottles to a piece of wood to hang from the wall (4) – DIY Tutorial. Or how about hanging a corbel on the wall that can act as a decorative shelf for a single vase.

1012 Tera have these minimalist style wall vases (5) that can be grouped together to create a striking wall decor arrangement. Because of the minimalist style, the flowers really are the focus of the display.

A plant hanger itself can be quite decorative. The one pictured (6) is from an Esty shop that has a brass accent piece in the middle. These plant hangers can also be easily made with some cord, rope or thread by following these instructions.

Having a number of vases, all the same, housing the same kind of plant creates a nice clean look as we saw in picture 1. In picture (7) a caterpillar vase displays the same type of flower.

(8) A Staghorn fern hangs from the wall

This last plant decor idea by 101 Woonindeen is a simple and easy one to do: put smaller glass vases into bigger ones to house plants (9).

April 10, 2013 in Decor

Vintage Bedroom Decor Accessories and Ideas

Color Scheme: For a vintage style bedroom you’ll want to go with more neutral and pastel colors like light grey, light brown, light green, or just white as seen in pictures (1) and (2).

Bed Styles: Wrought iron (3) or French bed designs with the large decorative headboards (4) are the best choices. Look for ones with decorative legs.

Furniture Pieces: Look for French style furniture sets. Focusing on French pieces makes decorating a vintage inspired room a lot easier. French design is decorative but timeless. You’ll see the classic rounded shapes and decorative hardware pieces like iron handles and knobs. Check out the French vanity counter in picture (5). Hand painted and chipped furniture would also be a good fit in a vintage bedroom.

Closets: How about giving your closets a vintage makeover. You can do this with a vintage style paint, such as mint, cream, or pastel shades. And then add some vintage style hardware – such as knobs or handles. Or you could even using a ceiling medallion to frame the handle. Have a look at these posts to see what I’m talking about:

Fabrics: When it comes to things like the bedding and throw pillows, floral motifs work best. Or if you want a more homely and informal look how about using a quilt (The Free Spirit: Bohemian Bedroom Ideas).

Other Vintage Bedroom Ideas: When it comes to decorating the bedroom here are some vintage accessories to consider – iron keys, birdcages (6), antique books, vintage maps and globes (7), iron letters, decorative frames (8), and splashes of lace. Vintage watering cans or glass bottles can be used to hold plant stems or candles (9).

Lighting: When it comes to lamp shades you’ll want to stick to the more traditional cone style ones (10). A mini chandelier hanging in the middle of the room will also add a vintage feel to the bedroom (11). 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11

If you are looking to put together a vintage style bedroom then check out the shopping guide post I’ve just put together here Home Style Shopping Guide: Vintage Bedroom Edition

Here are some more vintage mood board posts to get ideas from: