How to Modernize Your Outdated Home
Does your home feel ugly and outdated and have you been worrying about how much it would cost to make it more modern and attractive? Then you have a problem that plagues a lot of homeowners whose homes are ten years old and above.
But the problem that most homeowners in this situation have is they assume that updating the home means them doing a major overhaul of its structures. The reason they think this is because most owners have no idea what makes a home feel outdated.
An older home is like a vintage car; what makes it valuable also makes it a problem. Everyone who owns a vintage car wants to retain the frame of the car and everything under the hood in as original a condition as possible because that is where the car’s value lies.
But other than the body, chassis, and engine, owners of vintage automobiles will change many other components to make the vehicle better. They will replace the old stereo, instruments on the dashboard, and the upholstery to make it more comfortable and modern.
The same thing applies to an old house; there is an allure that comes with old architecture. And the older a home gets, explains East Bay Management, the more value is attached to its style and design. However, to be functional, many of the other aspects of the home need to be updated.
The features of a home that really date it are things like wall designs, plumbing fixtures, door hardware, lighting fixtures, flooring material, furniture, and window treatment. These are the features of the home you should be focusing on.
In this article, we explain how you can get started on your journey to making your outdated home beautiful once again. The goal of this guide is to give you an idea of what direction you should be looking, so you can formulate your own ideas yourself.
1. Start with a clean slate
The first thing to do is to clean and declutter your home. There will inevitably be things that you acquired over the last few years that you no longer need but which still take up space in your home. By getting rid of things that crowd your spaces, you can see the home with fresh eyes.
2. Fix damaged walls
Bedraggled wall surfaces contribute to the overall unattractiveness of the home. If you try to change the appearance of your home without addressing the damage to walls – nail holes, gouges, scrapes, or general unevenness – the outcome will be less than satisfying.
3. Create your design concept
Without a plan to follow, your choices will be incoherent and the elements of the design will not tie together. After you clear out the stuff you don’t need, you will be able to look at what’s left with a critical eye. It will be easier to create clear objectives for your entire design effort.
4. Update your floors
Many older homes have their floors covered completely with carpets. But this type of flooring in homes is no longer popular. If you want to have carpets, it is better to limit them to an area of the living room or the bedrooms. If the home has hardwood flooring, it should be refinished.
5. Repaint your home
A fresh coat of paint is the easiest and most affordable way to give your home an immediate facelift. But the colors you use should be modern hues and used in a way that highlights the home’s best features. In addition to the walls, kitchen cabinets should be repainted or refaced, if repainting them will not deliver the best results.
6. Create more room
Large overstuffed furniture pieces choke a room and make it look smaller. They make moving around hard and block airflow and unwieldy furniture can make a room feel less relaxing. When replacing or rearranging your furniture, the goal should be to create the appearance of an open floor plan.
7. Light it up
Poorly lit rooms feel small, gloomy, and uninviting. Lights should be deployed as illumination and décor. For the best results, the lighting scheme should include lights on different levels. There should be floor or table lamps, overhead lights, and lights at intermediate levels. Along with the lighting fixtures, light switches and power outlets should be changed.
8. Replace outdated hardware
Sleek door knobs, cabinet pulls, kitchen, and bathroom faucets make a statement. When these minor details are old and dated, they make a poor statement. Replacing old hardware with modern ones will breathe life into an otherwise dated bathroom or kitchen space. To get an even better effect, sinks should also be replaced with new models that match the improved hardware.
9. Update the window treatment
Heavy drapes cut out the light and make rooms look smaller than they really are. Removing the window treatment altogether will throw the space wide open. But if the idea of bare windows seems a little too much, use window treatments that are simple and will not cramp the space in a room.
There you have it, 9 easy tips on how to modernize your outdated home.