Debbie Travis
These days, we hear a lot about retro style, which revisits a popular era and embraces its furniture shapes and colour palettes. Industrial style is also big right now. That’s where it’s bold to be bare — naked light bulbs, rugged brick walls, worn wood floors and utilitarian furniture create an edgy mix. Fusion style helps us blend together more than one decorative look, which is appropriate given that most homes are decorated over time, and our tastes and interests change.
There is a look that survives decades of change, a style that glories in the past. It is pretty, romantic, and comfortable. This is vintage style, with its accent on a splendid array of florals and well-worn furnishings. Faded shades of pink, blue and green produce a relaxed, joyful mood particularly inviting in a bedroom or living room.
Like a well-tended garden, the elements of vintage style can begin on a small scale, and spread out and up as you cultivate collections and furnishings. In the bedroom, start with a floral bedcover and lacey linens. In the living room, floral cushion and a distressed coffee table will make a brilliant start at creating the atmosphere.
In Annie Sloan’s new book, Annie Sloan’s Room Recipes for Style and Color, she talks about the endearing elements of vintage floral style.
“Florabunda is the defining element, with floral designs — predominantly roses — displayed on fabrics, bedcovers, upholstered chairs, cushion covers, wallpapers, and delicately designed china,” she writes.
Sloan reminds us that to keep a proper balance with all this pattern, you need lots of warm white that offers a soft glow to the textures and colours. Other key ingredients are distressed furniture, cut glass and heirloom bedlinens.
No room would be complete without a show of real flowers. A single glorious bloom, or an abundant arrangement of fresh cut flowers from the garden are fresh and evocative.
From Sloan’s book, in the inviting living room shown here, the creamy white walls and sofa are soothing and allow the bright floral colours to stand out. Three striking patterns layered on the chair are united by a glorious shade of rose red. The lamp is “pure nostalgia” topped with its floral shade.
Roses are everywhere in the classic vintage bedroom, on bedlinens, in prints and vases. A distressed paint finish adorns the cabinet and mirror, blending quietly into the antique white walls. The aquamarine window top is a happy surprise, a taste of retro.
Annie Sloan has an artist’s eye. Sloan’s knowledgeable advice and colour recipes highlight nine styles from modern retro and warehouse to Swedish and French in this book. Her own Chalk Paint range is included to help you visualize how colours co-ordinate and understand the fundamentals of a neutral palette. Glorious rooms and Sloan’s design tips are illustrated by splendid photography by Christopher Drake.
Scavenging season is coming up, time to visit city and country flea markets and antique sales. Time to find an old table or cabinet or picture frame and bring it back to life. Sloan’s book will spur you on.
Debbie Travis’s House to Home column is produced by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Email your questions to house2home@debbietravis.com. You can follow Debbie on Twitter at twitter.com/ debbie_travis, and visit Debbie’s website at debbietravis.com.