However old your home is, making your home more modern can be a long and tricky process. If you choose to modernise the structure of your home, then it can end up being a pricey process too. A lot of the changes people choose to make are more cosmetic; changing the look of a room. The latter being a much easier and simpler change to make. When we moved into our home nearly six years ago, we had to change the whole house. It hadn’t been touched since the 50s!
Make Decisions
First of all, you need to have a look at your home’s current state. It is important to look at the actual home and it’s features, rather than the things in your home. Furniture and accessories can be easily changed or replaced. Walls and structures will need a little more love. So check the state of the walls in the home. Do any need to be filled or reinforced?
Do the skirting boards need to be replaced or need a new lick of paint? Another thing to look at are the ceilings and coving. If there isn’t any coving, then it is a good idea to get some. It smooths the look of the room and makes things look fresh and more modern.
Lighting
Lighting is such an important thing to think about in the home. It changes the look of a room, as well as the mood of it. At a basic level, you could look at changing the main ceiling and wall lights in the room. Even just getting stronger bulbs can make such a difference. I like that now there are energy efficient LED bulbs that you can get, than don’t compromise on the light quality. If there are certain areas of the house that tend to be quite dark, think about getting skylights or aluminium roof lights. They will completely open up the space and make such a difference. Strip lights would be a good alternative, if roof lights wouldn’t be an option.
Details
There are lots of little details that can age a home. Even just the colour or style of the light switches that you have can age a room. If you have brass or gold ones, think about getting brushed metal ones or ones that are lighter in colour. They will subtly add a modern look. Door handles and drawer pulls can also age them. Luckily these things can be easily replaced. So look into replacing those things where you can. I always find Pinterest is an amazing resource, as well as home and design magazines.
Colours & Materials
The main things in our home like flooring, bathroom suites and wallpaper are all chosen at one time. The trends do change, and before we know it we are living in a home that hasn’t been redecorated for several years. So start by making some changes. If the wall paper and carpet are looking a bit dated, get them changed. Maybe create accent walls or exposing some brick. If your bathroom suite is a dated colour, then it will be worth the investment of replacing it. It’s got to be worth replacing that avocado green suite, right? 😉
Have you got any tips or advice for modernising your home?
We really need to work on a few rooms in our house too, its a mishmash of styles and I’d love for it to all look the same! Love your new kitchen style
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In our house, every radiator was painted the same colour as the wall and they were all really bright colours! I think you need to neutralise everything to see what it looks like before making any big changes.
Some good tips! You’re so brave for totally renovating your home, it must be a pretty overwhelming task. I’m still in the rental sector but one day I hope we can have somewhere we can make our own.
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Oh wow I would have loved to have seen that kitchen before, like going into a timewarp – that cooker, wow my parents had one like that! Aside from the nostalgia, you must have been so glad to have a new kitchen put in! I love making over rooms and doing before and after photos! xx
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The kitchen transformation is great. I agree exposing brick may be a great idea and cant wait to one day own a home which we can make our own!
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I think that lighting and a few paintings and photos can make a big difference.
Love the kitchen. Some great ideas here xx
Gosh that transformation is amazing. Your new kitchen is similar looking to ours. These are great tips especially lighting. Lighting can really modernise a room x
Some great tips there. Thanks. Absolutely love the bedroom. Who would have thought that chocolate brown would look so good?
Wow, your kitchen looks loively, I really want white cupboards. At the moment I have brown and it drives me crazy haha.
I agree about lighting, but cannot think what to do with my tiny bathroom that has a stepped ceiling as partially under the stairs..
Your kitchen looks gorgeous
You’re right about looking at the ‘bones’ of the house rather than the decor/furnishings. When we bought our home the previous owners has used 4 colours throught the house & gone mad with stencils! We have added space & totally changed the look simply by adding colour & changing old fashioned light fixtures. Knocked a wall down & built a large conservatory but the house was sound structurally so anything is possible if you have a vision. Some good ideas here.
Great post, I agree that a lick of paint can make so much difference. I recently painted my skirting boards and walls contrasting colours and it looks like an entirely different room.
Great tips. Thanks for sharing your kitchen renovation. Yeah, choosing the right colors for interiors can bring justice to our homes.