These Are the Differences Between Vintage, Antique and Retro Home Decor (2024)

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These Are the Differences Between Vintage, Antique and Retro Home Decor? ›

According to BobVila.com (good old Bob Vila), the correct definition of antique is any item over 100 years old. Vintage in its simplest meaning is “of age,” but usually a vintage item is over 20 years old, but less than 99 years old. Retro means a newly made item that mimics a design of an earlier era.

Learning The Difference: Retro, Vintage, Antique, and Antiquity Explained. There are different types of items of the past. Antiquities are the oldest in recorded history and retro to the most recent decades. Vintage and antique are somewhere in between.

Retro is a style that intentionally imitates trends, modes, and fashions from the recent past, typically the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Unlike vintage, retro items are not necessarily old but are made to replicate the style of a certain period. Retro decor is often bold, colorful, and eclectic, with a playful nod to the past.

There is often quite a bit of overlap between vintage items and retro items. Queen considers retro to be "anything 20 years old, but not yet 40 years old." Eilers has a somewhat looser definition: "I think that anytime something reminds you of your past, it can be considered retro."

Like many “retro” items, “vintage” items are often either mid-century modern (in style if not in fact) or related to bygone pop culture, junk food, or fashion trends. Retro. Something that is basically outdated and out of style.

What is the difference between vintage and antique? The majority of experts have agreed that items over 50 years old but less than 100 years old can be called vintage or collectable, but not antique.

Typically, the term retro is given to items which are at least 20 years old (but not yet 40 years old). Again using today's posting date, retro items would be those made between 1979 and 1998.

Drawing from the fashions of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s retro decor style is reminiscent of the recent past, so there isn't a long history to speak of. That said, retro decor is unmistakably inspired by the mid-century modern decor of the 1950s and the boho home decor style of the 1970s.

A vintage look is related to old or antique items. Bringing home the heritage of any given era is an art in itself. A lot of folks think vintage and rustic are the same, but it is not. The vintage look is something that takes your house to any given space back in the time or a used item that has some history.

Vintage generally refers to an item of high-quality materials and/or craftmanship, that is characteristic of a specific time period or artist, and is between 20 and 100 years old. Lastly, antique refers to an item of the previous era or at least 100 years old.

Is 40 years old vintage or antique? ›

Vintage items are much younger than antiques. These pieces are typically defined as being at least 20 years old but less than 100 years old. The term "true vintage" is a sub-category for items that are at least 50 years old.

A few experts say that anything between the ages of twenty to ninety-nine makes a piece vintage or anything between the years 1900s to the end of the 1960s.

Classic cars are at least 20 years old but not older than 45 years, while vintage cars are 25 years or older. Antique cars are even older, at least 45 years old.

Vintage = 20 years or older, Antique = 100 years or older. Retro = an often misused term and short for retrospect, (as in looking back in retrospect) just means something new inspired by the style of something old.

The term vintage technically just means “old,” and vintage items commonly refer to any item that was created in the last 100 years. Typically, items marketed as “vintage” date to the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s.

Vintage differs from retro because of age, or the lack thereof. Vintage items are at least 20 years old and bring back a feeling of nostalgia, highlighting good times of the past. Retro items are newer items that evoke styles of times past but do not actually come from a different time era.

While there's no official expert consensus for an item to be considered vintage, many agree an item should be between twenty to ninety-nine years old. An item regarded as retro is made recently but designed or in the style of items from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and very early 2000s.

What is the difference between vintage and antique? Simply put, an antique is any item — whether it be a work of art, jewelry, carpets or everyday objects like housewares and accessories — that is over 100 years old. Vintage items are much younger, less than 100 years old, and typically have a collector's appeal.

What Is Vintage? Vintage items are much younger than antiques. These pieces are typically defined as being at least 20 years old but less than 100 years old. The term "true vintage" is a sub-category for items that are at least 50 years old.