How to Channel Your Favorite Throwback Aesthetic Without Going Overboard

A brisk scroll through home design social media will surface era-obsessed creators styling their lives around a favorite decade or historical aesthetic. They will often show it off in a kitchen or a bathroom because those are the most frequently renovated rooms in a home, and as such, they’re the places where the styles of a particular moment tend to find a foothold. Even if committing to the bit and going, say, full-on 1970s sex den or ’90s Tuscan kitchen is too much dip for your chip, you can still find a distinct style for your kitchen or bathroom by mining the past. We talked to designers about how to get a throwback look without going overboard—and also got some words of wisdom from a few of those era aficionados whose love for their particular decade is so strong that they’ve chosen to live just like it.

Not Your Grandfather’s ’50s

Nostalgia for the 1950s doesn’t have to express a yen for conservatism but, rather, can be about wanting the creature comforts of early suburbia—your grandparents’ Levittown Cape Cod starter home’s cozy rec room or the sunny dinette off the tidy and efficient kitchen. For some of the same vibes in your more contemporary space, Cristina Poelk, an art director at Hem who also runs @soft_servings, an Instagram account dedicated to beautiful kitchens, advises: "Use solid lacquered wood and pair it with stainless-steel countertops." Nick Battaglia, an Atlanta set decorator with an affinity for midcentury styles, says that in his bathroom, little tweaks went a long way. "I changed out the light fixture for a double swag light, like a Hollywood Regency [one]." To channel the era yourself, try swapping out your barstools for a set of Cescas upholstered in a claret red, or liven up your bathroom with a mat that’s straight out of the Jet Age.

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Out of the Woods

As the 1960s tipped into the ’70s, some lingering psychedelia blended with an obsession with all things organic—avocado walls, wood paneling, maybe a mushroom figurine, macramé. A few prints with geometric patterns in the same earthy colors hanging on your wall complete the look. Call it enchanted forest chic. Poelk suggests colorful contact paper in a floral pattern to line drawers and shelves in the kitchen and bathroom, or evoke the era with graphic tiling and pops of color in the cabinetry. And if you’d like your bathroom to feel a little blissed-out, consider this advice from Trenton Chase Pardue, who runs @spacesofmydreams, a popular Instagram account dedicated to gorgeous vintage interiors: "If you’re going to do the color, you have to color drench the whole space.… It’s either all or nothing or just one thing," he says. "You can’t have a soap dish and a toilet in color and then everything else that’s not." Let Vola’s orange faucet lead the way for a monochromatic moment, or replace the kitchen door with a beaded curtain. Why not?

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Domesticated Disco

Anyone can hang a mirror ball in a sunny corner of their home and fancy themselves a Bee Gee, but there was more to the louche sleaziness of the ’70s—think Super Fly, key parties, and quaaludes, and you’ll get the idea. "What I think is so interesting about the seventies is that it’s a little bit transgressive with taste," says Jerry Gomez, whose Instagram account @objet_la_ny highlights luxurious dream interiors. "Good taste needs a little bit of bad taste to push the envelope a little bit." And if you really want to get nasty with it, turn your attention to the restroom. "Do a big mirror, and buy a cool kind of seventies pendant light that gives you that little bit of cocaine bathroom without being totally overboard," Gomez says. Take a similar approach in the kitchen, says Pardue: "Chrome finishes, whether on a dishwasher or silver appliance, kind of pull in that disco vibe." And lean into an open concept moment, but make it sexy. "Picture a seamless flow from a quartz-topped kitchen island into a cozy, sunken lounge outfitted with plush, jewel-toned sectional seating and shag rugs," adds Pardue. For a touch of glam in the kitchen, try Louis Poulsen’s iconic Panthella table lamp in a shiny chrome finish, or tile your shower with Porcelanosa’s dramatic glass mosaic.

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A Little Excess

If you’re looking to relive the ’80s, forget about the squiggly wiggles of Memphis Milano and make way for the untrammeled opulence and excess of the decade of decadence. "I think the eighties had such a defining strong design aesthetic and point of view," says designer Sasha Bikoff. "It was completely fabulous because it was so expensive and so over-the-top." To bring some of the era’s glitz into a more contemporary space, pick just one or two elements and use them strategically. "You may want to design a super-minimal and clean kitchen—but your faucets, you may want to have them be swans," Bikoff says. Fisher and Paykel’s Classic induction range, in shiny black and chrome, looks slick and of the era without feeling dated. For a bathroom fit for Alexis Carrington, let the spirit of the decade move you in a softer direction. "Use a freestanding tub in a fun, saturated hue," Pardue says. Picture Hydro Systems’ Millennium bathtub in a fetching violet, kitted out with a Falcon Crest–adjacent faucet you found in an eBay wormhole—flashy in the best way.

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My So-Called House

The Tuscan Revival aesthetic is recognizable: warm wood cabinets, faux stucco walls, and at least one ceramic rooster. It was all over kitchens in the ’90s, and if you’re wondering why anyone would want to bring it back, Janine DeMichele Baggett, a content creator whose videos celebrate kitchens of the time, has some ideas. Now, "everything’s so sterile, and I think people really are sort of yearning for some whimsy and charm and coziness factor," she says. To channel the cozy side of the ’90s, she advises looking for warmth: "Anything that gives a golden, plush richness—that’s sort of the color palette." Poelk of @soft_servings agrees. "There were so many oak cabinets in kitchens," she says. And while that honey blonde wood is the sort of thing people tear out of a space now, there are ways to bring the feel of the Tuscan Revival into your home without it seeming like an Olive Garden. "An easy way to mimic the style of a nineties kitchen is to go full out on one material," says Poelk. "That could be doing everything in solid oak, with details such as raised panel doors, and pairing it with a shiny granite countertop." If the timeworn feel of an agriturismo’s kitchen floor is pinned to your vision board, In Common With’s Mesa tiles fit the bill. Bring that look into the bathroom with Kohler’s ornate and vaguely European bronze sink.

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Products curated by Adrian Madlener

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Top photo courtesy of Marset

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