Not too long ago, my lovely friend Grace from the engaging blog Story Teller Girl dropped me a line to find out if I'd be interested in having her write a guest post for CV about some of the beautiful vintage inspired home decor projects that her sister and brother-in-law had recently carried about on their house.
Grace's blog primarily focuses on fiction writing related topics (as she's an author), in addition to covering some of happenings in her own life, and does not overly pertain to vintage related subjects. As such Grace felt that such a post might be more at home here on my blog with it's vintage adoring audience and I completely agreed with her.
Thus, without further ado, my I present Grace's delightful guest post (thank you so much for penning it and for sharing this terrific peek inside your sister's old school filled home with all of us!).
For lovers of vintage – whether it’s clothing, cars, or anything else – it can sometimes be challenging to find simple or affordable ways to keep that vintage flavor alive in today’s world. Here on Chronically Vintage, the lovely Jessica does a wonderful job of showing her readers how to create vintage-style wardrobes without breaking the bank by mixing old and new, retro and modern.
I’m honored to be posting on Jessica’s blog, and I want to take a tip from her book and show you how to create a vintage-style home environment with just a few simple steps. To showcase my examples, I am using the home of my sister and her husband, Nancy and Luke.
They own a handyman business, but don’t let that scare you – you don’t need to have carpentry or construction-worker skills to accomplish what they’ve done with their home. They actually began their remodeling/revamping process back when they both still had regular jobs, so professional handyman experience is definitely not necessary.
Luke and Nancy are perhaps more fortunate than some, because their home is a Depression-era foursquare, built in 1932. The house still had a few original elements (like the radiators and hardwood floors). However, the home was far from vintage-looking when they first bought it. Wall-to-wall carpeting, hundreds of layers of paint, and some poorly-done remodels done in the 1950s and 1980s had buried much of the original vintage charm.
So if your home is more recent than the 1930s or even 1950s, don’t worry – you can still add vintage elements to make your home reflect whatever time period you want. Nancy and Luke are going for a 1930s-inspired look, since that is the era of the house. But anyone can take these following tips and adapt them to any budget, style of home, and vintage era.
1. The power of a new coat of paint
One of the first things these folks did was repaint their kitchen. I’ll be focusing on the kitchen in a lot of these examples, because that’s the room that they’ve put most of their vintage-ifying work into. Also, the kitchen in most any home is a central room where family and guests alike tend to gather. If you want vintage flavor in a public room of your home, the kitchen might be a good place to start.
Luke and Nancy’s kitchen featured well-worn, bland 1980s cabinets. Usable, certainly, but hardly fitting for a 1930s kitchen. Replacing all of the cabinetry was out of the budget, though, so they improvised. A coat of primer and a couple of coats of white paint turned the cabinets into something a bit more retro-looking. They also got hardware – just knobs – for the doors.
A coat of black paint on the knobs turned these modern ordinary brass handles into something that at a glance could be mistaken for vintage Bakelite, and the contrast of the black on white really made the cabinets a positive focal point of the room.
Whether it’s cabinets, walls, or furniture, don’t underestimate the power of a new coat of paint. Find a color that matches other vintage items in your home or creates an atmosphere of the era you want to evoke, and paint away!
{The original kitchen cabinets}
{White paint and black knobs give them a whole new look}
2. Antiques don't have to be expensive
The Hoosier cabinet (which is technically not Hoosier brand, just another brand made in the same style) is from the right era, but was in pretty rough shape when they bought it (which is why it wasn’t expensive). So Luke and Nancy took sandpaper to the old paint and rough spots, and did some minor carpentry to repair a few pieces of wood that were rotten. Then a fresh coat of paint made it all look like new.
This refinishing job wouldn’t actually win them any points for professional furniture restoration, but that wasn’t their goal. They just wanted a vintage kitchen piece that they could actually use. So if your goal is a vintage look combined with usability, then don’t worry about a lack of DIY skill or a low budget. This once-junky Hoosier is now a sturdy, vital, and attractive part of their kitchen.
{The before and after of the Hoosier cabinet}
3. Hardwood
If you’re lucky enough to have hardwood floors in your home, then let them shine. This home still had all of its original 1930s hardwood floors, but previous owners had covered every room (including the living room and the stairs) with wall-to-wall carpeting. Pulling up the carpet in every room was not an easy task (I know first-hand – I helped with this project!) Nancy and Luke didn’t want to pay to have the carpet removed or the floors redone, so they went the full DIY route.
If digging out carpet staples and sanding floors isn’t your thing, don’t feel bad about paying someone else to do it if it’s within your budget. But while revealing the original hardwood was a lengthy process and required a lot of elbow grease, it did not require a lot of home remodeling skill. Like I said, I helped with this project, and my previous experience with carpet removal and floor staining was zero.
Even if your hardwood floors aren’t old, the natural wood lends itself to so many different vintage styles, far more so than wall-to-wall carpeting. Also, with a hard floor, you can then use area rugs to bring out your specific vintage-inspired style – whether it’s an antique dining room carpet, or just a throw rug in your favorite retro colors.
{The living room when they first moved in, and now the beautiful wood revealed!}
4. It's the little things
Hardwood floors and repainted furniture are the big, attention-grabbing items that everyone will notice first. But don’t disregard the power of the little things. Nancy took her Hoosier cabinet one step further and added more vintage detail in the form of antique spice jars and other vintage storage containers.
These particular spice jars were a set inherited from Luke’s grandmother. But even modern glass jars would do the trick. Modern plastic jars of spices from the grocery store don’t look vintage, so the detail of glass spice jars really add that extra vintage flair.
{Old glass jars and a wooden recipe box replace modern plastic and add a vintage-inspired touch}
Another little detail of vintage flair is this set of old wooden blocks. Luke and Nancy have two children, who of course have their tablets, battery-powered cars, and other modern toys just like every kid. But blocks never go out of style, so this old set of alphabet blocks (from the 1970s, I think) is a fun addition to all the modern toys.
{Vintage touches for the kids, too!}
5. Out with the old floor, in with the new
The new kitchen floor is perhaps the most expensive thing in these examples – but even so, it’s not as costly as it might look. Since Luke and Nancy wanted to recreate a 1930s look, they pulled up the 1980s laminate floor (which was peeling and damaged and would need replacing soon anyway).
They bought squares of black laminate and white laminate, and glued them down in a pattern that would evoke the image and era they wanted. With the white cabinets and black hardware, the new floor really brought the whole room together into an eye-grabbing vintage-looking treat.
Of course you can see that they still have all of their modern kitchen appliances (although a functioning 1930s or 40s gas stove is on Nancy’s wish list). And as much as they love vintage, they don’t want to get rid of their microwave, or trade out their refrigerator for an actual icebox.
However, with the cabinets, free-standing kitchen pieces, and the floor, the vintage look is definitely there, and noticed by friends and guests alike.
{Sorry, no “before” picture of the old kitchen floor. But trust me, this current look is a lot nicer!}
6. No vintage shopping nearby? No problem!
Remember how I talked about the brass knobs on the kitchen cabinets that they painted black? Well, it’s certainly possible to purchase black knobs and save yourself the trouble of painting them. However, Luke and Nancy got those brass knobs for free, from a friend who was remodeling their kitchen and getting rid of the old hardware. So instead of spending money on cabinet knobs, they gladly accepted the free gift and had at it with the paint.
Flea markets, antique malls, and vintage shops are of course the ideal place to go shopping, especially if you’re looking for something specific. But there are so many other options if antique stores are out of your budget or too far away.
Thrift stores and yard sales are great for vintage – or vintage-inspired – shopping. And of course there are countless online shops for antiques, vintage items, and retro-flavored anything. And also don’t disregard freebies and curb-side discards, like where Luke and Nancy got their cabinet knobs.
Many communities have online trading posts or swap sites (like Craigslist, Freecycle, or others). Use your creativity to adapt modern items or someone else’s “old junk” into beautiful vintage decoration for your home.
{Luke and Nancy were blessed to buy an old home that still had all of its original glass doorknobs and lock mechanisms on every door. But Nancy has said that if the home had had modern doorknobs, she would have gotten old glass ones for the doors.}
{Another small vintage touch – old collector’s spoons, hung on display in a corner of the kitchen.}
Now it’s your turn!
If you have any stories or ideas about adding vintage treasures to your home, please share! I know that both Jessica and I (and Jessica’s wonderful readers) would love to hear about more ways to bring vintage into modern life!
For those who would like to get to know Grace even better, you can connect with her on her Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | and Twitter pages.
Thank you again immensely, Grace! This was such a fun, informative read and great source of inspiration!
