5 Tips for Restoring an Old Home on a Budget
The world is currently obsessed with home renovation. But there's more magic involved when you restore an old home. Rather than revamping a dilapidated house with contemporary fittings, why not restore it to its former glory? Of course, restoration requires more work on your part, but the history of a building shouldn't be forgotten with recessed lights and a new kitchen top.
Source Traditional Fittings
When restoring a traditional home in a particular style, finding fittings from the period can be challenging. Fortunately, there are a few methods of finding what you need. The first thing you can do is visit a local antique store. A store in town is more likely to stock fittings for your home than a store miles away. Then, of course, you could travel around to car boot sales or pickings, where you might get lucky and find what you need. And there's always the option of having a professional make a new item in a traditional style, but this is more expensive.
Hire Professional Inspectors
Sourcing your fittings is all well and good. Still, it is best advised to hire a professional service to inspect the roof and gutters before you do anything. Leaking drainage systems cause many problems such as mold, damp and foundation problems. While this is an added expense, it is more than necessary. You don't want to get halfway through restoration only to have the roof collapse and destroy your hard work. Of course, there's also the chance nothing is wrong, but it's better to be safe than sorry, or it could cost you a lot more in the long run.
Maximize Light without New Windows
When you renovate a property, you bring it into the contemporary setting. A modern technique is to increase the amount of available light throughout a home. However, this usually means cutting holes where possible and installing new windows. Not only is this very expensive, but it will ruin the existing features of a house. Not what you want for a restoration. Fortunately, there are a few tricks. For example, the strategic use of mirrors is an excellent way to brighten up dark hallways. The larger, the better. And mirrors also work better with lighter colors to bounce around.
Research Your Home Style
The whole point of restoration is to recapture the style of a building. If that's what you want, then you should research your home's style as much as possible. You might be tempted to buy period pieces from the time, but these won't necessarily fit. For example, an 1890 log cabin was built in Victorian times, but traditional Victorian furniture will look well out of place. Therefore, addressing the style of the property is just as important as the period. In a nutshell, you need to research and address the style for the period and the property, or you will waste money.
Look Under the Carpets and Walls
One of the joys of restoring an old house is you never know what you will find. It is common practice to cover up old fittings with modern ones, which was widely practiced in the mid-20th century. A great tip is to lift carpets and remove wallpaper. More often than not, an old carpet hides a unique natural wood floor. And wallpaper could be hiding exquisite decorative work. Additionally, look for wooden door frames that look out of place. Modern structures were used to cover exuberantly detailed woodwork in older homes.
