Vintage and retro homewares and furniture are making a resurgence among the young and trendy. You only have to venture briefly onto social media’s interior design pages to see that old really is the new popular option when it comes to homewares. But what’s the difference between vintage and retro? Are the terms interchangeable?
Vintage
Vintage items are authentically old – at least forty years old, to be precise. Vintage pieces are genuinely from the era they’re styled from, and as such may need some restoring or general love to bring them back to their prime.
If you are looking for a vintage sofa, for example, that has been previously loved and is now in the market for a new owner, there are many specialists, such as https://vintagesofawarehouse.co.uk/collections/vintage-antique-retro-recycled-furniture-vintage-sofas, who have a large selection of such pieces.
Retro
Retro items, on the other hand, do not have to be authentically past their 40th birthday. They are styled to appear old but are usually much younger in reality. This gives you a great deal more choice, but unfortunately, they aren’t always built to last to the same degree as true vintage pieces.
Popular aesthetic
Homes and Gardens magazine reports that this trend stems from a desire to slow down and revisit a time when life was simpler, which makes a great deal of sense. Equally, with the cost of living never higher it’s a good way of making sure that your furniture is high quality, while not necessarily having to pay new prices.
Nobody’s saying that your granny’s floral 3-piece suite is quite at the height of fashion just yet, but there may be styling value in that old cabinet passed down from your parents. Forty years isn’t quite as long ago as it feels (we’re talking about the 1980s and earlier), so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility that you might simply come across some trendy pieces in a family member’s garage. If not, there are always second-hand sellers to bridge that gap and allow you access to the vintage sofa of your styling dreams.
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