The 60’s was a decade filled with unique ideas that had a lasting appeal. These were the trends that started the splashy ideas of the 70’s, even though clean lines and strong colors were how it all started.

If you’re looking for decorating trends from the 60’s, you’re in the right place. Even if you’re not thinking about this specific decade, its fresh yet artistic effect is sure to inspire your décor in many ways. Below are some of the more inspiring touches we’ve inherited from the 60’s today. These would give a touch of nostalgia as well as a fun, practical style to your living spaces. Take a look at the vintage ideas below so you can start implementing them with your own personal touch:

1. Set Up a Cozy Nook

The 1960’s had several interesting home décor trends, but the cozy nook one would be a huge favorite with people today. You can have your very own nest to take a load off at the end of the day. You can search antique chairs for sale at LoveAntiques.com, get a 60’s-inspired rocking chair, place it under a lamp with a bowed stem, and have some bright colors surround you with a small rug underneath. This would create a cheerful yet relaxing place for your morning tea, afternoon reading, or just leaning back any time of the day.

This nook could be situated in any place, but it’s best if you use the corners. Don’t ignore these empty spaces when you’re doing a 60’s theme in your place. Every little bit counts.

2. The Raw Look

The 60’s trends had a lot of power colors included, but a simplified sense of style is also relatable to that decade. In order to achieve this effect, you can choose couches with a small build and simple frames, pairing them off with vintage Salvation Army tables.

You may also choose to place a Mad Men-style dining table in a serious study. This would turn the whole room into a dining room, game room, or a library of sorts. Whichever the case, using simple lines and pairing them with a bit of vintage style could never go wrong.

3. Wired Furniture

You can focus on extending the retro look of your décor to your porch as well. This would create an impressive front for the entrance of your home. As an added bonus, you can also create an utterly comfortable and attractive relaxing place of your own.

Wired furniture I the best way to start setting up a 60’s-inspired look in your front or back porch. You can but a whole set of wired porch chairs, a table, and a settee. Alternatively, you may try picking up likely pieces from garage sales or flea markets.

The wired look of porch furniture would give you a throwback to the casual vintage look of the 60’s without compromising on comfort. Add some vividly hued cushions and rugs so that everyone can gather there comfortably if they so wish. The wired design is not just nice to look at but also makes for some lightweight pieces. This way, you can easily move the furniture around according to your needs.

4. The Mod Look

The 60’s decorating trends were identified by design elements like daisies, owls, mushroom, rooster, and Siamese cats (or any kind of cat, for that matter). Metallic touches like copper were also in vogue and have been making a comeback as we speak.

Additionally, the walls of a 60’s home were likely to be decorated by some sort of pop art in at least one corner. This sort of art could be inspired by comics, pop cultures, or just some powerful colors for a strong overall tone. You can easily pick up a copy of “Campbell’s Soup” by Andy Warhol or something similar and hang it up in the open kitchen for a similar effect.

In a nutshell, go for modern art pieces that have right colors, geometric shapes, psychedelic prints, and even op art. This would successfully achieve the ‘mod’ look that everyone trendy in the 60’s was catching on to. Posters are absolutely acceptable, while fiber optic lighting and lava lamps would serve to create the retro effect at all times.

If you want to change up the modern look a bit, you can add some hippie flair with muted shades along with ethnic patterns. Add some beads and fringes to your cushions or upholstery to achieve this look in moderation.

5. Furniture Styles

If you have the budget for picking out some new furniture, consider a retro 60’s look. You can achieve this in many ways without going through a lot of hassle. There’s no need to go through vintage sites or see if anyone is selling their furniture from that era.

You can simply purchase flat-pack furniture with a classy look or invest in pod chairs, S-Shaped chairs, or any pieces made of space-age materials. PVC, metal, wood, and glass are all symbolic of furniture in the 60’s. Get some pieces made entirely out of one material or a combination of several. This furniture doesn’t even have to be expensive since it’s made using modern molded plastic techniques and formed into their space age/organic shapes. They may even be of the disposable or temporary kind.

6. Pair Up Styles

If you don’t want to make too much of an effort to take you home back to the 60’s, there are several easy options to go for. One example could be found in mixing up two styles in one room. You can stay with your modern lighting fixtures and even large pieces of furniture but change some small pieces around for that vintage effect.

For instance, you may make use of those modern bookshelves to create room dividers instead of leaving them up against the wall. You can also pair a rustic dining table with chairs that give a ‘mod’ look, like the Panton chair. These would not just look trendy, but also be practical since they’re light and easily portable. If there are kids in the house or you often have company, this choice could let you have the best of both worlds.

7. Jazzing Up Small Rooms

You would usually have simplistic rooms with some pops of vivid colors in a 60’s living room, but the bathrooms and kitchens are another story. This is where you can really experiment and bring that retro vibe into the whole experience of living in that space.

Many people who were inspired by the 60’s have seen fit to paint or tile their bathrooms in adventurous designs of psychedelic orange, yellow, and several other bright shades. Choose several shades of the same basic color and use neutral-colored fixtures to make everything really stand out.

The same goes for the kitchen. Try an inexpensive way of transforming the heart of the house into a 60’s area by simply changing the wallpaper.  The modern fixtures and furnishings would look all the more trendy by having loud, large-printed wallpaper as a backdrop.

8. Having Easy Floors

As popular as linoleum might have been at one point, there’s no doubt that it’s quite hard to clean and maintain. By the 60’s, vinyl flooring was on its way in. These are thin, wood-like strips that are relatively much less expensive to get installed than regular wooden flooring. They’re also easier to maintain since they require no waxing on the regular.

Once you have your vinyl floors, you can make them even more retro by laying down textured, brightly colored rugs. If you’ve had enough with the solid colors, there are several ethnic patterns from places like India, Morocco, Turkey, and Afghanistan to choose from. If you can get your hands on a shag rug or two, that’s even more relevant to the 60’s.

9. Colors and Fabrics

The colors and fabrics you use in your house are probably the easiest way to change up your theme. This would you get into the 60’s theme as soon as possible. Start off with the fabrics, which should preferably be as colorful as possible. Go for psychedelic prints, tie-dyes, and large floral fabrics. Neon shades would also add an instant splash of color that would be hard to overlook.

The colors of the 60 have mostly come from nature or some sort of space theme. These would include gold, yellow, orange, green, and copper. Play off colors like hot pink and bright orange next to each other. Keep an eye out for metallic wallpapers along with contrasts like black and white. The more striking the effect, the more likely it is to get a reaction and be a true 60’s trend.

10. The Overall Effect

When you’re decorating your house with the 60’s as inspiration, keep in mind that this was an age where changes bloomed everywhere. The technological world was making leaps in progress, with the space race between America and Russia going one. The Cold War, jet airplanes, Sputnik, and other modern inventions were on track to influence everyone’s lives in the modern world.

In addition to this American culture was focused on the rebellion of the young generation. The battle against traditions and conventions was seen in clothing, music, and even how one decorated their home. While the old practicality was ideally maintained, everything had to become more and more colorful, dynamic, and vivid.

The factor of shiny, metallic, and mirrored aspects in 60’s décor is due to the advent of discos. This trend was spreading all around America in that time. To add even more variety, Indian and Moroccan culture influenced America’s hippie culture to boot.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to be said for getting your home to achieve the look of the 60’s. This trend may not be for everyone, but there’s no denying that it has its charms. While it may be too loud for some, there are several styles that are sure to please many proud homeowners and decorators.

Let the 60’s decoration be a symbol of your self-expression. You can take elements from that time, but make sure everything is according to your needs and not just because it looks similar to stuff in the 60’s. As mentioned above, there are several trendy elements to choose from, so there shouldn’t be an issue with finding something for everyone.