The Granmillennial Guide to Granny Chic Decor

If you're tired of the minimalist trend that has been the rage for the last few years and are looking for something different, the grandmillenial style might be your answer. Dubbed "granny chic," this style combines vintage charm and contemporary sophistication. From quaint doilies to antique furnishings, granny chic decor brings a warm and inviting ambiance to any space.

Add a bit of nostalgia and personality to your home with vintage pieces and family heirlooms, including monogrammed linens, scalloped pillows and ruffled trims. Before you head to rummage through your grandma's attic, here are some tips for incorporating these pieces into your home without making it look dated.

Granny chic elements of grandmillenial style

The grandmillenial decor elements incorporate the old and the new. As with any trend, you can go all-out granny chic or simply add playful touches to your existing decor with these key elements.

All over patterns

The grandmillenial trend is all about patterns. Think back to your grandparents' house, your favorite old-time TV show, or anything else that reminds you of a time gone by, and patterns will certainly jump out at you. There are patterns everywhere, from floral fabrics, fauna wallpaper and stripes to geometric shapes.

One of the most popular ways to add patterns to your room is with wallpaper. Whimsical designs and floral patterns are the perfect choices to successfully implement a pattern on your walls and pull off this trend, whether a whole room or an accent wall.

Don't worry, wallpaper has made a massive comeback in recent years with trendy new designs and finishes so that you can find the right fit for your grandmillenial project. While the look and feel might be retro, this isn't your grandma's wallpaper.

Patterns don't just have to go on the walls. You can implement them throughout your home and add a touch of grandmillenial to your interior through other decor choices. Upholster your headboard in your bedroom with patterned fabric, and add floral lampshades to your side table lamps. Live your best granny chic style with a floral couch, armchairs or patterned pillows.

Add textures

Grandmillenial employs a lot of textures. They can add great visual and literal depth to an interior so that the decor does not fall flat and boring. With grandmillenial, adding texture to your home is quite easy as many of the pieces and decor elements that go into this look include textured items.

For the living room, think of ruffled curtains and fringed lampshades, chunky knits, and wicker baskets. For the bedroom, scalloped pillows and, again, ruffles. Great combinations like white linen sheets with red or green embroidered edges really bring out the grandmillenial vibe and, when paired with other aspects of this trend, such as floral wallpaper, seriously tickles the senses.

While it may not be for everyone, employing decor and texture like this does add an interesting facet to your home. So, if you look at your granny-inspired room and you feel like you can really feel it, then you have successfully executed this trend.

Use illustrations and art

This granny style focuses on more than wallpaper and soft furnishings. To successfully pull off the grandmillenial vibe, you must factor in the artwork. You can splurge on high-end artwork or look for items in your grandparents' attic or basement to stay on-brand. You can also check out your local thrift stores and vintage shops for unique finds.

Many of us have been in old-style restaurants and bars, a grandparent's house, or the house of an elderly friend and seen the artwork on the wall. Most of the time, these art pieces are usually the same - think of still life paintings, simple watercolors, and flowery art - all of which can be easily found and/or replicated and hung in your very own grandmillenial home.

You can hang a featured painting above your fireplace - adding some serious granny points - or you can collect a variety of on-trend artwork and hang them on your wall. You never know, you might come across an antique or stumble upon a famous painting worth a fortune. Throw in some floral print vases and a few trinkets, and you got yourself grandmillenial vibes.

Create the right mood with lighting

With any design trend - and interior design in general - lighting is essential. In the grandmillenial style, it's no different. As we've said, you can add certain lighting pieces to your home, such as a fringed lamp to pile on the grandmillenial vibes, however, this can be done in other ways, too.

Depending on your budget, chandeliers and candelabras will also look fantastic in any interior trying to pull off this trend. For a more affordable option, go for candles, especially if you can get them to match the rest of the decor. This will serve for function and looks.

Once you have selected your lighting, you need to ensure that the ambiance and atmosphere this lighting creates are on theme with this trend. Fireplaces give off a soft light that exudes comfort and family - perfect for granny chic decor. You need to ensure that these (specifically the bulbs you choose) give off an essence of vintage charm, meaning it's best to go for soft lighting. Candles are also a great option for creating soft and comforting light, which works incredibly well with providing granny chic vibes.

Layer on the nostalgia

When creating a grandmillenial vibe in your home, it's important not to forget about nostalgia. Pictures work great with this, and having personal family and friend pictures spread around your home and hung on walls is a very granny thing to do.

Recreating spaces that bring on fond memories, like reading in a special nook as a child, is a great way to channel nostalgia. Add certain books or other meaningful items that bring up old memories.

Sometimes even smells themselves can evoke a feeling of nostalgia. A scent can send you back to a certain event or memory. Why not take advantage of that? If a particular scent of food, flowers or anything else provides you with that sense of nostalgia, then use them to create your grandmillenial vibe.

Tips for creating a successful grandmillenial style

One of the most important things to keep in mind about grandmillenial is the "Millennial" part. This trend is not about overhauling your home and transporting it entirely back to the 1950s, it is about incorporating the old with the new and having them exist in harmony to create a new interior, not one that has come before.

While some of the key themes of the grandmillenial style are very striking (looking at you, all-over floral wallpaper), the important thing is to make sure it is not overwhelming or dated. When adding something granny chic to your home, try to balance it with something modern, so if you do opt for floral wallpaper, why not go for a modern sofa? Alternatively, if you go for a floral sofa, opt for neutral walls.

Bringing the old and the new is about balance. While you may love all aspects of this trend, it's important to make sure that your finished room doesn’t turn into a storage of your family’s old stuff or a set of an old movie.

Summary

As the years go by, we see design trends, beautiful decor, and incredible ideas come and go, and one of the reasons why we love interior design is that things have a way of coming back into style. That is one of the reasons grandmillenial is so amazing because it allows us to repurpose the beauty of the past and bring it into the present for a new era of appreciation.

In the year to come, we can see retro styles coming back into play, and grandmillenial is definitely incorporating this rekindled love for the past. We hope this article has inspired you to go hunting for incredible pieces of decor and decorating ideas that some thought may have been lost. Start thinking of ways you can channel grandmillenial into your home and interior and have fun with it.