Older homes have a certain kind of charm about them that makes it easy to imagine yourself living there. Unfortunately, if you’re one of the 34% of homebuyers who want to avoid renovations, you’re probably a bit out of luck when it comes to living in an older home. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring your new (to you) place into the modern age!
If you’re ready to update your older home, here are a few great projects to help you get started.
Change Out the Flooring
If you’re investing in a home that was built in the 1950s, you’re probably dealing with a lot of mixed flooring. There might be tile in one room, linoleum in another, and wood in yet another. This kind of flooring trend can seriously date your home. If you want to bring your home into the modern age, consider updating your flooring so that every room has the same type of flooring except for the bathroom. If you have older hardwood floors, consider having them refinished and extended throughout your home. Any real estate agent will tell you that original hardwood floors are too valuable to just cover up with carpeting. And considering that almost 80% of homeowners reported that their real estate agent was an excellent source of information, you’d best be listening! And don’t forget about area rugs, either. Full house carpeting might not help bring your home into the modern age, but a few stylish and well-placed area rugs will help elevate your home’s look.
Hang Window Treatments Differently
In many older homes, it’s possible that the ceilings are a little bit lower than your average modern house. While lifting the ceilings up is a project you probably don’t want to take on, there’s a simple way you can create the illusion of higher space and craft a modern atmosphere at the same time. And it all starts with your curtains. First, you’ll need to choose curtains that either match your color scheme or serve as an accent. Once you have your curtains, make a point to hang them at the ceiling so they’re just grazing the floor at the bottom. In addition, make sure you have them hung a little bit wider than your window frame. This will help create the illusion of more height in your home, as well as create a more modern shape around your windows.
Paint with a Neutral Palette
Neutral colors are going to be your best friend when you want to update an older home. How many times have you walked into a brightly colored bathroom and shuddered? And you know it wasn’t the fact that 10% of homes have wasteful plumbing leaks in them that made you cringe. It’s time to tone it down a little bit. In the past, all-white walls may have been the way to go, but this also runs the risk of making your home look a little bit too clinical. So instead of painting all the walls white, here are a few other colors to consider in a modern home:
- Mauve
- Dove Gray
- Mist Gray
- Beige-Taupe
- Grey-Beige
Once you have your neutral base color on the walls, you’re free to spice up the rest of your interior with fun accent pieces. Neutral furniture with brightly colored accessories can help elevate the look of your home even further. For example, turquoise throw pillows on a neutral gray or charcoal sofa can help your space look comfortable and modern.
Updating an older home to look more modern is about much more than home improvement projects, though they do help quite a bit. Besides the above, you could also consider revamping your toilet or kitchen with the help of the professionals from victoriaplum.com. If you start with these home upgrades, you’ll be living in luxury in no time at all.
