What is retro style, really? At Homes & Gardens, we hear the misconceptions daily – is ‘retro’ just shorthand for dated? A design death sentence of lava-rock fireplaces and curling linoleum? And how does it actually differ from vintage or antique?
As with any interior design style, the line is fine. Done right, it’s good – think a glass-walled 1950s Hollywood Hills home. Done wrong, it’s a dimly lit bathroom with moss-green carpet and an unsettling smell. Take, for instance, glass brick tiles. In the wrong setting, they’re relics best left in the past. In the right hands, they’re the height of now – NYC hotspot Bridges, designed by Billy Cotton, uses them to carve out glowing, chrome-trimmed partitions that read nostalgic, but also manage to mirror the current downtown scene.
