Combining your love of all things vintage with the trappings of modern life is easier than ever, as long as you know what to look for. Mixing the two design styles can help make your living space homey, sleek, practical and amazingly attractive. It helps that you don’t have to go all out in terms of choosing one style or another, and blending the two with designer furniture, lighting, neutral colour schemes and accessories can make home decor a piece of cake.

Combining your love of all things vintage with the trappings of modern life is easier than ever, as long as you know what to look for. Mixing the two design styles can help make your living space homey, sleek, practical and amazingly attractive. It helps that you don’t have to go all out in terms of choosing one style or another, and blending the two can make home decor a piece of cake.

Your Colour Palette

One of the most basic ways to transform your home is with your choice of the wall colour. However, it can be challenging to channel the ’50s if you’re not sure what common wall colours were back in the day. Fortunately, a few paint companies offer collections by an era that can help you accurately colour the interior and exterior of your home, depending on the look you’re going for.

Your Kitchen

Appliances, cookware, storage, decor and furniture can all be customised according to your own personal tastes, and it’s easier than ever to combine a vintage feel with modern conveniences in the kitchen. In addition to picking up gorgeous pieces, like cooking sets that have a bit of yesteryear about them, you can pepper in more vintage pieces to complete the look of your kitchen. Look for items like the vintage Corelle tableware or Corningware. Also, consider storing items within glass-fronted cabinets or with a vintage pot rack for the ultimate vintage and modern combination.

Your Furniture

Even if your furniture doesn’t all come from the same decade, it can all go together if you pay attention to colours, patterns and overall style. Don’t worry about matching because that’s pretty boring anyway. Instead, build a room on contrasts, mixing soft with hard and round with square. Your grandmother’s loveseat can go with a ’70s-era end table, and that antique rug will look surprisingly perfect next to a mid-century modern sofa. Don’t be afraid to mix up found objects and your current must-haves because modern furniture design continues to incorporate elements of the past as well.

Your Electronics

Nothing says 21st century more than the presence of electronic devices, whether it’s a gigantic flat-screen TV or a blazing-fast laptop. That doesn’t mean you have to hide these elements in your vintage-styled home. While you can get an antique cabinet that fits your HD TV (and keep it closed when the TV is not in use), the mere presence of one on your wall doesn’t have to take away from the overall design of your home. And a vintage desk is the perfect spot for your workspace, which includes, of course, your computer setup.

The bottom line is that old-timey pieces and modern design can live together quite well. Don’t worry about not matching or mixing design elements that come from different decades or eras. With your eye focused on your overall design, it’s easier than ever to express your interests within the walls of your castle.