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Waxing nostalgic on a sense of home often conjures aromas of grandma’s chocolate chip cookies, the taste of her homemade meals or visions of the china upon which she served holiday feasts. But you don’t usually think: Hmmm, I wonder how I can make my home more grandmotherly?
Yet, as it turns out, granny chic is an interior design movement. It combines the coziness of grandma’s crocheted blankets, patterned florals and vintage items with a more modern aesthetic.
The trend began forming during the pandemic, when people sheltered in their homes, desperate for a sense of calm, peace and coziness. Like many interior design trends, it seems to have developed initially with fashion as millennials searched through their mothers’ and grandmothers’ closets, selecting vintage clothing and accessories, from crocheted sweaters to eyeglass chains.
“Granny chic is a big thing right now, and I think it’s going to be a thing for a while,” said Kelly Newman, owner of 714 HOME in Edwards. “It’s growing in popularity, especially for the folks in their 20s and 30s because retro fashion is so in, and interior design tends to mimic fashion.”
“It’s growing in popularity, especially for the folks in their 20s and 30s because retro fashion is so in, and interior design tends to mimic fashion.” Kelly Newman, owner of 714 HOME
Currently, pearls have come back into style so furiously that she can hardly keep them in stock. When the world reopened after the pandemic, she had trouble keeping up with the demand for frames because customers placed a new emphasis on displaying photographs of friends and family.
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Coming out of the pandemic, people developed a new appreciation for handmade items, partially because of delays when ordering items but also because they yearned for connection — specifically the humanity and uniqueness that hand-crafted items foster.
“People like handmade, original pieces rather than ordering something,” said Kasia Karska, owner of Kasia Karska Design in Eagle.
“In our area, the idea of something that was made for you is very appealing for some homeowners — the idea that they’re supporting an artist, especially if the artist lives here,” said Yvonne Jacobs, owner of Jacobs + Interiors in Edwards. “Especially in second homes, it gives homeowners a connection with place.”
And, nothing embraces handmade and special items like granny chic, otherwise known as the grandmillennial lifestyle, which incorporates style, home décor and hobbies in an effort to slow down, become more mindful and feel greater connection. It seamlessly fuses nostalgic and modern décor and includes a more traditional style, with embellished, and even ornate, details — particularly those with personal ties.
“There’s always this kind of craving to bring something from the past into the home — something that reminds people of comfort — to have meaningful things around, rather than just things from a store,” Jacobs said. “It just brings back a smile to your face — that that was Aunt So-and-So’s or Grandma’s.”
Kristin Censullo, an interior designer at Jacobs + Interiors, has always showcased some of her grandmothers’ pieces, which she pairs with, for instance, a modern leather sofa in her home.
“I was out of style for a while because I had antique furniture,” she said, “but for me, I like what I like.”
She creates a cohesive aesthetic of granny chic and contemporary by keeping warm and cool tones similar and tying things together with color. She also ensures textures — like leather, rustic wood and boucle — flow.
Newman suggests bringing in contemporary art or pillows to add color to the grandmilliennial style. For instance, you might hang contemporary artwork over a vintage pine dresser. Jacobs helped a client build a room around a vintage Louis Vuitton coffee table, which the client had since she first got married, by tying in the brownish color scheme, selecting higher chairs to match the taller coffee table and choosing complementary fabrics, rugs and furnishings.
Accessories play an essential part in granny chic. Items like antique candlesticks, black-and-white photos, vases, knickknacks and even classic crown molding and corbels contribute to the style.
“They make you think, ‘oh, there’s a human who lives here’ and that they’re attached to (others),” Jacobs said. “Comfort is a huge deal here, because people want to feel comfort and at least have a room that is super cozy. Fabrics and textural things, like soft, faux furs, are very hot.”
As Censullo points out, granny chic “adds warmth and character to a room, usually because antiques have a story, as opposed to something you buy off a showroom floor.”
“Getting back to antiques makes us comfortable because it feels like when you went to grandma’s and it felt like home,” Newman said. “Antiques make you feel warmer because it brings back memories — especially with all the things going on in the world today.”
But she and Jacobs recommend that homeowners choose special places — and ways — to integrate antiques and homemade items.
“With granny chic, you don’t have to go all the way. You can just do a few vintage pieces,” Newman said. “You don’t want all antiques. Otherwise, it looks too much like grandma’s house.”
Still, grandmillennial design is the opposite of the sleek gray, greige and white trend. Pantone introduced its color of the year in the form of peach fuzz, a tone between pink and orange, which conveys kindness, compassion, connection and coziness — all the stuff grandmas are made of.
Granny chic embraces plenty of color, like yellow kitchens and pastel rooms or accessories. Patterns, from plaids to florals and chintz (florals with a polished sheen), are also huge. Even wallpaper is making a comeback; a simple search for “granny chic wallpaper” produces pastels and earth-tone wallpapers characterized by patterns and florals, albeit in lighter shades, like blues and greens, as opposed to heavy forest greens, maroons or other bold colors.
Since a plethora of floral patterns — be it on wallpaper, china, knickknacks, art and more — characterize the granny chic movement, fresh flowers are a simple way to bring a breath of fresh air into the look and feel, Newman said.
While younger generations didn’t show much interest in vintage china before the pandemic, even that’s changing. Stephanie Stokes, author of “The World at Your Table: Inspiring Tabletop Designs,” believes that the pandemic gave them a greater appreciation for “the charms of china,” as she terms it.
If homeowners don’t set the table with china, Newman sees them repurposing it by designing a wall installment with the plates or using teapots or coffeepots as vases. Displaying trays with accessories is also popular.
“Whereas before, surfaces were cleaner, people are putting things more on surfaces,” Censullo said.
Younger generations have also taken a new interest in old pastimes like cross-stitching, crocheting, board games and home cooking, Newman notes. Retro cocktails served in ornately cut glasses, crocheted wall hangings and cross-stitching and spending quality time with friends and family cooking and playing games contribute to a sense of comfort.
While minimalism is still popular, people are seeing how some “minimalistic” items, like cheaper furniture, just aren’t as sustainable as vintage sofas or furnishings built to last generations.
“People are tired of throw-away furniture, and they’re getting back into antiques and sustainability,” Newman said. “If you get something cheaper, it’s going to break. There’s an understanding that they want to be more environmentally friendly and that these antiques really shouldn’t end up in the landfill. They’re just made so much better.”
Even if a piece of furniture isn’t a true antique, people are updating older and sturdier dressers and tables with a fresh coat of paint and new hardware.
Overall, granny chic mixes thrifted, collected and passed-down items with florals in a modern approach designed to bring that extra sense of coziness and warm-heartedness into homes.
“It’s more personalized than anything,” Censullo said. “That’s the important aspect of it.”