If you’ve read any of my other posts, or seen my social media, you’ll know that I am a firm believer that any SA or holiday home / Airbnb needs to feel HOMELY. It needs to have that something special for your guests that makes them want to stay for longer / return again / tell their friends / and justify the extra nightly rate that you are now able to charge since upgrading your interior design - right?!

One way to make your space feel homely is to add something of age. A home is not homely, in my opinion, with brand new everything. How can it be? This quote encapsulates all that I believe about creating a homely space:

“Your home should tell the story of who you are and be a collection of what you love.”

But that is very hard to create when you are providing a space for an ‘unknown’ guest. The key here is knowing your ideal guest through and through, but that’s a whole other blog post!

So in order to recreate that ‘homely’ feel and ensure your space feels ‘collected’ rather than just ‘decorated’ one brilliant way is to add a few vintage pieces. They provide a feeling of age; of soul; and of history. Exactly what your property needs to evoke a feeling of belonging in your guests.

Mixing vintage pieces with more modern items creates that ‘collected’ look which provides a feeling of ‘home’ in the subconscious of your guests, as well as a belief that you have put effort and thought into your interiors (rather than just rushing at the last minute to ‘fill’ your space with furniture and the bare essentials).

6 ways to add vintage/retro items to your SA/Holiday rental

1. FURNITURE

Perhaps the most obvious, but no less effective, way to add an item of age to your property is through choosing vintage or retro furniture. These can vary wildly in price, so shop around on the usual sites - eBay, Etsy etc, but also look at antiques shops, or house clearance places / 2nd hand shops. All these places might just be hiding the perfect piece for your property, be it a sideboard, a hallway bench, a bedside table or a lamp - shop around and you’ll find some amazing gems which will instantly bring that sense of homeliness to your space.

Don’t be afraid to mix and match your furniture styles too. That ‘eclectic’ look is perfect for creating an illusion of a slowly collected and developed home, where loved items have been kept while newer ones have been added.

Here you can see how well the combination of a vintage table with modern chairs works in an otherwise quite minimal space.

Retro items (within the last 100 years, if we’re creating a distinction between ‘vintage’ and ‘retro’ - I do tend to use the terms interchangeably though - sorry to anyone who is particular about this!), are seeing a resurgence in the design world, with some great reproductions also available. I am a huge fan of mid-century styles. Here’s a couple of great examples. The furniture from this era often have thin legs and neat styles - these help to create a look of space within a room as you can see more of the floor area. The patterns of the era are also iconic and ultra stylish in my opinion.

Don’t forget that you can always paint furniture too! If you find a cheap piece which needs a bit of love and attention, think about using chalk paint or something similar to bring it back to life! The image below show how Done Up North have added pattens to this piece - check her website out as she has many tutorials on how to do this yourself, as well as selling a few pieces that she has worked on.

2. Collections

If a home is a ‘collection’ of items, why not create a collection of your own! Collect various vintage items and display them creatively to create an interesting focal point / talking point / wow-factor in your property. The items could be anything from old teaspoons, chopping boards, calculators, bobbins, wooden spoons, old bottles or vintage mirrors, like here:

3. Specific Items of Interest

There are a whole host of weird and wonderful things that you’ll find in a vintage or antiques shop! Be creative in your choices and add a ‘curiosity’ to the mix of your interior accessories. Something unusual will always be a talking point and show that you have added ‘personality’ to your space - a vital ingredient of the successful holiday rental / SA!

Think also about the location you are in - is there anything that would reference something in your area - was there a particular industry which thrived in the past, or was there a local blacksmith/bakery/brickworks who used your property or was based nearby? Did a famous person once live in the area - an author, an artist, an inventor?! Bring items from this ‘history’ into your property and it will ground the space in that history, making it feel much more homely.

4 Embrace the mismatch

When shopping for vintage items, its not always easy to find ‘matching’ things, so embrace the mismatch instead and you’ll find it a whole lot easier! Make sure you have a relatively calm space outside of the eclectic items so as not to overwhelm your guests with too much disparity in style. So stick to one item which is mismatched, so this could be mismatched cushions, mismatched crockery, or mismatched chairs, like here (a favourite of mine!).
One BIG advantage to the mismatch look is that if something breaks you don’t need to find an exact replica to replace it! BONUS HEY?!

5. Signs / Letters

Oh I do love a good vintage sign, or a single letter from some old signage - there are some awesome ones out there! Use a sign relevant to your property or area, or use letters that represent the name of your place, or which spells out something.

6. use Brass (mixed with wood)

Vintage brass items have a great patina, which shows their age and evokes a feeling of warmth. Mix these items with wood and you have a winning combination in the homeliness stakes!

I hope this has given you some inspiration to ‘try’ something vintage in your property, and has shown you the value of it in terms of how it adds personality and a homely feel to your space - something which every home should have and which your guests will truly appreciate, as will your bank balance!

Using vintage/retro pieces in your property shows that you have really thought about the design of the space, and by elevating it to another level in design stakes, you are able to also elevate your nightly rates. The investment put in will more than make up for the increase in revenue that you will generate.

What’s your thoughts? Have I persuaded you?

Photo credits:

Intro: An Artist’s NYC Village Apartment, Airbnb. Photocred: Domino. 1a: Planete Deco . 1b: Pauchok on goodfon.com. 1c: Photo courtesy Natalie Papier. 1d: From the home of Alketas Pazis, featured on CasaVogue (translation available). 1e: Done Up North artwork by @Sarah_thornton_art / @discoballdiva. 2a: Decorator's Notebook via sfgirlbybay.com. 2b: beautifulmess.typepad.com 2c: original unknown - taken from House and Home Ireland. 3: source unknown. 4: By DustJacket via honestlywtf.com. 5a: https://flashdecor.livejournal.com/62774.html. 5b: @coedmawrhall BnB, 5c: lizmariegalvan pinterest via Foxy Interiors, 5d: The Beach Store on Airbnb, Kapiti NZ via happyinteiorblog.com. 6a: Photo courtesy of Catherine Ferguson via The Spruce. 6b: kerryharrisonphotography.com Styled by me.

6 ways to add Vintage/retro Pieces in Your SA / Holiday HomE (And Why You Need to do it!)