Vintage aesthetics is certainly a passion of mine. I've spent many a Sunday trawling through car boots and antique centres searching for 50s treasures. My absolute favourite design era is American Atomic. I love the colour explosions, fabric patterns and curved and angled furnishings. I have spent so long focusing on the aesthetics in my vintage business premises, which I've enjoyed so much, but this year I decided it was time to give some long awaited love and attention to my home; I've finally found the time to inject some heart back into my own home and carry out the ideas I've had for so long! My home is of course, already pretty vintage, but it's a little too 'thrown together', with all my finds stacked up in various rooms, sadly not shining on display as they should. My dream is make each room a livable 'set'; all high impact, nostalgic and fun! Over the next few issues I'm going to take you through my home re-design and show you how I've created each look. First, here's my dining room.
Here's we are before. It was a dumping room where all my kit, props and such like would be thrown into after a long day at work. It was also full of random vintage finds, half done up furniture and things I hadn't had time to do anything with. It was a constant annoyance for me and Mr Le Keux and the clutter made me feel disorganised and frustrated. It got to the point where you couldn't even walk through it any more... Something had to be done!
Before!
I chose a peach pink for the walls and soft mossy pastel green for the accessories. When I first painted the walls and fixtures I panicked... did it look like an 80's shell suit?! I took a deep breath and committed, I knew I had a strong final look in mind and once my accent colours (blacks and creams) and my accessories and decor were in place it would all pull together. Once the main colours were in it was time for the fun bit, dressing! I sifted through my vintage finds (and shopped for more), the rule was, if it's not predominantly green, pink, cream or black, it doesn't come in. I think having such strict rules with the colour palette helps to create the impact, the look is so defined and interlinked.
My favourite part of this room is all the kitsch! Here's a run down of what I have chosen to display...
Top shelf - 50s poodle porcelain ornament and Poole Pottery coffee pot and jug with a vintage table cloth.
Middle shelf - Homemaker china plates and modern glasses with atomic patterns.
Bottom shelf - Vintage Pyrex and a modern water jig in atomic style.
My original 50s fibreglass lampshades from America are heaven to me, such an important part of creating the look. At the moment I'm struggling to find a lamp base to fit it on as there's no inner rings to balance of a light bulb fitting, so it's plopped on a pink spotlight lamp, which sort of works.
My mirror was a tip shop find, I think it cost about £2 and was a naff bamboo (70s or 80s I would think). Once I painted it black it was completely transformed.
Next is my bedroom which I'll hopefully post about soon too!
Thank you for reading,
Lynsey
