Add a Nostalgic feel to your Home

Nostalgia is a wistful reference to the past, to collective memories or our own very
personal story. It often means we’re reflecting on a past which we perhaps cherish
more than our present.

So how can we reflect nostalgia in our homes and decor and re-connect with history
and fond memories?

 

 

Personal items...

We can do it with personal items of furniture, art, ornaments or even colours which
bring to mind our past or we can reference yesteryears in a more general way. We can
go further and theme around a specific era or decade; referencing that either
throughout our home, or just in specific areas, perhaps more personal spaces, such as
bedrooms or home offices.

 

 

Different trends

Nostalgia doesn’t have to refer back to eras you’ve personally lived through, of
course, trends such as mid-century modern, art deco and even more recent trends
such as ‘cottage-core’ are just a natural circling-back to previous times which we
perhaps admire, or feel are more reflective of our own home or personal tastes and
lifestyle.

An obvious way of indulging in nostalgia is through collections and collectibles.
Whether that’s vintage ceramics, comics, old books, or Star Wars figures - if it means
something to you and lights up your heart, then put it on display where you can enjoy
it.

 

Retro feel...

Retro wallpapers and fabrics are another great way to channel another era.
If you really feel you would have enjoyed the 50s or 60s but weren’t yet born, then
you can easily find either archived designs or contemporary ones which reflect them
in a modern format. Search ‘retro wallpaper’ or ‘60s’ fabric’ and see what comes up.

Orla Kiely will create timeless retro look to any home. Her iconic designs are often referred to as “Happy prints that make you smile”

 

 

Old and New...

Blending old and new is a great way to create a balanced interior scheme for your
home and a statement piece of furniture, decor or art, can bring a sense of our
collective past. Whether it’s Georgian furniture, vintage cars and trains, retro clothes
or mis-matched China, don’t hide it away - curate and display your treasures!

 

The return of vinyl and record players has had many of us trying to re-create our
former record collections, or even just display a few of our all time favourites as art
work. Along with smell, music can just take you right back to a memory or time in
your life in an instant.

 

Why not also infuse family photos on display with relatives you perhaps barely
remember, or never even met? If you have photos of great-grandparents or of a house
of holiday location which means something to you, it can be wonderful to bring these
images to your everyday life.

 

 

Books

Our digital fast-paced lives also often have us craving old books. It’s often said that
books are an essential design feature and if you don’t have many of your own you can
use them as decor, either with the beautiful covers of literary classics which
publishing houses have printed in recent years, or with old books, which can even be
purchased by the metre, and even themed by colour.

 

 

If your yearning for nostalgia is more driven by the age or style of your home, then
it’s really very easy to reflect history and days gone by with fabrics, wallpapers and
furniture, for example chintz accent chairs, with floral curtains for your Victorian
home, battered leather Chesterfields or antique furniture, whether it’s been in the
family for years, or was a lucky find online.

 

You can even research your home’s history and reinstate traditional flooring or
decorative features to honour it’s heritage or past owners. Trawling reclamation yards
can be a fun activity for the whole family to introduce an old fireplace, sideboard or
garden focal point to your period home.
Nostalgia is a great antidote for the stress and pace of modern life, so choose whether
to hark back to your own childhood, youth or family past, or pick a decade or period
in history which will infuse your home with history and nostalgia.

Posted by Hayley Allen
17th March 2023

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