Tips for Vintage Kitchen Charm with a Modern Feel

Hey there Remodelaholic readers! Dawn here, FORMERLY of Designing Dawn.com. If you’ve been a longtime reader of Designing Dawn, which has been alive and well since 2010, or Remodelaholic, where I’ve been a monthly contributor since 2014, you might be wondering what the ‘formerly’ is all about… but it’s good, trust me! I’m excited to announce my new venture as I team up with my lovely friend, Ashley, on a new creative lifestyle blog called AD Aesthetic. I’d love for you to come visit us and introduce yourself over at our new internet home, ADaesthetic.com and follow us on Facebook or Instagram to keep up with our new adventure. It’s an exciting change for me, and I’m thrilled that I can continue to contribute here at Remodelaholic (see all my posts here) with fun and free printable files, reader question mock-ups, and inspirational moodboards.

For this month’s mood board, I decided to put together a design for a charming vintage kitchen… but one that still has a modern feel. It’s my absolute favorite combo… old and new, working seamlessly together. To give you a better idea of the style I was inspired by, here are a few inspiration images I found while browsing around the web:

Vintage Kitchen Inspiration

Don’t you just love that vintage kitchen charm? With all that inspiration in mind, here’s what I came up with:

If you’re looking for a similar old-meets-new style, here are some things to keep in mind:

Creating Modern-Style Vintage Kitchen Charm

Color: Color plays a big part in evoking the feel of a vintage space. Depending on the era of your choosing, you can use specific colors to bring that feeling into your space and combine it with more modern styles. For my moodboard above, I’ve chosen turquoise and reds along with black and white, to create a classic 1950’s color palette.

Pattern: Like the use of color, patterns can bring to mind certain styles or eras. For this mood board, I wanted to create a retro feeling, but I also wanted to make sure the space felt modern. To do that, I took the classic geometric patterns that were popular in the 50’s (think black and white checkered flooring) and gave them updated looks. The rug is certainly geometric, but the pattern is more contemporary and doesn’t take the retro look over the top. I also tied in more geometric shapes in the hexagon back-splash tile. It brings to mind the more authentic black and white hex that was popular in days gone by, but again, with a decidedly updated style.

Throwbacks: Finally, you really can’t have a vintage inspired space without at least a few vintage items, or at least good vintage replicas. In this space, several elements, including the mixing bowls, kit-cat clock, and tea towel patterns all have a very clear vintage look to them. The lighting and stools also hearken back to a vintage style, but with more updated lines, bringing the old and new together beautifully.

If you’re interested in sources for this moodboard, here’s a handy clickable collection for you (contains affiliate links; learn more here):

 

As always, thank you to Cassity and the Remodelaholic team for having me back each month. If you like this post, I’d love for you to visit me on my blog, adaesthetic.com, or follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram. Have a great day, friends!

-Dawn

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More kitchen mood boards: 

cottage-style kitchen

farmhouse kitchen style

modern farmhouse kitchen