Retro style is a throwback to the streamlined, modern designs made popular throughout the mid-twentieth century. During these inspired decades, distinctive new styles emerged which left a lasting impression and continue to be widely enjoyed as retro style.
The vibrant yet soothing color palette of retro home design is one of its key features. Popular retro colors include:
- Aqua
- Yellow
- Red
- Blue
- Pink
- Turquoise
- Black
- Mint Green
Modern retro interior design style also utilizes timeless combinations of black and white checkerboard patterns in addition to red and white motifs such as those seen in Coca-Cola memorabilia. Other key retro design elements include polished chrome, rounded corners, laminate surfaces, linoleum, and vinyl. Some of the fun, kitschy items that are often seen in a retro home design include jukeboxes, bowling collectibles, and vintage tiki or Hawaiian décor.
Often, the funky designs of the 1960's and 70's are integrated into modern retro interior design styles or used as a stand-alone theme. Some of the unique furniture designs of the retro era consisted of man-made materials such as plastic, Plexiglas, and molded plywood or fiberglass.
Coffee tables are usually seen in curvy, kidney shapes, and dining tables are typically round or oval. Popular retro chair styles include the Eames lounge chair, the butterfly chair, the Barcelona chair, and the tulip chair. These futuristic designs prove to be very comfortable despite their avant-garde appearance.
Other important additions to retro home design involve the use of suspended bubble lamps in ball, saucer, or cigar shapes. Also in keeping with the "space age" theme, retro clocks and wall art were frequently fashioned to resemble asterisks, starbursts, or atomic balls. Other commonly seen shapes, especially in retro wallpaper pattern design:
- Atomic symbols
- Boomerangs
- Amoebas
- Satellites (a la Sputnik)
- Rockets
Modern Retro Interior Design Style 
