5 IDEAS: 5 Ways to Give Your Garden a Vintage Charm

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Mar 9

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The beginning of spring is right around the corner and as one of the leading interior designers in Los Angeles, most of our work is concentrated on the inside making spectacular homes for our clients, it is a great time to start heading back out to the garden. There is a full growing season ahead, and it’s time to start freshening up and adding a few new, or vintage additions to the garden.

I love adding older vintage pieces to our designs, even the modern style or contemporary homes that we decorate benefit from a few antique or vintage pieces so my garden is no different. Here are some things that you might consider for your garden.

1. Urns and Pots

A vintage urn contains plants draping over it in the middle of a garden space.

Mixing vintage urns and pots in among planted material can really liven up the garden. It certainly will give your planting area a loose cottage feel. I planted this year’s vegetable garden in pots and it’s doing remarkably well. One of my favorite makers is Gladding McBean, a California style touchstone. They have been creating classic urns and planters for over 100 years.

2. Architectural Salvage

A trellis made out of an old screendoor leans against the side of a house next to a vintage pitchfork. Greenery is growing up the trellis.

As you scour yard sales and flea markets this summer, keep your eye out for architectural salvage. It might be an old section of tile floor, a part of a broken stone fountain, or even a bit of old terracotta building facade. Placing these among your drifts of wildflowers will give a garden a great sense of age. When we are looking for salvage items for our clients, favorite haunts are the local swap meets, which by the way are great things to seek out when you are travelling. I once bought a collection of antique brass faucets when I was in Rome at a swap meet, and they now adorn a variety of gardens of our clients from Malibu to Beverly Hills.

3. Gnomes

An antique garden gnome holding yellow flowers sits on a stone next to a potted plant in a garden.

Now many of you are probably rolling your eyes, but finding vintage gnomes can be a great pursuit. I actually have a friend who travels the world collecting them, and a bit of whimsy in the garden is always a good thing. People are often surprised that a celebrity Interior designer has an eye for the absurd like this, I think a little eclectic style can really elevate a design.

4. Vintage Store Advertising

A garden shed with vine growing around is decorated with old advertising signage–a Coca Cola sign and license plates.

Using old advertising is a great way to disguise a wall of your home that’s not particularly pleasing from the outside. I like to place them and then trail vines all around so that they are seen within a green leafy backdrop. If you are really lucky you will come across old carnival banners, these can be amazing even in a luxury outdoor room.

5. Old Gardening Tools

A garden gate made out of old gardening tools.

This could be a lot of things—maybe an old wheelbarrow transformed into a planter, or a collection of antique rakes mounted on a wall. Raid your grandparents’ home—you may be surprised by what you find! Remember too, that often a collection of things will elevate whatever it is. I recall working on a pacific Palisades estate and decorating the wall of a formal living room with vintage garden fooks, the grouping gave it an almost abstract art feeling far beyond the individual pieces deserved.