2 min readThere are countless ways to infuse personality and character into your home, whether you select paint from a historic-leaning color palette or layer in character-rich molding. Adding vintage decor is another perfect example. Whether you're sourcing treasures from a local thrift store or displaying heirlooms passed down through generations, vintage pieces are more important than you might think.
That said, there's an art to decorating with antiques in a way that feels curated rather than overwhelming, as interior designer Jean Stoffer explained on a panel at High Point Market.
“The problem is, you have a beautiful old home, and then you bring in all of this old furniture and old art, and it just feels like a museum,” she told House Beautiful’s Editorial Director, Jo Saltz. “It needs to have things from different periods of time.”
When shopping for vintage decor, aim to mix pieces from different decades to avoid a scene that looks overly uniform or staged. “It's not a moment,” Stoffer continued. “And I think that's how you get timeless interiors. You pick from all kinds of different periods and finishes… put it all together, and it feels like yours.”
Surrounding yourself with both contemporary and vintage items also contributes to the feeling known as place authenticity, a socioecological concept that explains why we feel comforted being in a setting infused with history and meaning. Rather than decking your space out with all-new things or an out-of-place, period-specific motif, consider this license to mix and match eras however you choose—and even get a little bit weird with it.
