Vintage finish

Sourcing vintage materials is fun, inspiring, cheap - and will give your home a new lease of life
Seeking out old stuff for your home can be time-consuming, but there are a number of advantages to using vintage materials when decorating your home. Sometimes, just for the price of a latte, you might find a pair of perfect curtains, a length of fabric with a pretty print or a small box of beautiful buttons.

House-Jul05-02-590Left: Mismatched pieces of vintage china and cutlery add interest to your kitchen. Right: Rolls of vintage wallpaper are a real find Below: Make a bookend out of pretty china pieces
As you build your collection of gorgeous vintage finds, you can customise them and decorate your entire home at a fraction of the cost of buying things new. The recycling (or upcycling) element involved in this process has a feelgood factor, too. Giving a new lease of life to homewares that might otherwise have been heading for the landfill is good for the planet as well as the pocket.
House-Jul05-03-590Left: Use small pieces of vintage fabric to make a beanbag that everyone will love. Right: Set the table with your favourite vintage plates and coloured glassware

Everyone can find their own take on vintage style and pluck pieces from any era they fancy. If you love a rummage, cannot pass a market without popping in, or if you do not mind rifling through the rails in charity shops or even perusing the odd skip (ask before you take!) you can get a huge amount of pleasure from finding just the right materials to add colour and character to your home.
House-Jul05-04-590Above left: A chest of drawers is an easy piece to make your own Above centre: Dye, crochet or lace edging to match your tea towels Above right: Update a wooden staircase with vintage wallpaper on each riser

You can slot just a little bit of vintage into your house – a fine bone china tea set, for instance – or you can fall in, head first, and fill your entire home, from cellar to ceiling, with your vintage finds. If you are not quite sure which direction to head in, go to a couple of antiques fairs or vintage markets and have a really good look before you buy.
House-Jul05-05-590Old patchwork bedcovers and chintzy eiderdowns can give your bedroom a warm and cosy feel

Whichever direction you take, here’s a little inspiration to help you make the most of the items that are available from vintage dealers, online auctions, charity shops, car-boot sales, flea markets, antiques dealers, house clearances and fairs.

Vintage Home by Sarah Moore is published by Kyle Books, priced £17.99