Vintage and contemporary furniture: how to furnish your home in retro and modern style

Today we will talk about vintage and contemporary furniture giving you some important advice and suggestions on how to furnish a home in retro and modern style at the same time.

If you are tired of your home furnished with a style that is too ordinary and without personality, you can rely on our advice to create a modern and antique furniture at the same time, that knows how to enhance and actually mix the dictates of classic and modern furniture.

Vintage and retro furnishing elements

In order to give personality to your rooms you can decide to insert some elements of 1950's style furniture in the context of a modern and contemporary style. Often and willingly a calibrated mixture of different furnishing styles is the best way to give life to environments with great personality and refinement.

Sometimes it takes very little to make your rooms unique: a lamp, a sofa, an armchair or a vintage appliance will be able to create a very special and refined style effect. Putting together vintage and modern can be more effective and interesting than you can imagine.

Modern furniture with that shabby touch

The basis of a contemporary furniture is very often represented by the presence of minimal furniture elements characterized by simple and well defined lines. Adding here and there furnishing accessories or vintage objects and accessories can represent that touch of style that can make your rooms truly unique and inimitable.

For example, you can give life to a modern vintage living room with the arrangement of an old wooden table marked by time and wear. A very trendy classic in contemporary Italian kitchens is the choice of a Smeg 50s refrigerator. Not to mention the beautiful shabby chic bedside tables that make contemporary bedrooms truly unique.

Contaminating your modern furniture with vintage touches will give you the result of an original ambience, full of character and truly unique and unmistakable. Thanks to these little touches your home will become extremely lively and passionate. Thanks to the combination of accessories and vintage objects in the context of a modern style you will be able to dilute the flatness of an environment too simple and ordinary.

Vintage means first of all tradition, passion and nostalgia.

The perfect contemporary vintage style

So how do you create the perfect contemporary vintage style in your home? Let's go step by step: we know that today's minimalist style is the greatest since it is practical and functional. The use of furniture characterized by clean and clear lines is the maximum expression of contemporary homes.

The result is a practical and pleasant environment. However, modernity is sometimes synonymous with impersonality. For this reason a little vintage touch can serve to give a soul and an identity to your rooms.

But what exactly does vintage mean in the furniture sector? By vintage we mean those furniture and furnishing accessories made in a bygone era, for example in the 70s or 80s of the last century. Obviously furniture made in the 18th and 19th century cannot be defined as vintage, but as antiques.

In order to best calibrate your contemporary furniture with vintage elements, the first advice is never to exaggerate: too many elements that refer to the past would risk overloading your rooms and making them even more impersonal. A few vintage objects will be enough to make your space warm and welcoming.

The colours of a modern vintage environment

Playing with colours and shades can be an effective way to give a vintage inflection to your modern and contemporary furniture. There are two ways to achieve this:

Add vintage pastel coloured elements in a neutral environment of your home.
Alternatively you can decide to use brighter colours and hues, frequently used in 60s pop design.
In this regard you can decide to prepare chairs characterized by bright colours (orange or yellow), to be combined with a simple wooden table. Or you can prepare a sofa or armchairs in the living room in blue, accompanied by poufs and coloured cushions.

The rooms of a modern vintage house

Let's take a closer look at the rooms that characterise a home with modern vintage furnishings.

Modern vintage entrance

The entrance is the business card of your home: first rule never neglect this space but pay the utmost attention to its furnishings.

To give personality to an entrance furnished with modern style, you can decide, for example, to place in the space an old furniture, maybe low and in wood: an example are the sideboards. Alternatively, you can opt for a wooden stool with clear signs of wear and tear, to be used as a support for a flower vase.

Or you can decide to place a lamp with a 70's velvet lampshade at the entrance of your home or alternatively a mirror that you can buy in one of the many vintage markets organized throughout Italy.

Modern vintage living room

There are many vintage elements among which you can choose the furniture that will enhance your contemporary living room: a vintage or even antique table with modern chairs, a brown leather sofa, or a ceiling chandeliers of the past or a painting with clear signs of time.

Also in this case our advice is not to exaggerate with the preparation of vintage furniture in your space characterized by a modern design.

Modern vintage kitchen

One of the classic vintage furniture to put in the context of a modern kitchen is the Smeg fridge, with its typical pastel colours. If you decide to adopt this furnishing solution, you can think about adding other small appliances from the same vintage line (for example, toasters and kettles) to the fridge: the result will be truly amazing.

In the kitchen, creative recycling is very effective: for example, you can decide to use an old teapot as a flower pot or use an old serving dish as a fruit bowl.

Modern vintage bathroom

The best way to give a vintage touch to your modern bathroom is certainly to set up a beautiful vintage mirror in the room. Also in this case the final result will be of great visual effect.

Modern vintage bedroom

Let's come to the furnishing of a modern vintage bedroom: in this case you can decide to combine your modern bed with dated or even antique bedside tables. Alternatively you can give a vintage touch by inserting an old wooden trunk in the bedroom.

Another solution could be to choose a wrought iron bed to be placed between wardrobes and chest of drawers, characterized instead by a modern design.

Where to buy vintage furniture and objects

If you are wondering where to find vintage furniture and objects, the best place to find these items is probably your grandparents', uncles' or relatives' house: maybe in one of your relatives' houses there is a cellar in which there are furniture or objects that the owners intend to dispose of. Often and willingly these situations certainly represent the best opportunities to find the vintage piece that is right for you for the furnishing of your rooms.

If you do not have grandparents or relatives who can provide you with vintage furniture at low cost or even for free, at this point you can decide to go to one of the many flea markets or an antique shop. When choosing vintage furniture and objects, always remember that in order to combine them harmoniously with your modern furniture, wooden furniture is often perfect for this purpose.

Obviously in one of the many flea markets organized around our country or abroad, you will find many curious furniture and objects that could make a difference in your space: vintage prints, trunk racks, iron objects and a variety of dated accessories.