How To Modernize a Traditional Home

Is your once-stylish home beginning to feel outdated? Linoleum countertops, ostentatious wallpaper, and wooden furniture were once all the rage but as the times have changed, so have people’s sense of style. If you’re wondering how to modernize a traditional home, these quick, simple tips can help.

Repaint Your Walls

Rip out the old, floral-pattered wallpaper and replace it with a plain, untextured, and colorful surface. Color is a critical aspect of design, and you’ll want a high contrast, unified palette. Replace muted colors, such as cream, brown, and beige, with a bold red, black, or green. For a traditional yet modern look, choose neutral colors, such as grey, white, or black, and accent them with a single pop of color.

Your walls aren’t the only thing that need color. Revitalize your tile, cabinets, and more with a fresh coat of paint. Struggling to decide? You can rejuvenate your home with these eight popular interior paint colors. Pick something modern but not too flashy. Bright, vibrant colors can negatively impact your home’s resale value. If you’re not sure, it’s best to stick to something neutral.

Upgrade Your Kitchen

The kitchen is, as they say, the heart of the home. Draw attention to this all-important room with some basic upgrades; swap linoleum for quartz, granite, or marble. Your metals could use some modernization, too. Go with matte aluminum, stainless steel, brushed gold, or copper for your kitchen’s hardware.

Do you have an outdated backsplash or no backsplash at all? Improve your current backsplash or add a brand new one. Go with something simple but attractive, such as straight, white tiles. Love the ocean? Pick out some cerulean blue fish-scale tiles!
If you’re up for some harder, more hands-on construction, consider removing your upper cabinetry, taking down eyesight-blocking walls, or redoing your floorplan. This requires some extra effort, extra money, and extra time, but it will improve your kitchen’s overall functionality.

Streamline Your Furniture

If your house feels outdated, the culprit could be your furniture. Replace worn-down, wooden furniture with metals, high-end fabrics, and other modern accessories. The furniture you choose doesn’t have to perfectly match, but all the pieces should complement one another. Try your best to stick to a cohesive color palette and a general aesthetic. If you can, try to center your design around a single, eye-catching centerpiece. This item will serve as your inspiration and can be anything from a piece of furniture to a small trinket or even the view outside.

Less Is More

Another way to modernize a traditional home is to gear up with some storage bins or garbage bags and set forth decluttering the space. When it comes to sleek, modern interior design, less is more. Remove paintings from the wall, find somewhere practical to store loose trinkets, and get rid of things you don’t need immediate, urgent access to.

Need somewhere to store all this stuff? For smaller objects, use mason jars or compact fabric cubes. If you have a lot of miniature, delicate items, invest in a display cabinet. For larger items, use plastic storage tubs. Keep them somewhere secluded but easily accessible, such as a closet, attic, or basement.

image credit: twenty20.com