How to Dip Your Toe Into Retro

Decorating with objects from the past pays homage to earlier eras and helps us appreciate what came before. Here are 10 one-off ideas that offer a splash of the past to any room in the house without over-committing the space (or overwhelming a housemate).

Furniture. Anchor a prominent room with one or two pieces from a bygone era.

This living room centers around a Noguchi coffee table, a design that originated in 1948, and a nearby midcentury modern side table. The new leather chairs and sofa take on a vintage air thanks to their older companions.


Lighting. Pendants, sconces, chandeliers and lamps have a remarkable ability to capture time.

This suspension lamp evokes a distinctly late 1960s vibe that can jazz up a contemporary setting.

Retro lighting has become such a hot trend that companies are re-creating styles from a wide range of time periods.


Older homes sometimes come with their original fixtures, even if they've long since been swapped out and left abandoned in the basement. Restore and repurpose an old chandelier into a candelabra.

This fixture was found in the bedroom of a 1952 house. Unappreciated in its original form, the chandelier was stripped of all its wiring. Now, wide candles hide the holes where the wires met the bulb fittings.


Art. Like fashion, art follows trends that can often date it, especially those of the midcentury era. Choose a piece you love from a period that interests you.

Thrift stores, garage sales, eBay and Craigslist are great ways to score inherited art that may have gone unappreciated by its heir. Heck, maybe you'll even find a gem that will be worth some cash when you're ready to pass it along.


Outdoor furniture. Create an outdoor space with furniture that harkens back to days long before Facebook, when the front porch was the best place to learn what your friends were up to.

Tip: Estate and garage sales may yield the best results for nabbing reasonably priced furniture that is genuinely vintage. Expect to put some elbow grease into restoring pieces that have been in the elements for years.


Postcards and photos. Turn old postcards or black and white family photographs into art.

Here, six postcards depicting life on the coast as it was way back when are displayed in matching black frames.

Tip: When creating an art series, tie it all together with frames and matting that are the same size or color.

Sketch out a grid on the wall making sure the positioning of each frame lines up for a clean, finished product.


Suitcases. Old hard-case luggage makes for unexpected tables. Stack varying sizes together for a curio display, or add a glass top to create a durable end table.

More ways with vintage suitcases


Tea cups. Vintage tea cups make for a refined collection. Hang them on a wall rack for an artistic display as they wait to be used, or store your valuables in them.

Here, an array of mismatched cups and saucers serves as a handy jewelry trove.

Tip: Second-hand stores are chockfull of individual tea cups and saucers. Buy your favorites one or two at a time to build up a stock.


Family keepsakes. Sometimes the best vintage decorations come from within the family. The arrival of a baby is a lovely time to cull the archives and choose remembrances of those who came before.

Nana's christening gown, Papa's first knitted hat or Mommy's cherished stuffed lovey offer lots of memories that will spark conversations with your child later.


Windows. With all the energy upgrades that have taken place in home building over the past couple of decades, old windows have become obsolete at their original jobs. But they still offer great beauty when refashioned as decor.

Tip: Hung on a wall, a window such as this one can showcase photographs or artwork between each frame.

Tell us: How have you added hints of the past to your home?

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