Mixing Vintage Pieces With Modern Decor

Thank you so much for joining me if you came from Kristen’s blog at Ella Claire Inpsired! I’m sure you’re feeling very inspired because she has such a beautiful home and fabulous style. If you’re a regular visitor, thank you for coming again today! I’ve invited some of my favorite bloggers to share with you how to incorporate vintage pieces with modern elements and decor.  *To see how I updated this vintage chandelier above, read here for tutorial.

One of the things that has been important to me that I teach my children is to appreciate the value in something that has been around for a while.  It has a story!  I always believe in mixing a little “old” and a little “new”.  Not only is it {sometimes} more budget-friendly, but I adore the way some decor from decades past can compliment newer styles and pieces in our home.  There’s something about walking into each room and remembering where I bought each piece or who I was with and I could probably even tell you what I paid for it.  There are always stories and memories as I walk around.  Or, it might just be brand new and ordered online but either way…it was fun!

I am almost finished with my office makeover and then I’ll do a reveal post.  Here’s a sneak peek as I am adding trim to my vintage chair I found on Craigslist for $10.  At the time, it was not pretty or stylish {to me} but it was in perfect condition and I loved the oval-back shape.  I knew all I had to do was white-wash the wooden frame and wax it for that french cottage look.  I found an inexpensive light grey linen home fabric at Jo-Ann’s, on sale of course, and it was a perfect fit.  Since I am using a lot of modern shelving and other pieces of furniture in this room, I knew a curvy, vintage chair would help to soften it a little and add more femininity.  A soft faux fur throw and some fabulous pillows completed the look for a perfect 10!  I have a few other fun vintage pieces I threw in as well that I’ll share during the reveal and I just love the way the styles blend together.

In my daughter Brooklyn’s Tween Bedroom Makeover, this vanity was not completed and so I didn’t include it in the post.  But we recently gave it a new coat of paint and finished her stool. We had the mirror frame being used in the garage but it was a chalkboard with little messages and well…it was really just collecting dust.  So we sprayed it gold and I had a mirror cut down to fit for only $10 to fit the frame and glued it in.  Perfect.  I found this vanity years ago ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD with a “free” sign (I still can’t believe it) in Waco, TX before we moved away.  You should know, before Waco was the hot spot as it is now, we lived there and could find ANYTHING at any garage sale, resale shop, estate sale, craigslist, wherever….for next to nothing.  Now, it is hard to find as many treasures but half of my home has come from Waco and oh how I love those memories and moments!  But back to the vanity…it was perfect.  It just needed a new coat of white. Score!  The stool was a modern-style find at Home Goods for just $10 but I had a vision that included some spray paint and hot glue.  So I grabbed a faux fur throw, added some stuffing underneath, and hot glued that over the top of the stool and underneath.  It’s the modern touch of glam that we needed so that her vanity was, as Brooklyn calls it, “not too vintage-y, Mom!”.  She knew what she wanted.  See the rest of the bedroom here.

I love all of the pieces in my master bedroom but (in a near-future blog post) you’ll understand why this room has been a challenge.  However, so many new finds and older finds have really helped create a peaceful and romantic and relaxing oasis to retreat to at the end of the day.  I remember a few years ago having some very small nightstands and it just did NOT work.  Our bed overwhelmed them and it needed a change. When I happened upon these large nightstands (or small dressers) one day, I knew they were perfect for my room and would replace the smaller ones beautifully.  They were 40 years old and extremely inexpensive.  All they called for was some pretty ivory paint.  I use Valspar “Woodrow Wilson Presidential White” at Lowe’s on ALL my ivory pieces in my home.  I’ve used it for years on hundreds of pieces for clients and it has been a favorite!  For some pieces I use a flat finish to act more like chalk paint and for others that need to be wiped down frequently, such as nightstands do, I used a satin finish and sealed the top.  And yes, I found them in Waco {wink}.  Quick note….this color looks very yellow or creamy online.  It is NOT.  As you can see, it is almost a white and the perfect ivory so I would suggest seeing it in person and trying a sample.  I recently found this vintage mirror on a Facebook group for sale and knew, after some paint, that the lovely arch and carvings in the mirror would compliment the strong lines of a more modern-looking bed we purchased a couple of years ago.  It really softened the space and was just what it needed.

I’m still unresolved about my family room so that will have to be shared with you at a later time.  However, my sitting room is such a perfect example of blending decades of style.  Here you see vintage frames layered in front of a newer mirror, a mixture of new and very old candlesticks, a 50+ year-old chandelier with a fresh coat of gold paint, a 60 year-old vintage tufted sofa adjacent to a new tufted chaise lounge, and a modern geometric rug under a metal/glass modern set of nesting tables.  It does not get better!  It really does incorporate perfectly my love for vintage pieces as well as new pieces I have brought home.  This is also a perfect example of why, when someone asks me what my style is, I just reply, “Hmmmm….I just like a little bit of everything…ha!”  Why not?  I do love a neutral palette, though.  I think it gives me balance and calm as I incorporate so many decades of influence into a {sometimes} chaotic household!

I hope that you have found inspiration to try something new or maybe just move different pieces in your home to different rooms after visiting here today!  Mixing vintage pieces in with your modern elements of decor is truly easy.  Sometimes it takes a little bit of courage to change things up but you just might find that it suits your style more than you realized!  Please hop on over to the next blog included in our tour today!  My friend Deborah at BVintageStyle always causes me to swoon with gorgeous pictures of her home so you will not want to miss this!

For more inspiration, please visit all bloggers participating:

SummerAdams.com
BVintage.ca
HallstromHome.com
MaisonDeCinq.Blogspot.com
House-Of-Five.com
CoffeePaintRepeat.com
LittleVintageNest.com
ZevyJoy.com
EllaClaireInspired.com

xoxo, Summer