Tips for making an old house look new
There is something to be said for old homes- the history behind them, the memories stored within the walls, and the chance to let the spirit and history of past occupants live on. With all this beauty, history, and wonder, also comes the necessity to upgrade, clean, and bring the home into the new era. If you have a REALLY old home a lot of what you will be doing is restoring what is there (refinishing floors, and repairing), but if you have a home from the not so graceful decades (80’s and 70’s were filled with terrible choices in hair, clothing, and colors) there will probably be some remodeling that will need to take place.
Here are some tips for making an old house look new.
Baseboards and Molding
This is a pretty easy one. Baseboards and trim work take a lot of abuse over the years and end up showing the wear. You may think it isn’t too noticeable, but you would be amazed at the difference a quick coat of paint or stain can make. Instantly the house will look, cleaner, brighter, and newer. If all the trim work is an outdated wood color or grain it may be a good idea to grab the white paint and go to town.
Treat Your Walls
Outdated wallpaper, grungy walls, or paint colors from the 70’s quickly show a homes age. Splashing on a nice color that fits the current trends will bring your house into the new decade. Entirely removing wallpaper can be quite the chore- not only do you have to scrape off the existing paper- you have to repair and texturize the wall. If you aren’t into the whole texturizing thing you can replace the wallpaper with the paintable versions that have a nice pattern. It can give your home a nice unique texture to the wall without reminding you of your grandmas house.
Ceilings
Popcorn ceilings? Remove them!
Outdated ceiling beams? Ceiling beams are very popular right now. Paint or stain to a more modern color and watch people swoon over your beautiful ceilings.
Stairway configuration
A stairway says a lot about a house and it is extremely easy to pick a 70’s or 80’s house out of a lineup based entirely off the stairway configuration. Closed off stairways with walls going all the way up, and outdated rails make your home look old and sad. Opening it up and replacing the rails with metal, wrought iron, or even just painting the rails can make a huge difference on your home.
Kitchen Cabinets
The kitchen is the #1 area of the home to remodel for a simple reason- it adds a lot of value and increases the resale value of your home by quite a bit (so long as it is done right). If your kitchen cabinets are worn out, or completely outdated it may be time to replace them, but there are some things you can do to give it a facelift without breaking the bank.
Refinish the cabinets: If the cabinet style is still revenant to the era the cabinets can be refinished for a reasonable price ($2,000 or so). A company will come in- remove the old finish, sand them down and put a new coast of stain and protective layer.
Paint the cabinets: Painting cabinets will enable you to have a completely new color for a fraction of the cost of replacing the cabinets all together.
Door replacement: If the configuration of your kitchen is acceptable, and the base units of your cabinets are sound you can actually just order brand new doors in a style that you like and color the base units to match.
New Hardware: Amazingly, sometimes all a kitchen needs is some new knobs to make it pop. This is a pretty cheap fix and something you can do entirely by yourself (TiP-make sure you pick out hardware that will work with your current cabinet holes.)
Flooring
If your carpet is really old replace it. Do not pass go- do not collect $200.00. Just get rid of it.
Update the flooring altogether: it is all about hardwoods right now and hardwood floors are just as worthwhile of an investment as a kitchen remodel. You will raise the value of your home and give it a new fresh look.
