70s-style decor: how to adopt it with a vase, without redoing the room

To give a room a 70s feel, all you need is one strong piece: an object in warm colours and round shapes, placed in a calm decor. A vase does this job very well. No need to paint the walls orange.

Here is what makes this style, and how to take just what you need.

What makes the 70s style

Four things come up again and again in the descriptions from paint makers and furniture fairs.

• Warm colours. Burnt orange and dark brown are the colours of 1970s interiors, along with yellow and greens. The orange, yellow and brown trio is the most common.
• Round shapes. This is the era of soft geometric shapes and rounded edges, on furniture as on walls: arches, circles, curved lines.
• Materials. On one side rattan, wicker, wood and macramé. On the other, moulded plastics, new at the time, which allow every shape and every colour.
• Green plants. Plenty of houseplants, to bring nature into the home.

On top of that came a taste for mixing: styles were combined with no strict rule.

Today's version: softer

The style is coming back, but softened. The paint maker Tikkurila describes it like this: today's tones are a little more natural. Terracotta replaces bright orange, the greens are more muted, and the whole thing goes well with a light, simple interior.

Remember the rule: a calm decor, and one or two bold touches. That is what separates a nod to the era from a costume.

The vase, the simplest way

A vase can be put down and taken away. It needs no building work and no furniture budget. And it carries the two most readable signs of the style: colour and shape.

Our face vases are the ones that carry this spirit. They are busts of women, 24 to 30 cm tall, with sunglasses, headbands, bows and bold colours. They are new: they are not period pieces, and we do not sell them as such. It is a retro, pop spirit.

Planted with three succulents, they bring two ideas of the style together in one object: the round shape and the green plant.

For plant care, read our guide to planting succulents in a face vase.

Three ways to add the 70s touch

1. 1

   One face on a console table

   A single face vase, on a clear piece of furniture, near a window. Nothing else on the furniture, or almost nothing: a stack of two books, a small lamp. The vase sets the decor.

2. 2

   Plain colours that answer each other

   If the face vase is too expressive for you, take the colour alone. Three plain vases, one pink, one yellow and one green, placed together, give this cheerfulness without any pattern. Our coloured porcelain is not a 1970s object: it only takes up the taste for bold colours.

3. 3

   Natural materials around it

   Put the vase on wood, near a wicker basket or a macramé hanger. Add one or two green plants. Natural materials calm bright colours.

The mistakes that look like a costume

• Taking everything at once: patterned wallpaper, a shaggy rug, orange everywhere. A whole era in one room soon becomes tiring.
• Lining up several face vases. Each one draws the eye: together, they get in each other's way. Only one per piece of furniture.
• Forgetting empty space. A strong piece needs room around it.

In the vase: dry or living

• Live succulents, in their grow pot, for a face vase.
• Dried flowers: their tones of straw, rust and beige go very well with warm colours. Our guide to dried flowers in a vase explains how to keep them.
• Nothing: a vase in a plain colour is enough on its own.

To choose the right size for your furniture, see which design vase to choose. All the models are on the design vases page. For the rest of the room, see the 70s-style living room.

Sources

• In the spotlight: be inspired by the colours and shapes of the 1970s, Tikkurila
• 70er-Design, imm cologne trade fair magazine
• Vase manufacturer's technical data sheets (dimensions, materials)