Vintage Design

Style Guide: Vintage Lighting Ideas

Light fixtures are often overlooked when it comes to a room’s style. Yet they make a big impact on the look and feel of a space. It can be hard to find a perfectly styled piece but here are some vintage lighting ideas that will help you transform your space.

Style Ideas

Color: When it comes to color choice, pastel shaded light fixtures will look great in a vintage styled room. The lighting fixtures themselves don’t even have to be vintage looking, as long as they are pastel. Colors like mint, baby blue, and yellow. A pastel colored paper lantern makes for a whimsical addition to any room (1).

Styles: See if you can find enamelled lights. Barn lights are great for this as you can find enamel pendant and wall lights – in pastel colors. For pendant lighting you have pancake lights seen in the kitchen pictures (2) and (3). On the walls you have gooseneck lights seen in the bathroom in picture (4). And for desks you’ve got anglepoise lamps (5).

Barn lighting would be the best style of lights to go for. An alternative would be vintage industrial or nautical lights.

Ceiling Medallions: There is the option of adding a ceiling medallion to frame any ceiling lights you have. Even if you have recessed lights. For pictures and ideas, have a look at my post here: Design Ideas for Decorative Ceiling Medallions.

Quick Styling Ideas and Upgrades

Some ways to quickly transform your lighting to a vintage style include: using Edison bulbs (6). For the coffee table, bedroom side tables, or dining room centerpiece – vintage style candle stands or lanterns can be used to decorate the space. Or how about using old school glass oil lanterns outdoors (7) – fuelled by citronella oil or battery powered candles. Mason jars can also be used to house candles.

When it comes to lamp shades, you want to go with fabric coned ones, with decorative edges – just like the lamp shades in picture (8).

Grand ol Chandeliers

A gorgeous chandelier makes for a grand statement piece in any room. There are the more traditional and formal crystal chandeliers with the arms reaching out. Or there are other more compact and mini vintage chandeliers (9).

DIY Ideas

Doilies can be used to create unique looking hanging lamps, just like in picture (10). Another creative idea is to fit vintage style crown molding (11) a few inches below the ceiling. This leaves space for lights to be fitted above – creating soft glowing cove lighting (The Beauty of Using Cove Lighting: Design and Ideas).

String lights are not really vintage, but they can be hung indoors to create a whimsical feel (Home Decor Ideas: Beautiful Ways to Use String Lights Indoors). For a more vintage vibe, use the Edison bulb version seen below. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11

1 Gooseneck $188 Barn Light Electric | 2 Pancake $153 Barn Light Electric

3 Pancake $78 Amazon | 4 Swingarm $27 Amazon | 5 Banker $38 Amazon

6 String Light $145 Restoration Hardware | 7 Edison $8.84 Amazon | 8 Lamp $139 Amazon

Handmade: Simple DIY Vintage Decor Ideas

This is what Home Tree Atlas is all about. Simple and great looking decor ideas that anyone can do at home. The DIY vintage decor ideas below range from simple decor ideas such as using glass bottles as planters, to more DIY projects like taking a reclaimed window and turning it into a photo frame.

Simple DIY Decor Ideas

You can easily buy old vintage style clothing pins on Amazon here. These can be used to hang up photographs on a piece of rope just like in picture (1).

Vintage bottles can be used for a number of decor ideas around the house. They can be used to hold up flowers (2). Instead of having your kitchen liquids by the sink in their plastic brand bottles, you can pour the liquids into vintage bottles and make the area look better. For more ideas on using vintage bottles around the house check out my mood board here: Home Decor Ideas: Using Vintage Glass Bottles.

Give your closets a makeover with some vintage style paint (mint, baby pastel blue, cream), and add on some vintage handles or door knobs.

A bird cage is another item that can be used for a number of decor ideas – from housing plants and books, to jewellery organizers and candle stands. For a mood board and more ideas have a look here: Home Decor Ideas: Using Bird Cages.

Old reclaimed ladders can be upcycled and used in rooms for shelving or storage. They can also be used as a bedroom side table just like in picture (3) – Ideas for Decorating With Ladders.

Galvanised buckets can be used as a trash can or to store magazines and blankets. Have a look at this mood board for more vintage storage ideas (one of the most popular posts on Home Tree Atlas): Vintage Storage and Organization Ideas.

Getting Creative With Your Printer

There are a whole bunch of vintage DIY ideas you can do with just your printer:

Catherine from Design Editor took a vintage camera photo and got it blown up for only $3.29. You can see the framed print in picture (4). The vintage camera photo is available to download for free from her site here.

A DIY project that I did, was to create posters with vintage graphics. I printed them out on A3 card and painted in the empty space with chalkboard paint to create chalkboard posters (5). You can see the step by step guide here.

I got the graphics for the chalkboard DIY vintage posters from The Graphics Fairy. Over on her site, she has a ton of vintage graphics that are free to download. People have used them to decorate countertops, kitchen linens, or even buckets (6).

Over on Just Something I Made there are great looking apothecary labels that you can download and print for free. They can be transferred onto pillows, sewn onto towels for a little design spice (7), or used to label jars (8).

More Craftier Vintage DIY Project Ideas

I wrote up a post showing all the different things you can do with old reclaimed windows. In picture (9) you can see one being used as a photo frame. In my mood board here they have also been turned into room dividers, mirror frames, kitchen command centers, and even into DIY vintage furniture pieces (cabinet and coffee table).

Vintage and antique door knobs can be used as towel hooks or as curtain tie backs (10).

In my Vintage Style Wallpaper mood board I show a range of different design ideas. My favorite style is the textured wallpaper, the anaglyptic paper designs seen in picture (11).

A few simple vintage DIY project ideas include turning normal looking jars vintage by using Mod Podge and food coloring (12) – you can follow along with the step by step guide here. Or how about printing/stamping/transferring vintage graphics onto cork or fabric pieces to create your own coasters (13).

I’ve saved the best idea for last. By simply sewing together a number of doilies, you can create a long table runner for your coffee or dining room table (14). 1/2/3/9/10/11/13/14

Vintage Kitchen Storage Ideas: From Milk Baskets to Wicker Baskets

Going With Glass

Glass jars and containers are great for storing ingredients, spices and things like pastas, cookies and other snacks. These can be left out on open cabinets creating a nice look in the room – just like the kitchen in picture (1). These glass jars can be left as they are, or if you want to do a little crafting some vintage style printable labels can be made and stuck on them. Like the labels in picture (3). I’ll definitely be designing a few printable labels soon.

Other Simple Ideas

Vintage soda and milk bottles are great for storing items or used as unique drinking mugs. Other vintage kitchen storage ideas include porcelain enamel containers and canisters like the ones in picture (4), wicker baskets (6), TV trays, lunch boxes, copper pots, wooden (apple/wine/fruit) crates (7), and wire baskets like the milk basket in picture (8). The old school metal buckets can be used to store things, as a trash can, or to house plants (9).

Replace Your Plastic Bottles

Here is an idea from Martha Stewart: pour all of your washing liquids into good looking (vintage) glass bottles. Having these bottles out on the countertop or on the sink’s ledge will act as nice decor pieces (10).

Redesigning Your Cabinets

When it comes to cabinets some design ideas include the weathered painted look, pastel colored cabinets, or unpainted wooden ones – depending on the overall vintage style you are going after (colorful, plain white, or rustic). For more pictures and ideas visit our post here that shows a whole bunch of vintage style kitchens. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10

May 8, 2013 in Kitchen, Storage, Vintage Design

Vintage Kitchen Design, Accessories, and Decor Ideas

Design Styles: The pictures above have been group together into the two styles of a vintage kitchen. You have the more colorful ones that use pastel colors and have porcelain enamel fixtures, and weathered painted furniture. Then there are the vintage kitchens that are more rustic in design – using more raw wooden furniture, less colors – more like a French country styled kitchen.

Furniture and Fixtures: For a vintage inspired kitchen, barn style light fixtures work best. You have the shallow bowl/pancake lights that look great, with their porcelain enamel as seen in picture (1). Or there are the gooseneck lights. A chandelier is also another great lighting fixture to have in a vintage kitchen design.

When it comes to the sink, a large rectangle porcelain one with rounded edges is the go to choice. These are usually left fully exposed, but in picture (5) the countertop covers it. Subway style tiles make for a great vintage style backsplash (6).

Decor and Accessories Ideas: Using vintage style containers and having them out on display makes for great decor. Vintage bottles can be used for keeping washing up liquids, while glass jars can be used for storing pasta, snacks, etc. For more vintage storage ideas have a look this post: Vintage Kitchen Storage Ideas: From Milk Baskets to Wicker Baskets. If you have great looking pots and pans these can be left out in the open too, to act as decorative pieces.1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10