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Design Dilemma: Vintage is In

If there’s one thing we’ve all seen too much of lately, it is that staged home, catalog look. You know the one —- neutral couch, beige shag carpet, neutral drapes, espresso furniture straight from West Elm. It’s all very nice, but… frankly, a little boring.

If you’ve fallen into the dreaded staged look, there is one sure-fire way to pull yourself out of it: go vintage. Just one or two vintage pieces can instantly make your home feel stylish, unique and very personal. No more boring flatness! Let’s take a look, shall we?

Above, a vintage commercial sign adds pop and vigor to an already colorful space. In fact, we’ve spotted quite a few interiors of late sporting this look — popular because every sign is one of a kind.

Here’s another funky, tongue-in-cheek sign, paired with vintage tub chairs.

What’s interesting about the above two examples is how they both use vintage signs to a dramatically different effect. In the first, the cafe sign adds pop to a youthful, minimal look. The font style and the color picks up on the bright, straightforward primary colors throughout the rest of the room. In the second room, the drug sign is decidedly baroque, campy, glam, naughty. The sign fits in perfectly with the bright, patterned, bohemian look in the rest of the room. You won’t find this in any catalog!

Here’s another polished interior that makes use of a commercial sign, along with a vintage medicine cabinet and chair:

If you’re looking for a way to bring vintage style into your home in a slightly more subtle way, why not track down your grandmother’s suitcases?

Suitcases provide an unusual look for a side table, with the added benefit that they can serve as storage as well. The look here is casual and unplanned.

Here’s the same idea, with a more masculine, formal Old World look:

Going vintage can especially enliven a kitchen. For example, a vintage stove in an otherwise modern kitchen feels unique and unexpected:

And same here in a more traditional kitchen:

And here too in a kitchen that I would categorize as “transitional”:

Again, the most impressive thing is how vintage works with every style, whether it be modern, traditional or transitional. It’s a testament to how bringing in just one different element can magically transform a space.

And vintage sizzle need not be contained to just appliances. You can choose vintage accessories, cabinets, lighting, whatever turns you on. The kitchen below contains vintage elements from a number of decades, a 1970s stove, a 1950s wall clock, a cabinet from the 40s, etc:

Vintage specialty items, like a vintage locker, can really make a boring space pop. For instance:

In fact, if you’ve been looking carefully, you’ll notice that many of the large furniture retailers bring in exactly such items into a catalog shoot to add more “texture” to their looks.

Another way to add a distinctive offbeat note is to invest in a vintage couch. Such couches can usually be had for a song on Craigslist. Their style can dramatically change the look and feel of your living room. For example, the pink velvet vintage number below adds a note of bohemia that would be missing with any other choice:

The mid-century couch below boasts clean lines, but still feels funkier than any contemporary couch would:

And here’s another vintage couch that’s been re-covered and updated using an IKAT pattern material:

Do you notice how each of the interiors featured in this post feels distinctly “uncatalogy.” Nothing is neutral or beige, and best of all, each interior features pieces from a variety of eras which add depth and interest. So if you feel the need to put a little pop in your space, try vintage. You can’t go wrong!

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Experience an Asian Museum-like Villa on Thailand’s Coast

The subtle and evocative design of Thailand’s Villa Padma is enhanced by its gorgeous jungle setting in the Bay of Yarma.

A platform with the merest hint of traditional Thai architecture leads the visitor to an elegant design statement within.

The privileged oceanfront site on the picturesque Cape Yamu on the east coast of Phuket could hardly be more perfect.

A chunky teak headboard cleverly transforms into a writing desk for an office space with a view that seems far from any suggestion of bedroom-iness, a difficult design challenge for the traveller.

The same solid chunky teak furniture continues into the dining room for continuity in design.

It is used again in simple living room coffee tables and benches and builds the tropical louvred doors.

This integrated office desk/headboard becomes a floating platform bed suspended just above a teak floor inlay – like a carpet.

The same idea, an inlaid area of teak within a white polished concrete floor is used in the great room at the center of the pagoda.

The repetition of the teak in the rooms is a quietly hypnotic design element. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ugly Site Converted to a Clever Live/Work Home for a Young Family

The Barcelona site was unprepossessing to say the least, a narrow open space with a dungeon-like space at each end.

Spanish architect Carles Enrich connects the two spaces with a lovely patio and trains vines over a subtle trellis.

Looking out towards what is now a lovely “garden”space is a family live/work loft on the ground floor (and below ground) of a four story building.

Looking at the plan in section, you see how the basement is made to become a young family’s home, using a split level loft space for the bedrooms, and a kitchen near the patio outside.

The ugly dungeon at the other end of the open space is converted into a satellite studio making this a live/work family home centered around an outdoor courtyard.

Brilliant design connects a stairway right into a chest of drawers. Both seem right, though they contradict each other.

A chest of drawers is at a level to put things in – with your hands.Yet adjacent to it is a place to put your feet – to move through the space.

Storage opens out of both sides of this practical scandinavian chest that separates the baby’s room from the hallway.

Suspended over that clever chest of drawers in the sunken nursery,hanging stairs lead up to the parents’ loft bedroom above. Read the rest of this entry »