07 April 2025
Katie Wells
Katie Wells
Playful Nostalgia: How To Bring This Trending Interior Style into Your Home
When designing your dream bathroom, looking at current and upcoming interior design trends is a good place to start. Not only does it give a great source of inspiration for a modern design, but it also helps you to find the right style that makes the space an ultimate representation of you and your tastes. One of the prominent interior design trends this year is playful nostalgia. Creating interiors that are full of personality and joy, playful nostalgia is a great trend to explore when redesigning your home. So what is it, what does it look like and how can you bring it into your modern bathroom design?
What Is Playful Nostalgia?
Playful nostalgia is an interior design trend that blends elements of retro, vintage and childhood-inspired aesthetics with a contemporary, fun twist. The idea of this trend is to bring back the whimsy and sense of wonder of childhood through the use of playful shapes and bold colours. The nostalgia associated with this fun décor evokes a sense of warmth, comfort and joy by tapping into memories of past decades, particularly the 70s, 80s and 90s, while incorporating whimsical details and modern flair.
This interior design style rejects minimalistic ideals and redefines contemporary design by embracing the joyful aesthetics of chunky silhouettes, thick contours, stylised designs and an unapologetic use of colour and contrast. With a vibrant, spontaneous colour palette and the playful clash of patterns, this light-hearted design style is characterised by childlike simplicity and honesty, giving you the freedom to have fun with your bathroom design and fill the space with colours, patterns and textures that mean something to you.
Bright and Bold Colours
One of the most notable characteristics of the playful nostalgia interior design trend is its use of colour. This trend typically uses bold, vibrant colours, such as mustard yellows, turquoise, mint green and bubblegum pink to bring back those childlike nostalgic feelings of the past. These colours can be used in furniture, walls, textiles and décor to create a fun and cheerful aesthetic.
When bringing colour into your bathroom design, think positivity and fun. You can use pops of colour to strategically create focal points or accent pieces, such as featuring the Tambour furniture unit in Soft Clay, or to create contrast for a statement style. Mix bold bright colours with softer tints, such as our Sage Green furniture, for a cheerful and homely environment.
Vintage and Retro Elements
To create that sense of nostalgia, this trend incorporates vintage and retro elements into the interior but with a modern twist. This could be in the form of nostalgic wallpaper patterns, such as floral or geometric designs, groovy patterns and funky textures. Vintage design just have to influence your wall decoration and colour choices. Bringing retro items or modern-day interpretations of vintage designs into the core features of your bathroom can go a long way to creating the nostalgic vibe this trend thrives off. For example, our Belgravia brassware range is inspired by classical bathroom design, featuring a beautifully rounded appearance and delicate crosshead handle design. When combined with wall panelling and geometric patterns, this brassware style brings the playful nostalgia trend to life.
Playful and Whimsical Décor
The great thing about this trending interior design style is that playful nostalgia allows you to have fun with the things you remember from your childhood. Whether that be neon signs, inflatable furniture or colourful groovy patterns, quirky décor items will turn your bathroom into a fun, playful and nostalgic space. The one thing that all these elements from the 70s, 80s and 90s all have in common is rounded shapes. Modern and minimalist design trends tend to lean towards crisp lines and squared objects, whereas rounded shapes allow you to bring in an element of the past while being playful with your décor. The Velo accessories range is perfect for bathrooms following the playful nostalgia trend as its gentle curves and playful shape create a welcoming, fun and jovial atmosphere.
Statement Lighting
When adding the finishing touches to your bathroom design, lighting is the perfect opportunity to add extra character, get creative and elevate the whimsical feel of the space. While lighting does have its functional purpose, it can also serve as a statement piece through fun and quirky designs. Take the Tranquil lighting collection, for example. Featuring three unique and highly creative designs, this distinctive lighting collection can add playfulness to your bathroom design. This collection is also available in six finishes, allowing you to tailor your lighting to your colour scheme and style.
