Tips and Tricks: Decorating and Renovating a Property

Having a period property is a dream for many people whether you want a 1950’s bay-windowed property or an art deco 1930’s home. Bringing back its original features is a goal for many and takes time and commitment.

I have always lived in modern properties but would love the history of an older house.

If you want to add original features to your home or if you are renovating a property there are a number of ways you can achieve this. I’d start by looking at interior magazines and websites to get a finished look. This will help you understand the finished look and pull your ideas together.

Tips and Tricks: Decorating and Renovating an Older Property

• Fireplaces: Interior features really offer the opportunity to restore a home to its natural glory and fireplaces are a great starting point.  Many fireplaces were boarded up so the first thing to do is unearth and clean up what you have. You can sometimes find original fireplaces and accessories at salvage yards and reclaimers.
• Mouldings: Period houses often have beautiful and ornate. The Mouldings can include cornices and ceiling roses.  The mouldings need care and often they have been coated in layers of paint over the years. It is important to preserve and look after the mouldings in order to keep those traditional features.
• Skirtings: Skirting Boards also add the level of detail needed when renovating.  Georgian skirtings were high with grooving and not just plain.  You can replace this easily and those finishing touches make all the difference.
• Floorboards: Many periods had floorboards and now they are easier than ever to lay. Using engineered wood flooring which is highly resilient to temperature and humidity changes means they can be laid in most rooms in the home, with the only exception being the bathroom. Due to the stability of our engineered flooring products laying the flooring in rooms heated with underfloor heating is not a problem. This allows you to mix modern-day fixes with the timeless style of period features.
• Wallpaper: Look for simple repeat patterns in wallpaper such as trefoils. Towards the end of the Georgian style, simple block papers began to be introduced and experimented with; designs were fairly rudimentary so look for geometric patterns with squares and stripes, perhaps with darker shading behind. This look is still very popular today.  Colour schemes were often burgundy, sage green and blue grey but, as the style developed, they became lighter and included pea green, sky or Wedgwood blue, soft grey, dusky pink and a flat white or stone. Many of today’s leading paint manufacturers now produce historic colours helpfully labelled according to the period. So do check out the ranges in DIY shops to get similar colours.

Do let me know how you have incorporated period features into your home.

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