For those who enjoy design books about vintage style, a slick new title has just arrived: Patina Style by Brooke and Steve Giannetti. She is an interior designer and the creator of a popular blog called Velvet and Linen. He is an architect, artist and furniture designer.

The authors love patinaed finishes that result from weathering and years of use; they celebrate the beauty of the old and imperfect. The design aesthetic features vintage and antique furnishings and natural materials that age with grace.

A calm palette of warm neutrals - creams, gray-greens, and blues - provide a soothing background. Velvet fabrics and worn rugs with mellowed hues add texture and softness to the mix.

Think wabi-sabi design with a luxurious edge.

Most of the photos come from their homes or projects. The text is peppered with phrases like, “At our house in Santa Monica...” “At our beach house...” “Our house in Oxnard...”

My favourite photos feature a room that displays Steve’s water paintings. In this comfortable space, the art work is accentuated by the aqua velvet of cushions and sea-green glass of insulator caps.

The Gianettis exhibit considerable flair with collections and offer advice about displaying them. For example:

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  Amethyst bottles and old-fashioned top hats stand atop vintage metal cabinet drawers.
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  Pocket watches and clock faces combine with bound leather books.
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  Vintage globes are surrounded by architectural remnants and carved wood blocks.

Patina style goes into the garden as well with weathered furniture and plants that have soft pastel flowers and grey-green foliage. Very pretty.

It's eye-candy design at its best.

Vintage style is a design idea that continues to evolve. A few years back, it was applied mostly to interiors with furniture and objects from the 1940s to 1970s used in a funky contemporary fashion. It required exuberant youthful application to pull it off; otherwise, a room simply appeared to be stuck in a time warp.

Today, vintage style embraces modern interiors where the charm and comfort of older furnishings are thoroughly integrated. I’m thinking that it’s this year’s label for eclectic decorating. Have a look at these two new books to see what I mean. To find other books on the topic in our catalogue, use a simple keyword search “vintage interior decoration”.

In The Vintage Modern Home, “vintage” embraces older furnishings from flea market finds to proper antiques. “Vintage/Modern way of life is all about thoughtfulness and patience,” says author Katherine Sorrell. She begins the book with lessons in assessing what you have and applying the basics of colour, pattern, texture and scale to make things work together.

The book includes sections on modern classics, retro furnishings and antiques. Rooms are chic, lively and liveable. A great source for getting it all together.

Modern Vintage Style by Emily Chalmers is another fun read. Her vintage style has a funkier, more Bohemian edge to it. In the section on collections and display, homeowners let their inner “hoarder run riot” with zany toys, kitsch and hip art.

If you enjoy this one, check out the other titles by Chalmers, like last year’s Cheap chic: affordable ideas for a relaxed home.

According to the free dictionary online, “vintage” means “characterized by excellence, maturity, and enduring appeal; classic”. And that is the apt description of mid-century modern furniture. Come back Monday to read a guest blog by an enthusiast.

“For me, a wall is a beautiful blank canvas. A great big opportunity. I can’t wait to get ‘painting’…Cold minimalism has its place, but not at my place,” says Geraldine James.

In Creative Walls: How to Display and Enjoy Your Treasured Collections, she demonstrates that decorative objects are a boundless universe. And in the hands of a creative thinker, the most curious things can be used to create attractive displays.

On a wall with distressed patina of soft, earthy hues, a stuffed baby crocodile appears to scramble next to a gilt-framed portrait. Animal skulls and horns are arranged on nearby furniture. Bizarre, yet beautiful and decidedly not your ordinary wall decoration.

Not all is edgy. A subtle mural of oversized female figures is painted in white on taupe background for a restful, airy space.

Impressive collages are made from family photos, Vogue magazine covers and road-trip mementos. Art work mixes with PEZ candy dispenser and Andy Warhol cut-out. A posy of teddy bear glass eyes hangs from a hook in a wall composition that includes feathers, bead necklaces and a rusted whistle (among other things).

The goal is a happy marriage of interesting collections with artful arrangement and the very effective approach is the integration of everything on the wall, including the furniture.

Speaking of interesting collections, In Flagrante Collecto (caught in the act of collecting) is the witty title of a book about building collections from just about anything. “From Marilynn Gelfman Karp’s perspective, collecting is a calling, not a choice,” reads the book jacket. Karp says, “Collecting is not about what you collect as much as it is about who you are.”

It has me wondering what my collections say about me? How about artsy person with OCD?

(I am still coming to terms with you-are-what-you-eat.)

*(Hello,hello) Classic hurtin’ song written by Willie Nelson in 1961. Now that I've planted the earworm, find a version to strum in our Sheet Music Index.