Keeping a House's Original Look When Renovating

Keeping a house’s character and style in mind when renovating is important, but you shouldn’t be afraid to add your own touches.

When approaching any home improvement or renovation project, it’s important to take the style and period of your home into consideration. This can help you make decisions on the direction, cost and details of your project. For example, if you have a 1930’s Tudor style house, you may not want to add a sizeable addition clad in vinyl. It just doesn’t fit. A strict historical restoration advocate may think it a crime to add anything other than a Tudor style addition. Decisions like these can cause stress levels and costs to rise when renovating.

Consider taking the middle ground approach when it comes to historical accuracy in renovation. Duplicating a houses original look can and often be expensive when you’re dealing with older homes. Molding styles may have changed, windows and doors look different, brick colors don't match, siding, shingles, and so on and so on. The bottom line is that it’s going to be cheaper to walk into the home improvement store and buy something off the shelf. Unfortunately that is not always what will look best. Try spending money on the details that a buyer would see.

A little bit of planning and some sweat equity, can save you money and make things look fairly close to their original counterparts. It’s important when renovating to make renovated rooms and additions flow with the house. You don’t want someone to walk in and say, “This looks like it was added sometime in the ‘80’s”, when the house was built in the 1920’s. However, trying to match that plaster cast molding throughout the first floor will blow your budget quickly. Choosing elements to “historically restore” will define your renovation and pay off greatly in the end, aesthetically and financially.


Common Elements That Can Blend Old and New Renovations

Baseboards
Try to match the baseboards of a new room/addition with those of the rest of the house. If you can't match them exactly, install something similar in size.

Decorative Molding
If an entire floor has crown molding, you should probably consider adding it in a newly added or renovated room. Stay with a similar size and style.

Doors and Trim
Try not to mis-match doors on the same floor. If you need an old door, try the salvage yard, or go with something entirely different. Sometimes a french door is a good way to mix it up and allow light into a room. If you only have 3 doors on a floor you may want to consider replacing all of them so that they match.

Flooring
This is probably the biggest sign of renovated spaces. Transition new and old by swithing from wood to tile. Try to match hardwoods and stain colors. Consider re-finishing multiple rooms to match, or go over old floors with new flooring.

Windows and Casing
Always try to match the casing of your windows with that of existing windows. Match window styles as closely as possible, especially if you are installing a new window next to an old. Again, consider replacing multiple windows so that they will match, budget allowing.