Modern home design is experiencing a revolution that’s fusing forward-thinking and nostalgia. It’s blending forgotten elements from the past with advanced elements of the future. Whoever said the past needs to stay in the past was wrong. Bold colors, sleek lines, eccentric furniture, and futuristic elements are experiencing a renaissance in the home, where this futuristic trend marries retro aesthetics with high-tech materials that bring a glimpse into both the future – and the past. By utilizing bold color palettes, daring decoration styles, and uniquely shaped doors and windows, you can take your modern home and turn it into something from the future.
Utilize a Bold Color Palette
To get that space-age future look in your home, you must incorporate a retro-futuristic color palette throughout your room. That includes bold accent walls, funky art, bold bedding, a colorful rug, and other art pieces that blend naturally with your furniture. If you want to go bold, add a piece of art, like a brightly lit Saturn or illuminated moon that screams space-age design.
Use Iconic Retro-Futuristic Furniture Pieces
If you’ve ever seen a Space Age movie, then now is your chance to bring that movie to life. Incorporate pod, velvet, egg, and Tulip chairs into your home. You can also use lava lamps, sand art lamps, LED light strips, and quirky plant vases with geometric designs to give it that iconic retro-futuristic feel.
Display Funky Art
Funky art is integral to retro-futuristic homes, which allows creative expression and echoes the past’s bold spirit and future innovations. You can use large sculptures or animal skulls that date back centuries and display them next to bright, colorful, abstract art. In a retro-futuristic home, art from different eras coexist in harmony.
Showcase Your Personalized Treasures
Our style is one of the only things that sets us apart from the rest. Incorporate your vintage finds and personalized family treasures into your retro-futuristic home. This adds a touch of nostalgia. Imagine your bedroom with a quirky, vibrant lamp next to a mid-century desk, and typewriter passed down from your grandparents. This workspace in the corner of your room transcends time.
Create a Large Living Room Area
You can create a large, open living room plan to truly reel in the futuristic feeling with tons of open space. Bonus points if you build it in the shape of a circle. Bold colors are essential here, as is a quirky centerpiece that ties the space together and acts as a focal point. If you have a living space with high ceilings, this is a great place to start.
Combine Cassette Tapes As Decor With Modern Technology
Just because cassette tapes are no longer used, that doesn’t mean you can’t display them alongside modern technology. One of the best retro-futuristic home designs is to utilize outdated technology to your advantage. Nostalgia can be pretty powerful. This will create a familiar yet surprising combination that evokes emotion when your friends and family enter your home. Add a new twist to already recognizable pieces of technology.
Use Futuristic Shapes and Forms
Bold, futuristic shapes and forms are features of retro-futuristic home ideas. Think of geometric patterns, streamlined furniture, piles of pillows and bean bags, and lines at unique angles. This bold flavor makes your home feel dynamic and gives a sense of progressive movement. You don’t have to stop at furniture, either. You can create unique shapes in your walls, ceilings, and floors, in addition to using abstract art.
Incorporate Different Tones of Bold Colors
Bold, vibrant colors are a prominent feature of retro-futuristic interior design. These colors are incredibly impactful when paired with striking contrasts that complement them. You can use shades of orange or other hues like mustard yellow, cerulean blue, and turquoise. Combining these with black and silver creates an unconventional, lively atmosphere.
Decorate Your Space With Orange
They say orange is the new black! Though using any bold color will achieve the retro-futuristic look, orange is one of the most vibrant colors. Splashes of orange will create a warm ambiance and stimulate your appetite. Utilize orange in your dining room set and kitchen to uplift your space and stimulate the eye.
Don’t Shy Away From Combining Multiple Colors
We know one bold color can get the job done, but what if you experimented with a combination of multiple bold colors? With the retro-futuristic design, you have a ton of leeway for self-expression. Utilize this freedom and incorporate as many colors as your heart desires. You can even opt for a piece of furniture that already has every color.
Add a Funky Chandelier for Ambience
Lighting is essential; no retro-futuristic home is complete without a funky Sputnik chandelier. Hang it above your dining room table or living room to infuse your living space with an eye-catching future vision. You can balance it out with furniture that has sleek lines and futuristic elements.
Incorporate A Blast From the Past
Think Back to the Future when flying cars and jet-powered skateboards were a vision of the future. This is the essence you’ll want to incorporate into your retro-futuristic home. The more you turn your home into a blast from the past, the easier it’ll be to achieve a retro-futuristic look. Don’t be afraid to build quirky-shaped ceilings and incorporate bold wallpaper to your living space.
Add a Circular Bed to Your Bedroom
Even though it might not seem practical, retro-futurism design calls for the impractical. You might’ve seen these circular beds on Star Wars or Blade Runner, and there’s a reason they’ve gained popularity over the years. Try utilizing the iconic visuals from a long time ago. The circular shape is quirky, but at least you don’t have to fight over one side of the bed anymore.
Circles Are Your Best Friend
A circular bed is excellent, but by incorporating circular motifs to blend with your bed, you’ll create a seamless space. You can utilize circles in spaces you usually wouldn’t, including the headboard and matching love seat. And why not add a circular carpet to complete the retro look?
Blend In Modern Technology
Because we’re in the 21st century, it’s important to utilize that timeless look with modern-day appliances. Think voice-activated assistants, automated lights, and smart thermostats blended with 1960’s space age furniture. Functionality is important here, so you can also integrate eco-friendly green material, rain water harvesting systems, and solar panels.
Build Curved Wall Windows
Not only do curved wall windows bring that space age design to life, but they also provide plenty of views of the outdoors and provide plenty of light to your living area. Add futuristic centerpieces to your home for that timeless sensation, by including floating hearths and metallic fireplace hoods.
Play with Patterns and Textures
To create a rich and engaging retro-futuristic space, incorporate abstract designs, geometric shapes and patterns, and other space-themed art to bring the future into the present. You have full creative range when it comes to retro-futuristic design, so don’t be afraid to mix and match different patterns, colors, and textures. You can blend chunky and smooth, metallic and matte, and plush and simple fabrics.
Embrace Vintage Tech
That outdated, vintage technology will add a rustic, futuristic touch to your design. Don’t throw away that old record player, radio, or typewriter. Utilize it in your space for a nostalgic decor that highlights the space between the past and the future. Better yet, place vintage tech right next to modern day appliances to show the evolution of technology throughout the past several decades. The point here is to bring a nostalgic feeling into your home.
Decorate With Beads
Hanging beads throughout your space can create a unique aesthetic that blends funky, futuristic, and timeless elements – all retro-futuristic features. Make sure you use bold, bright, colorful beads of varying lengths. Hang them on your doorways for a fun entry point to a room, or hang them on your wall in the bathroom and kitchen for an added touch.
Add Vintage Tech Where You’d Least Expect It
Utilize the element of surprise by placing vintage technology where you’d least expect it: the bathroom. By blending modern with vintage, you’ll utilize the element of surprise. You can add splashes of teal and turquoise in your bathroom with a 1950s vintage radio set between your modern sinks. Add a mirror and chair to match and tie the room together.
Create an Old Space-Age Kitchen
You have a lot of creative leeway when it comes to your kitchen space, and it’s a wonderful place to experiment with the retro-futuristic design. Glossy cabinets, steel appliances, bold accents in hand towels, quirky cabinet handles, refrigerator magnets, and mugs will all contribute to the space-age feel.
Prioritize Comfort With Funky Furniture
Besides building a circular, futuristic window in your bedroom that leads to a pool, it’s important to prioritize comfort using funky, retro furniture. Promote relaxation by using metallic bedside tables, funky lamps, and a platform bed with an angular headboard. Bold, colorful, vibrant bedding will also contribute to a futuristic feel. Ambient lighting, like lava lamps or dimmed lamps can also create a cozy atmosphere.
Utilize Flush or Pocket Doors
Retro-futuristic loves minimalistic doors with a matte finish. You can get that metallic, shiny, space-age look by incorporating glossy, flush internal doors throughout your home. Doors with funky shapes, or pocket doors that slide into the wall, are great ways to get that futuristic look while also saving space in your home.
Design Pod-Like Rooms
Bring the future to your home by incorporating pod-like rooms. While these are typically found in capsule hotels, you can utilize the space in your home by turning one bedroom into two. You can build a wall in the center of the room to give it that capsule feel, just as you’d get on a spaceship.
Add UFO Wall Art
Nothing screams retro-futuristic more than UFO wall art! You can utilize 1950s art with a modern twist by incorporating art that has both. Mix and match different wall art throughout your home to really nail the design on the head. You have full creative leverage to go as quirky and outlandish as you’d like.
Liven Up Your Space With Greenery
Add life to your retro space by incorporating plants. Better yet, surround your home with plants and trees. Incorporate large, open windows to make it look like the outside is within arm’s reach. You can also hang potted plants from the ceiling or place them on tables to bring the green inside.
Go Metallic and Rainbow
We’ve mentioned bold colors and funky textures, but we haven’t yet mentioned incorporating rainbow style into your home. For an ultra retro-futuristic style, rainbow paint and patterns is the way to go. You can also pick one color out of the rainbow and match it with furniture to make that color pop. Who doesn’t want a hot pink chair, anyway?
Incorporate Circular Windows
If you can knock down walls and revamp your living space, then one of the best ways to go full-on retro-futuristic is to incorporate circular windows to make it look like you’re living inside of a spaceship. Build your bed in a pod-like space and add funky lamps to match the look.