How to decorate your home in vintage style with original posters and pictures

Decorating your home with style, taste and personality often turns out to be harder than we'd imagined: choosing the right furniture for our needs, deciding on the colours of the walls and furnishings, arranging objects on shelves and side tables, buying armchairs and sofas and hoping the end result matches what we had in mind at the start. Most of the time, in fact, the difficulty comes precisely from not being clear from the outset about the kind of atmosphere we want to create. That's why it's so important to settle on a style around which to build a harmonious decor scheme that reflects our taste and personality.

The vintage style is ideal for anyone with a nostalgic streak who loves immersing themselves in the atmosphere of the last century. Any furnishing dating back at least 20 years is considered "vintage", which covers the various styles that followed one another throughout the 20th century.

A home decorated in vintage style has a welcoming atmosphere and is full of elegant charm. Inside, you can soak up the culture of 1920s America, the economic boom of the 1960s or the wave of modernity of the 1970s and 1980s.

If you think vintage style is the right one for you, in this guide you'll find plenty of useful tips for giving your home personality!

We'll also give you lots of ideas and suggestions for pictures you can buy online from our Gallery to bring the elegant atmosphere of the past into your home.

1. The features of vintage style

Vintage decor is designed to surprise and evoke the past while keeping an eye on the fashions and trends of the present. It's a particularly elegant and sophisticated style and, in some respects, a tricky one to pull off. Indeed, what is commonly called "vintage" style actually covers many variants inspired by the different eras of the last century.

It's therefore wise to decide first which era we want to draw on, since the last century saw a succession of movements that have very little in common and that it's very important not to mix. Otherwise, a kitsch effect is guaranteed!

A distinctive feature of this interior style, which sets it apart from many others, is its tendency towards creative clutter (let's leave order and perfection to modern style!): feel free to scatter plenty of retro-style objects and ornaments around the house, while taking care not to get carried away!

As we begin decorating our home, let's remember that walls, floors and rugs are always of fundamental importance, since they form the foundation on which the entire decor scheme will rest. So the first thing to choose, if we can, is the type of flooring to lay, perhaps some rugs to cover it, and the paint or wallpaper for the walls. If we want a particularly strong vintage feel, we can look for images from the era we're drawing on and use the same materials in our home.

Alternatively, we can opt for more neutral solutions and add the vintage touch through other furnishings or through the wall decor.

Posters and prints with retro images and colours are another particularly effective way to evoke the atmosphere of vintage style with relative ease.

Below, we show you two prints suited to 1950s or 1960s-style decor.

If our aim is to lighten a vintage room that has become too heavy, we suggest a few prints that go well with the subjects and colours of the style while keeping the tones fairly delicate.

2. Vintage objects and furnishings

Old family homes, flea markets, antiques and mid-century collectables fairs: these are the ideal places to hunt down vintage-style furnishings. Any item that takes us back to the era we're drawing on is a perfect candidate for our home!

If we simply want to give our home a vintage touch without focusing on a specific era, we can use old metal tins, bar stools, period advertising prints, mirrors or furniture with a distressed finish.

Be careful not to overdo this kind of decor, as too many dated objects can weigh down the atmosphere. Also, again to avoid an awkward mix of eras, we should try not to place our vintage pieces next to today's modern devices, such as a high-definition television.

Here are a few posters of objects we can use to create a vintage style in just a few steps.

3. Vintage-style posters, prints and pictures

The best way to decorate the walls of a vintage-style room is undoubtedly to use original images from the period: advertising posters, film posters of the time or even road signs.

Black and white prints, or prints with subjects that evoke that atmosphere without being genuine period pieces, are ideal for adding a vintage touch without making the room feel too "old". Here are a few suggestions along these lines.

To decorate your walls with the bright colours of the 1980s and 1990s, we recommend a few photographic prints that could go well with your decor.

Remember that you can buy all the modern prints and pictures we've shown you online in our gallery. And if you need more specific advice, get in touch and we'll answer your questions.