New Ideas for Your Older Home

If there’s one word that every renovation hopes to achieve, it’s character. This adjective often describes a haven, a place where loved ones can come and feel at ease—but character can feel elusive if you’d also like to weave in a modern feel. Striking a balance between timelessness and trendiness in a home is not easy, but it’s also not impossible. It just takes careful consideration, particularly in the details. 

How to get started? Thankfully, the details can present themselves in a range of opportunities, whether that’s in a certain shade of paint or a particular type of crown molding. To help you develop a game plan, read on for solutions to retain that traditional character without sacrificing modern conveniences. 

12 Vintage Paint Colors That Are Trending Again

Paint has a way of creating an unmistakable ambiance in a space, and if you’re looking to highlight historical features in your home—or give it a more lived-in feel—sampling swatches is the fastest and most budget-friendly way to make this transformation happen. Vintage colors have made a comeback in recent years as people attempt to bring the outdoors in with a cozy finish, and the results have been refreshingly familiar.

6 Timeless Design Ideas That Will Never Go Out of Style

Perhaps the hardest part about committing to renovations big or small is not knowing whether or not the investment will pay off in the long run. The pressure may be heightened if you’re also hoping to preserve historical features—which ones should go, and which ones should stay? To help you decide, we spoke to designers who know this give-and-take well and have insights into which design decisions can give you peace of mind.

How to Tell if a Home Trend Is Just a Fad or Here to Stay, According to Designers

You’re not a fortune teller, so it’s no easy task to determine if a design choice you love now will still be considered stylish in a few years. While you do want to incorporate trends you love into a refresh, those choices need to be strategic. After all, current perceptions around the once-popular choices of popcorn ceilings and shag carpeting are pretty well known. To help, we asked designers to share how they determine if a trend has staying power.  

How to Update an Older Home While Honoring Its History

You don’t always have to tear down walls or replace whole rooms when renovating a historic home, and truthfully, you should probably start from a place of doing more with less. No matter where you are in the process of updating the past, you should be aware of the easy ways to modernize a property without sacrificing style. Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one, and here are a few to choose from. 

5 Things to Consider Before Renovating a Historic Home

Real estate agents know what potential homebuyers are interested in, and if you plan to sell your historic property in the future, the best thing you can do is make sure that your renovation choices don’t negatively impact your bottom line—or take away character. We spoke to real estate agents to find out which projects are most likely to bolster your home’s value—and which ones probably won’t. Here’s what you should consider changing, and here’s what should be left as is.