Grandmacore or Granny Chic, as it is also known, is a hot style of decorating right now. It’s precisely what it sounds like: decorating your house like your grandma’s. What? I know. At first I couldn’t wrap my brain around it either. But this style of decorating focuses on the best of grandma: The comfort and the coziness. The well-loved treasures. The simple, sweet things that make it possible to slow down and love your everyday life. If this sounds like something you might like to try, here’s how to get the Grandmacore look in your home…
Choose Furniture with Character
My grandmother, or Grammy, as we called her, definitely had character. She’d been a suffragette as a teen and went on to have a life filled with politics and service. Her furniture had character too. Maybe not character as big as Gram, but character nonetheless. To get the Grandmacore look, you’ll want to look for furniture like hers. You’ll need older furniture pieces but they don’t need to be period antiques. In fact, they really shouldn’t be. What you’re looking for are pieces that show wear and love. Maybe kitchen chairs with aged, rushed seats and an old farm table to go with? Or perhaps a floral sofa with an ever-so-slight, overall fading? Comfy conversation pieces that look like they have a story, or three, to tell.
Insider Tip: One of the BEST places to find furniture with character are thrift and consignment shops, like Consignments Ltd. You definitely can’t get these pieces at IKEA.
Add Cozy Linens and Fabrics
An essential element of Grandmacore is linens. In my generation, every Grandma had at least one cozy, knitted or crocheted throw on the back of her couch. You can add a vintage one of these or perhaps something that evokes the same warm feelings. You can also try a chenille bedspread or a coverlet in a floral motif or curtains with a bit of lace at the edge. Doilies have also made a comeback with this trend. Add one to your dresser top or to the center of your dining table.
And Hand-Made Touches
My Gram had a crocheted toilet paper cover that was the skirt of a doll, with the actual Barbie doll at the top. While I am not advocating that look (definitely not, pleas dear God, no), it does evoke the handmade vibe. Consider instead things like hand-thrown pottery planters and vases, hand-decorated frames and artist-made sculptural elements. Try kitschy things like embroidered lampshades, framed stitchery and creatively displayed hankies.
Surround Yourself with Books and Greens
Horace Mann famously said that, ” a house without books is like a room without windows.” Books, read and collected over time, work in a variety of home decor themes. I would venture to say that they work in all decor themes but that’s just my bibliophile showing. In Grandmacore, books and the coziness they inspire help complete the look. Whether you jumble them up on the shelves of a bookcase or stack them next to a chair as an end table alternative, books and Grandmacore go together.
Greens are the other staple that work in all themes and help to complete a Grandmacore look. Whether you’re hanging an American Pothos from a handmade macrame plant hanger or tucking a faux succulent on the shelves amongst your books, greens add dimension and interest to the Grandmacore look.
And Highlight Family Favorites and Heirlooms
A few blogs ago I wrote about whether you Can Find Heirlooms at Thrift and Consignment. Whilst that was an exercise in semantics, it still brings them to mind. And any family heirloom works with Grandmacore. You can incorporate your Great Aunt Sally’s piano or frame and hang Grandpa David’s watch. Maybe your Mom always loved a little round dish that belonged to her Mother-in-Law, that you inherited but stashed away? Daylight that treasure and use it for your jewelry on your chest of drawers. Antique, family photos make a great centerpiece of your gallery wall. All these things can help make your home more Grandmacore and as a result a place to enjoy your everyday life. That’s the whole point, right?
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