Getting the perfect vibe in your home is something that a majority of householders spend years trying to get right. The sheer range of amendments you can make in different areas of the home, and the breadth of choice you have in making these amendments, means that you may well find yourself changing the same thing two or three times before you’re perfectly happy with it. If you’re after a vintage vibe in your home, then getting it just right can take time.
One smart step can be working room-by-room, getting the vintage feel in each room by looking at what can be kept and what needs to change. As the kitchen is often deemed the most important room in a house, it might also be the best place to start; after all, it is a room where the changes pretty much suggest themselves. We will see, as we go on, why this makes the process of redeveloping a kitchen a good launchpad for wider remodelling changes.
Going the full way, or making a few specific changes?
There are multiple ways you can approach a kitchen makeover. One way is to take a full-room approach, deciding everything that can go will go. This may entail moving out your modern cooker for a fancier, old-fashioned range, replacing up- and down-lighting with warmer lamps, and swapping out a linoleum floor for a hard-wood look. The advantage of a full-room makeover is that you can make sure everything goes together the way you want it to; on the flip side, it will involve a lot more work and probably a higher budget.
Changing the accents while keeping the working parts
If you’re giving your home a makeover, it is worth bearing in mind that the very word “makeover” doesn’t necessarily mean a full-on change. It can just mean making a few developments that contribute to a change in the feel of a room. Some of these can be practical, like moving out a few appliances to ensure a sparse, Victorian feel in the room. Other changes can include checking out the likes of Made by the Forge for cast-iron utensil racks; twinned with an austere white wall, these can evoke a traditional vibe. Bear in mind that “vintage” is far more a concept than a concrete set of changes.
Avoid obvious anachronisms
A kitchen, above all things, needs to be a working room. Pots and pans will bubble, delicious meals will be cooked and you’ll need surfaces on which to prepare ingredients. Sometimes, the need for the kitchen to function will run ahead of the desire for it to be 100% vintage. You’ll likely need to have a fridge in there, and as long as it doesn’t look too boxy and obtrusive, that’s fine. However, keeping a microwave in the kitchen will certainly crash that vibe unless the vintage feel you’re going for is “1980s chic”.
Being small, a microwave can be shunted off into a nearby room or pantry. Keeping it, and other similar appliances, away will also avoid clutter, which is important for a period feel.
Getting a kitchen makeover right can help you make decisions about where else in your home the vintage vibe can be enhanced. Make these important choices, and you’ll be ready for the next steps in your home overhaul.
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