How to Modernize Your Home Without Compromising It's Character
Heyhey!
Today's blog post really hits home for me. With us buying a 1870's home, I absolutely love the character that it has. We still have the original doors and floors in the home, isn't that crazy?? It's really cool to look back and think of how this home was built 150 years ago and how many changes it must have undergone throughout the years. Our living room is actually where they used to have the dining area, and my office is where they had the living area! Our kitchen used to be more of a greenhouse, so the roof is different there.
What I love so much is the fact that Mike loves our home. He loves the barn, because he is able to do his woodworking there, and work on our cars out there, too. He loves the location and how historical Plymouth is, too. I for one, being a designer, always have plans for our home :)
With an old home there are definitely some things that I am not a huge fan of. Our fireplace is old and needs to be replaced, there is some extra wainscoting around the walls, and the ceilings are just too low! While I can't change the ceiling height easily, there are definitely some ways that we've been chipping away at to modernize our home, without taking away from the integrity of the house.
We've already worked on some of these, but we are slowing working our way through! Taking our the wainscoting in our living room made such a different and I'm so glad that we did it! Our game plan is to get new windows for the house this autumn and finish painting the home. We painted my office first and I love the way that it came out. The room is so light and airy and I really feel so productive when I work in there. We also painted the bathroom a moody green color, which is such a fun, unexpected take. Another room that we did was the ombre wall in our bedroom, which obviously I had to do!
It's tough to figure out where you draw the line when renovating an old home. You want to update it, but you don't want to loose those quirky features that made you fall in love with it in the first place. I've really been diving into this and figuring out the best things to change and leave for an old home.
With moving into a new home, it can be a little confusing on how to update it without changing too much. Here are some of my tips to modernize your home without compromising on loosing its character!
Keep
Keep molding and doors
Keep existing wood floors (if possible)
Keep unique elements
This could be wood ceilings, a fireplace, or anything that makes the home a little different
Keep the layout of the home
Update
Update the home's plumbing and electrical
Update the bathroom fixtures and hardware
Update the kitchen
Update windows
Update the paint colors
Update the furniture
Mix classic architecture with modern furniture
Add vintage furniture
xx
-Han