How to achieve that perfect vintage look for your home

One of the biggest trends, and will always be if you ask me,  in interior design at the moment is the vintage look.  There are various inspirations a person or designer can take from to achieve their vintage look, however, there are no hard and fast rules about which era to recreate.  Getting the right vintage feel for a room requires every aspect of the decor, from the furniture to the floor coverings, to be carefully considered. 
Vintage fabrics
Vintage fabrics can be used in many aspects of the room, from the furniture upholstery to the window dressings.  Many fabrics tend to have a floral pattern but there are many other options and a quick search on the Internet will produce a few useful ideas.  It is important not to overdo it.  If a floral pattern is chosen for the furniture then it will make it look too fussy and cluttered to have a similar fabric for the cushion covers, so opt for plain fabrics here for a nice contrast.  
Color schemes
Neutral is a popular choice for a color scheme with many types of interior design and it will work very well with vintage.  Keeping the wall colors pale is also a good starting point.  Using more than one pale color is an option, and designers have used white alongside shades such as eggshell blue to great effect.
Floral wallpaper is also a good choice for a vintage look.  Be careful though, as in a small room it can seem overwhelming, so this should be limited to one feature wall and the others are best kept plain.  There are a number of wallpaper ranges out now which reproduce genuine patterns from the 1940s and 50s for a real vintage look.   
General vintage decor
Consider hardwood flooring for a truly vintage feel but if carpet is a must then it should be a patterned carpet from a vintage design collection. Consider also the type of furniture to be used in the room.  Genuine period pieces are fairly easy to find at junk shops and antique shops, although some of them may look a little worse for wear.  A junk shop find can be easily transformed with a little hard work.  Upcycling is a very big trend at the moment and if something does not look quite right it can be given a coat of paint or new accessories, such as handles, and within a few hours will soon fit right in with the rest of the room design.  Heading off to the junk shop also has the advantage of getting the right type of furniture for a lower price than might be paid for a reproduction piece.  
Window dressings should not be forgotten in a vintage look room.  If the walls have remained plain and neutral then floral fabric for curtains will work well, but if there is a pattern on the wall then it is better not to overdo it.  Window shutters can add a period feel to a room and they have good insulating qualities too. Information about shutters can be obtained via a quick search on the Internet and it will soon become obvious how easy they are to install.