Outfitting An Old Home Respectfully

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Owning a period or protected home can be a wonderful time in your life. It means every day of your life will be steeped in history, as you preserve and protect a gorgeous home with nothing but stories exuding from its character. You are also a part of the long line of homeowners, and that can be a wonderful thing to put into perspective.

However, no matter how old or modest the cottage or home you live in is, it will need to be outfitted to the modern-day. Electricity, refrigeration and modern security systems – these are all relatively essential items every competent home needs. Without these conveniences, our homes are less functional, less safe and less habitable. For this reason, it’s important to strike a balance between old and new.

Please note: this is a contributed post.

But it might not just be the essential factors you need. It might be you enjoy the idea of modern living with all the possibilities that brings, but you are worried that doing so will impede the historical beauty of your old home. Thankfully, there are methods of outfitting an old home respectfully, and they are as follows:

Hiding Appliances

It is possible to install modern equipment without impeding the vintage design philosophy of your home. Let’s look at a modern kitchen. We all know that a dishwasher, a refrigerator and an oven are all standard appliances found in many homes. But in the high-density wooden and carefully crafted environment of an older home, they can stick out a little.

So, why make them stick out at all? Attaching a decorative door, in-keeping with the design of your rustic kitchen, can mean your refrigerator blends in with the rest of the cabinets. This is a great design touch that helps retain the humble charm your property is known for. Even modern homes can benefit from this uniform styling. 

Professional Skills

Of course, some items you won’t be able to install yourself. When large and bulky items need installing, especially those with some form of specialist design, it can be hard to communicate your requirements for your home space. Let’s say you’re installing a new AC unit. Your should arrange for professional help, with the most competent air conditioning companies.

Using a licensed AC company will keep your home in good standing, as competent contractors will install the unit to blend in with your home without affecting the nature of the old building. In other words, choosing a competent and licensed team of specialists is worth the cost.

Updated Design

While the integrity of your home might rest on its age, this doesn’t mean you should feel a lack of confidence when updating the interior. Sure, you may hate the idea of implementing a modern, minimalist design, but that doesn’t mean you can’t update your home to work in the current century. Consider working around the strengths of your building and making compromises where necessary. For example, the gorgeous window arches that feature stained glass details, or perhaps the old wood beams that line the ceiling can all be incorporated into the new design. 

There are many examples you can find when you think ‘just where is the true historical value?’ This can help you tailor your redesign or renovation to best complement the strengths of your property. Let’s say you want to knock down a a wall to open up the floor plan. This can be a problem if your home features interesting carvings that are hundreds of years old, or some other essentially fascinating construction.

You might want to hire a specialist to expertly remove this carving, encasing it in a sturdy material, then featuring the carvings against one of your living room walls. This vintage art piece can serve as a wonderful reminder of the history of the place. If you’ve had the insight to research how to pay respect to your historical property using these three tips, then you should have no problem outfitting your old home respectfully.

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