Vintage Vibes

Nostalgic styles bring back summer memories.

Style & Décor Editor Anya Shor

Summer is so nostalgic. Every smell, sound and taste evokes memories of summers past: freshly cut grass, water lapping against the dock, orange creamsicles. From slow, hazy days swinging away in a hammock in a soft breeze to crispy clear blue skies reflected in the pool water, we all remember days as vividly as if they happened yesterday.

Summer is a profound sensory experience, those memories like imprints on our souls and in our minds. Try to recall the print of your favourite bathing suit, the colour of the vinyl loungers in your parents’ backyard, the soundtrack of the summer you fell in love. It’s all there, isn’t it?

Summer is also a time to let our design dreams run wild. Maybe it’s time to turn that shed into the greenhouse you’ve always wanted, or that old tire into a swing. However large or small the project may be, it all starts with a vision, a desire, a wish.

My big dream project every summer is our old barn. It’s where I unleash my imagination and where my dreams can take many shapes. I envision movie nights projected onto the walls, lingering meals with friends around many tables. The barn is a place to gather, to dance, to make music and art, to feast and to play—late into those warm summer nights.

For my children, the barn will be the keeper of many childhood summer memories. They’ll remember sprawling out on big old sofas, under old-fashioned woolen blankets, watching DVDs (yes those!). They’ll remember the big dinner parties around the picnic table their dad built. They’ll remember the music. They’ll remember the light.

This year especially, I’m feeling nostalgic for a vintage-styled summer. My eyes are yearning for the colours of my childhood—sunny yellows, citrusy orange hues, primary blues. I want to trade in my neutrals for printed terry cloth bath sheets and read magazines in the shade of a fringe-trimmed umbrella.

I imagine candy stripes and rainbows, iridescent glitter and psychedelic prints. I want a playlist of songs with lyrics reminding me that every day is a beautiful day for a daydream, and that all we need is love.

Because isn’t it, really?
Cheers, Anya