Once A Staple For Restaurants — Now A Vintage Treasure For Your Collage Walls

Building out a collage wall is an excellent strategy to introduce personality and depth into your home. However, the task can feel a bit overwhelming if you're working with an empty wall. Sometimes it can help to select a handful of standout pieces to build around first, and there's an array of quirky vintage decor items you can incorporate in your design to get started. Old school beverage signs you used to see in restaurants can be one of these foundational elements.

Metal beverage signs, particularly mass-produced lithographs made of tin or porcelain, gained prominence during the late 19th century. As we entered the 20th century, these designs took on an even more elaborate appearance, with neon beer sign popularity exploding during the 1930s. Beverage signs would become even more extravagant, particularly during the 1950s and 1960s with the Googie aesthetic movement, associated with signage like Hogan's Liquors in Rialto, California. These signs ultimately moved along with the times, shifting alongside consumer preferences.

Tin, porcelain, and neon signs are the most popular vintage beverage signs to collect. Whether you prefer sleek, minimalist signs or bright neon iterations, you can easily find these valuable vintage wall art pieces secondhand. Start by scouring your local antique malls and flea markets. If you don't have luck there, search online. There are dedicated sites that sell these vintage staples, but you can also try Etsy or eBay.

The first step to using this vintage find for a unique DIY collage wall is landing on a theme or color palette. Collage walls can seem a bit random at first glance. However, there is a certain amount of intentional curation at play. While you can choose any combination of items to form a collage wall, it might not be the most visually appealing. At the end of the day, these walls are meant to display personal history and style, and it's easier to narrow down what to add when you stick to a general direction. Luckily, there are a plethora of beverage signs for theme and color palette flexibility. 

Once you have an idea for your design, select two to three larger signs to work with, and pick out decor to fill in around these anchor pieces. Paintings, interesting objects, and shelves can all fit into a collage wall design, so don't be afraid to mix in varied shapes and textures. 

For instance, you could create an Americana-themed wall with beverage signs and vintage license plates. Alternatively, you may prefer to fill your entire wall with different beverage signs emphasizing certain classic color palettes, like blue and white or red and cream.

Once you select a good amount of wall art, arranging all your items on the ground can help you see where they'll best blend. Figure out where you want to hang your largest beverage signs first. From there, fill in with your smaller pieces. For a more comprehensive approach, consider choices that fall within one of many retro design trends making a comeback.