How to Create a Vintage Look in Your Bedroom
From floral fabrics to distressed furniture, here are 10 easy ways to bring a vintage vibe into your bedroom
The vintage-style boudoir will never go out of fashion (well, not in my eyes anyway). Comfortable, classic and eminently easy on the eye, it ticks every box for the best and most beautiful bolthole in the house – be it for sleeping, relaxing or getting ready for a night out. Check out these 10 simple ways to do vintage style in style.
Pick muted colours
Upcycling and recycling are two key buzzwords for the vintage look. Use your creative flair and breathe new life into neglected pieces, like these old window shutters, which make the most striking headboard.
I love the muted colour palette of pebble, crisp white and charcoal in this bedroom – an elegant alternative if pinks and lilacs are just too girlie for your taste.
Take a look at more supersized headboards for your boudoir
Upcycling and recycling are two key buzzwords for the vintage look. Use your creative flair and breathe new life into neglected pieces, like these old window shutters, which make the most striking headboard.
I love the muted colour palette of pebble, crisp white and charcoal in this bedroom – an elegant alternative if pinks and lilacs are just too girlie for your taste.
Take a look at more supersized headboards for your boudoir
Fix up with fabric
An upholstered bed is a real gem when it comes to the vintage bedroom.
If you’ve bought an original one, you may need to overhaul it by having the head and foot professionally reupholstered in a suitably faded floral fabric.
You’ll be left with a stylish heirloom of the future, which you can pass down through the generations, so it’s worth the effort and outlay.
Browse vintage children’s room ideas
An upholstered bed is a real gem when it comes to the vintage bedroom.
If you’ve bought an original one, you may need to overhaul it by having the head and foot professionally reupholstered in a suitably faded floral fabric.
You’ll be left with a stylish heirloom of the future, which you can pass down through the generations, so it’s worth the effort and outlay.
Browse vintage children’s room ideas
Go for true blue
Harnessing a clean ice blue with just a touch of pink, this pretty, vintage-style bedroom would brilliantly take a young child right through to the teenage years. Layer a metal bedstead with feel-good striped, checked and patchwork quilts and covers, and paint old furniture in harmonising hues.
The star of this scheme for me, though, is the bare gilt frame, which doesn’t need any sort of picture or photograph to add a quirky touch.
See how to give your kitchen a dash of vintage flair
Harnessing a clean ice blue with just a touch of pink, this pretty, vintage-style bedroom would brilliantly take a young child right through to the teenage years. Layer a metal bedstead with feel-good striped, checked and patchwork quilts and covers, and paint old furniture in harmonising hues.
The star of this scheme for me, though, is the bare gilt frame, which doesn’t need any sort of picture or photograph to add a quirky touch.
See how to give your kitchen a dash of vintage flair
Get busy with pattern
There are no set style rules when it comes to the vintage look, so let rip with a riot of blowsy floral print cushions, crocheted blankets and retro fabrics and wallpapers. Stick to a pretty ice cream palette with soft, washed-out fabrics and let the patterns merge and mingle rather than clash.
If you fancy a craft project, why not try your hand at crocheting? Join a local class or borrow a good DIY book from the library and let your crochet hook get to work.
There are no set style rules when it comes to the vintage look, so let rip with a riot of blowsy floral print cushions, crocheted blankets and retro fabrics and wallpapers. Stick to a pretty ice cream palette with soft, washed-out fabrics and let the patterns merge and mingle rather than clash.
If you fancy a craft project, why not try your hand at crocheting? Join a local class or borrow a good DIY book from the library and let your crochet hook get to work.
Keep it comfortable
Apart from the gorgeous fabrics, burnished gilt finishes and delicate hues (which this scheme has in bucket-loads), one of the best features of the vintage-style bedroom is that you can almost guarantee the comfort factor.
Crisp sheets, thick eiderdowns and lace-trimmed pillowcases all look beautiful, natch, but they also add up to a really inviting space for the best night’s sleep ever. Top with a freshly brewed cup of tea on a tray and you won’t want to get up for the day…
Apart from the gorgeous fabrics, burnished gilt finishes and delicate hues (which this scheme has in bucket-loads), one of the best features of the vintage-style bedroom is that you can almost guarantee the comfort factor.
Crisp sheets, thick eiderdowns and lace-trimmed pillowcases all look beautiful, natch, but they also add up to a really inviting space for the best night’s sleep ever. Top with a freshly brewed cup of tea on a tray and you won’t want to get up for the day…
Work in a mannequin
An antique clothes mannequin (however bashed or frayed) will add a certain something to a vintage scheme. It’s a classic piece that will blend into any colour scheme. It’s also practical and can be draped with strings of pretty vintage jewels and gems, or even your favourite antique shrug.
An antique clothes mannequin (however bashed or frayed) will add a certain something to a vintage scheme. It’s a classic piece that will blend into any colour scheme. It’s also practical and can be draped with strings of pretty vintage jewels and gems, or even your favourite antique shrug.
Pump up the pretty factor
If you want to create a vintage boudoir worthy of an old-school, black-and-white movie (but with a touch of 21st century colour), then go all out on frilled fabrics, distressed furniture and large mirrors.
Anyone would feel like a starlet in this vintage-style room, where sugary hues, an old-fashioned rug and white lace bedding are the order of the day.
If you want to create a vintage boudoir worthy of an old-school, black-and-white movie (but with a touch of 21st century colour), then go all out on frilled fabrics, distressed furniture and large mirrors.
Anyone would feel like a starlet in this vintage-style room, where sugary hues, an old-fashioned rug and white lace bedding are the order of the day.
Create a vintage gallery
A simple way to add a vintage vibe to your bedroom is to emblazon the walls with a gallery of beautiful, old-fashioned pictures, photographs and images. Mount retro kitsch prints, monochrome artworks and even offcuts of wallpaper and fabric in an eclectic clash of frames – ornate gilt, plain and painted or simple timber.
A simple way to add a vintage vibe to your bedroom is to emblazon the walls with a gallery of beautiful, old-fashioned pictures, photographs and images. Mount retro kitsch prints, monochrome artworks and even offcuts of wallpaper and fabric in an eclectic clash of frames – ornate gilt, plain and painted or simple timber.
Make room for a dressing table
A dressing table is a key piece of furniture for the vintage bedroom. Whether you go for a grand Victorian design carved from wood or a more retro kitsch look from the 1950s, make sure yours takes pride of place in the bedroom.
Use all the surfaces and nooks to show off your prized jewels, perfumes, photo frames and knick-knacks. It will add a dash of old-fashioned glamour to any bedroom, for sure.
TELL US…
Do you have a vintage-style bedroom? Please share your photos and advice in the Comments below.
A dressing table is a key piece of furniture for the vintage bedroom. Whether you go for a grand Victorian design carved from wood or a more retro kitsch look from the 1950s, make sure yours takes pride of place in the bedroom.
Use all the surfaces and nooks to show off your prized jewels, perfumes, photo frames and knick-knacks. It will add a dash of old-fashioned glamour to any bedroom, for sure.
TELL US…
Do you have a vintage-style bedroom? Please share your photos and advice in the Comments below.
Be it on walls, the floor or the ceiling, whitewashed boards will instantly instil a breezy, vintage vibe into your bedroom.
Choose chalky white or warm buttermilk and paint everything in sight. Seek out an old-fashioned clothes rack, too, then hang up pretty floral dressing gowns and linen bags and line shelves with chunky ceramics for an earthy, inviting slant.