Decorating & Design
These 60 Rooms Prove Every Space Needs Something Vintage
Published on August 18, 2020
Sticking to a single era is passé; pieces with history add personality and uniqueness. When it comes to the most stylish spaces, there is a method to decorating with vintage. Designers and savvy homeowners know how to incorporate a period piece into a contemporary room. And not every item is a priceless antique (designer Sam Sack’s vintage waterskis are a perfect example), sources like Craigslist and thrift shops can be a treasure trove for finds that add instant punch. Here are 60 of our favorite homes that illustrate how to blend old with new.
Vancouver blogger Sarah Shabacon has a keen eye. Since launching her online vintage home and fashion shop, Bohème Goods, in 2016, she’s turned thrift store finds into pieces with covetable style. She knows the power of the perfect piece, and waited three months for her vintage Togo sofa by Michel Ducaroy to be shipped from France. “Don’t just buy something because you need something in a corner,” she says. “Hold out until you find the right thing.” Handmade baskets and artisanal pottery (a mix of vintage finds and pieces made by friends) conjure instant soul.
Sarah found this vintage bamboo chair on Craigslist.
After Sarah posted about the curvy, rust-colored Etcetera chairs on Instagram, a fan messaged her to say she had a vintage set for sale. “That’s my dream find,” says Sarah.
Vintage rugs are a great way to incorporate color and give a renovated space a cozy, lived-in-forever feel. A gorgeous red runner softens the transition between the dark floor and light cabinets, and incorporates hits of black in the pattern to echo the finishes.
The 135-year old clapboard house in Toronto still had its original horse barn in the garden. A vintage credenza in the dining room holds dishes, flatware and table linens, and is a handy spot to display favorite art pieces and finds from the family’s travels.
A Victrola cabinet original to the home is used for extra storage at the front door. Above it is a framed photo of the house from 1892.
The sheltered porch in landscape designer Meredyth Hilton’s Toronto garden is equipped with a vintage granite trough that was repurposed as an ice bucket.
Jeff Stober, the brain behind The Drake and Drake Devonshire empire, has a knack for sniffing out exactly what the culturati is craving. A cheery, sunny vintage wallpaper is an authentically groovy backdrop for his elephant figure collection displayed in the dining room.
Angus & Company, designer Michael Angus’ eponymous Toronto home store, was relished by tastemakers from 2000 to 2016, before he closed up shop and moved to the country. “I’m so grateful to be able to walk out the door and see endless fields,” says Michael of the home he and his partner, Glen Munro, bought in 2018 in the rolling hills of Northumberland County, northeast of Toronto. Built in 1858, the Victorian, red brick farmhouse sits on 10 and a half hectares, and was discovered after five years of hunting for the perfect place to reflect the designer’s trademark style. In the front hall, the lines of a Victorian Gothic chair pick up on the form of a handsome lantern chandelier.
The dining table is an antique pine Mennonite piece that can be folded up. It’s paired with vintage French chairs reupholstered in classic ticking.
With a palette of navy and brown pulled from the antique rug, the twin guest room has a clubby feel. The velvet-upholstered beds are paired with an antique English chest and glossy black–shaded lamps.
Craig Pearce and Kendra Patton live in The Trail House, the 1,700-square-foot gable-style home they custom-built on half a hectare of steep, rocky terrain. Just outside the principal bedroom is an antique filing cabinet and painting the couple found on one of their first trips to the Round Top Texas Antiques Show.
Inspired by a mashup of surf shack, safari camp and Dutch Colonial styles, designer Sam Sacks’s cottage is full of rattan, wicker, unpainted wood and nubby linens. A piece of vintage Kuba cloth hangs on the wall, and vintage louvered doors frame the entry to the new addition.
In the dining area, vintage water skis suit the waterfront setting while the antique dresser balances the modern lines of the white oak table and Marcel Breuer–style chairs.
Denise Zidel, the owner of the hip Toronto shop Snob, bought the two-headed camel bench with her first paycheque as an X-ray technician at the age of 18 and still treasures it.
In designer Emily Griffin’s Balsam Lake bunkie, she placed one of her first-ever junk shop purchases in the kitchen. “It’s more of a bar right now, but we plan to install a range,” says Emily.
A grouping of vintage green glass vases filled with blooms suits the pretty toile skirt.
See the rest of the cozy hangout on H&H TV.
In designers Colin Blanchard and Kenneth McRobbie’s Nova Scotia weekend home, an antique picture frame and storied desk oozes heritage charm.
A hutch stores vintage china, tableware and glassware.
A damask-upholstered French antique daybed is a perfect fit for guests.
In this Toronto dining area, mid-century modern, Danish chairs that were purchased in L.A. add warmth to the sleek dining table. Quirky lighting accents a series of Norman Seeff portraits of comic Steve Martin.
If you’re as lucky as foodie Jackie Kai Ellis, vintage elements are built right into your pied-à-terre. The ornate marble fireplace and gilt-framed mirror are original to the 1910 Parisian apartment.
Copper pots and bowls found at Paris flea markets keep company alongside dishes from Ikea and Vancouver ceramicists Janaki Larsen and Michelle Nguyen.
Jackie spotted her vintage bed frame online. “I saw the rose and daisy details carved into the wood and fell in love,” she says.
In the country home of Mjölk owners John Baker and Juli Daoust-Baker, vintage rocking chairs and a vintage armchair by Charlotte Perriand create a cozy seating area in the open-concept bedroom.
Montreal shop owner Lysanne Pepin of Maison Pepin lives in an Old Montreal loft that used to be an 1850s warehouse. The space functions as a studio, where she works on her large-scale paintings that hang on an expansive, exposed brick wall. The dining table is surrounded by ’60s-era Kangaroo chairs by Ernst Moeckl, which were a gift to Lysanne from her mother. In the cooler months, custom quilted chair covers make the fibreglass seats cozy.
Designer Mélanie Cherrier incorporates old pieces with new accents that have timeless appeal. In this petite bathroom, a vintage wooden chair is ideal for keeping essentials handy and accents new panelling for a Parisian flavor.
Mélanie paired saturated hues with vintage accessories and contemporary furniture in her sister Julie’s home. Here, an antique chest pops in front of an aubergine wall.
Architectural items are a great way to incorporate the character of vintage finds. Mélanie sourced the sunroom’s arched interior windows at a salvage shop and had the frames sanded down and refinished. They’re painted on one side and left with the wood exposed on the side facing the sunroom.
In this Seattle bungalow, a vintage clawfoot tub in the principal bathroom was painted a custom Farrow & Ball blue-green hue. Raw linen drapes and a simple wood stool warm up the marble tile.
A heritage home in Prince Edward County is dressed for holidays (or any big gathering) with several salvaged antique tables to form one large dining room table, which can expand to seat 24. The tablecloth — made from Moroccan wedding blankets — adds extra sparkle..
Vancouver designer Francesca Albertazzi’s childhood home is the perfect setting for sentimental keepsakes: this console was given as wedding gift to her mother more than 30 years ago.
In the apartment of Gardiner Museum director Kelvin Browne, Qing dynasty parrots seem to be living in the bamboo grove depicted on the 18th-century Japanese screen behind them. “It’s fascinating how pieces change in a new scale context,” he says.
In this Nashville, Tennessee, home, designer Sarah Richardson and Kate Stuart mixed vintage finds, such as these chairs, which were painted white and reupholstered to go with the limed oak table.
The dining room is smack in the center of the house, with many rooms flowing from it. This 19th-century, English, triple-pedestal table will always look great. “Buy pieces that’ll be with you for the long haul, and enjoy experiencing them, even if you don’t use them often.,” says Sarah.
To update this outdoor dining area without throwing off its charming vibe, designer and H&H alum Joel Bray refreshed a set of vintage chairs using aerosol primer and leafy green paint. A few new throw pillows add even more uplifting color to the space.
In this eclectic family home, gallery-white walls and a flat black-painted door create a graphic, thoroughly modern backdrop for an heirloom grandfather clock.
The peeling layers of green paint on this vintage wooden bench is a pop of color in this Port Carling, Ontario, cottage’s rustic entry hall.
In this family kitchen, designer Rachel Fox combined a weighty harvest table — a cherished hand-me-down from one homeowner’s father — with new chairs and lighting to bring the older piece into the present.
An articulated Tizio task light nicely updates a collection of antiques in designer Deb Nelson’s East Coast home.
To underscore the global-meets-refined look she envisioned for this bathroom, designer Sam Sacks rolled out an ornately patterned rug she scored for just $300 at a vintage auction.
Tour this bathroom on H&H TV.
“The bones of our house are cottagey, so we balance them with more contemporary furniture,” explains designer Sophie Burke. In her living room, clean-lined shelving and lighting strike just the right note.
In cottage owner Laurence Martocq’s principal bedroom, a turn-of-the-century French daybed, antique four-poster and hand-me-down desk coexist nicely — without looking overly matchy.
Designer James Davie is known for working historical detail into modern spaces, and this dining room is no different. Here, a new nailhead-trimmed chair and lantern-style sconce nicely complement a weighty vintage hutch.
Designer Wendy Davis had her original Saarinen Tulip chairs and dining table refinished to bring them back to their former glory. As for the seats’ upholstery, she opted for a new, darker fabric to better suit her home’s monochromatic palette.
In this inviting cottage in Ontario’s Muskoka region, an heirloom bench from Norway looks new again set under an airy pendant light and piled with exotic patterned pillows.
Designer J Gibson enhanced the rustic beauty of his country house by setting up a subtle vignette of antiques in his entryway. The drop-leaf table was found at an auction in Atlanta, while the pewter jug is a family heirloom.
In Laurence’s guest bedroom, a pair of vintage schoolhouse maps double as wall art, while clean white panelling, trim and bed linens keep things clean and airy.
East Coast designers Kenneth Blanchard and Colin McRobbie combined trad, turned-leg furniture with a clean-lined ceiling fixture and exposed, well-worn floor boards to give this dining room an unstudied, contemporary ease.
Surrounded by rotating displays of art and collectibles, designer Lindsay Konior’s Josef Hoffman Prague chair blends nicely into her youthful, laid-back apartment.
To bring a shot of color into this living room, designer Sam Sacks reupholstered a vintage bergère with a bold geometric fabric by David Hicks. Placing it next to a Scandi-cool Jens Risom lounge chair ups the cool factor even more.
In the hall of her Taymouth, New Brunswick, home, owner and designer Kelly Anderson created a sweet arrangement, placing a petite bench — a lucky vintage find — under a simple shelf she made herself out of wood found on her property.
Homeowner Laura Arrell set up a home office around her great-grandmother’s heirloom desk. Combined with a bamboo chair and crisp black and white accents, the set-up has a timeless appeal.
Ceramicist and interior designer Trudy Crane’s Montreal loft expertly brings together vintage pieces with a contemporary sensibility. In her bedroom, a matte-black painted Ikea buffet and vintage mirror make a sophisticated pairing.
Homeowner Alison Jeffery nodded to her house’s classic architecture by appointing her entry with a handsome Arts and Crafts–style daybed, a Craigslist find that she had reupholstered in grey linen.
To update a set of mahogany dining chairs passed down from her client’s parents, designer Sam Sacks had the seats recovered in eye-catching green velvet, then grouped them around a clean-lined pedestal table.
A wooden peg coat rack, picked up at a vintage store, perfectly suits the laid-back mood and woodsy setting of this Ontario family cottage.
Designer and architect Darcie Watson added a bit of whimsy to this circa-1905 Toronto home by placing a vintage fuchsia chair in the otherwise traditional entry.
Homeowner Tamara Taggart found her petite china cabinet in a vintage store and then painted it white. Now, the piece blends seamlessly into her living room, while maintaining its one-of-a-kind charm.
With nothing to detract from its classic good looks, an antique wooden chair steals the show in this breezy East Coast home.