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Many homes built even just 20 years ago can feel dated based on the finishes and internal layouts, and here are six creative ways to update your older home for modern living. Modern additions to an older house are appealing not only to avoid a painful move or the inconvenience of adjusting to a new neighborhood, but also allows many homeowners to stay in their homes and maintain their locked-in low borrowing costs. As many current homeowners and prospective buyers know too well, homeowners are staying in their homes due to the disincentive of exchanging their sub-3 percent mortgages for a 7 percent rate to borrow for a new home. While some may have the resources to completely transform their home, others may address their needs with a smaller scope of work. As you look around your older home and consider your options, here are six gorgeous ways to update your older home for modern living.
1 Modern Home Additions:
One of the most common reasons for a move is to find additional square footage for your current needs. Due to the long-term financial return of adding value to one’s home by adding square footage and features, a home addition is an extremely common solution for owners of older homes. Often, older homes that were built even just 20 years ago offer an internal layout that no longer suits the current needs of the owner. This can be seen in a number of ways; in older homes, internal spaces may be too confined, as 1950s- to 1970s-era homes prioritized creating separate spaces for different functions of a home. As a result, homeowners of these older houses often want to open up spaces, take down walls, and change the circulation within the existing footprint to accommodate today’s preferred lifestyles.
Similarly, homes from the 2000s often preferred vaulted ceilings, wide-open spaces, and minimalist colorless spaces, which now feels dated. Thes layouts often result in a space, where sound pollution from one space spoils the ability to use an adjacent space. Today, open-concept living is often still a preference, though it has become much more common to include pocket doors and other options to give homeowners flexibility in connecting or dividing adjacent spaces. The vaulted roof has now faded from modern appeal due to the difficulty in dividing spaces under a vaulted roofline, and many now utilize a number of strategies to divide spaces and maintain the flexibility of connecting adjacent rooms: custom textile treatments, Japanese-style shoji blinds, modular console tables and/or seating options to give a space greater functionality to either be connected or divided based on the situation.
Nonetheless, a home addition gives a homeowner the opportunity to add desired square footage for an additional bed or bathroom (or both), new study, or other greater functionality that your older home cannot provide. Many view the addition as not only adding to the comfort of a home, but also as a sound investment in adding intrinsic value to the home.
2 Attic and Basement Conversions:
Some of the most expensive line items in a renovation to an older home involve the architectural and permit fees in changing the architecture of a home. Unfinished attic or basement conversions are often a very cost-effective way to update an older home for modern living, utilizing valuable square footage that is already part of your home.
Be sure to consider insulation requirements to ensure proper heating and cooling for the attic space, including the heating/cooling efficiency of an attic space. For homeowners exploring options to add more living space to their home, an attic or basement conversion is a great cost-effective option that can bring a full bath and bedroom, or new study or office to a home, and can unlock other spaces in the home.
Coming soon to our website: we transformed this dark and unusable basement in a home in Bethesda, MD into a warm and inviting family room, complete with a dry bar, guest bedroom and full bathroom.
3 Garage Conversions:
Similar to the attic conversion, the garage conversion also offers homeowners the opportunity to reprogram existing spaces in a cost-effective way. Depending on a homeowners’ priorities, often trading a place to store a vehicle, home improvement, or yard maintenance supplies can lead to an easy solution to add helpful internal square footage to be put to better use. We have worked on conversions to add a home study, create a comfortable (and more isolated) hang-out space for teenagers, or offer an in-law suite for multi-generational living within your existing home. Similar to an attic conversion, a garage conversion is a great option that has the benefit of usually adding living space on the ground floor of a home, and critical considerations include heating/cooling/insulation requirements, and anticipating the needs of the new space and its location within the overall layout of the home.
4 Fix that Facade:
Realtors know that the curb appeal of a home can be worth 2-6 percent of a home’s sale price, while also giving your older home a brand-new feel! Whether preparing for a sale or for your own enjoyment, there are a number of simple options to explore to update your home’s facade and give the whole house a fresh new appeal. Consider changing the front elevation of a home, with new dormers, an update to your entry, or creating a new roof line based on the architecture of your home. Whether a split-level or Colonial, there are numerous options to consider a valuable facelift to your home that not only modernizes its more dated facade, but may also present enhanced utility to your existing spaces by connecting outdoor spaces to the inside of your older home.
5 Enjoying the Outdoors; Porch and Deck Home Additions:
As you consider the outside of your home, porch and deck additions are often popular ways to add value to your home, and create more utility for homeowners who seek to utilize all aspects of their home and yard throughout the year. We have seen increased popularity of screened-in porches that include heating units and ceiling fans to enable year-round enjoyment of the outdoors. Similarly, decks can provide great opportunities to not only enjoy new aspects of your older home, but create numerous options for you to live your best life.
6 Sunroom Additions:
Many reading this in the dog days of a DC summer, a closed-in sunroom is often much more appealing as a more likely space to be used year-round. Sunroom additions are relatively easy small-scale additions that can be tastefully added to a home, regardless of the home’s existing architecture. A sunroom brings the outside into your home, usually bringing significant light and offering homeowners additional square footage that immediately increases the value of a home. Popular sunrooms are often adjacent to kitchens, dining rooms, or formal living rooms, where a home gains additional utility for a casual room that has versatile functionality and greater connection to the outdoors.
Not sure which one is right for you? We’d love to help you figure it out, and show you examples of projects that incorporate many of the ideas we discussed above.
How You Can Work With Us
At Lorla Studio, a modern interior design firm in Washington, D.C, our talented team of designers craft modern, livable and functional spaces throughout the district and beyond. Hire us for a seamless renovation process, and a modern, approachable design you are sure to love!
Check out the five questions to ask yourself before hiring an interior designer in Washington D.C. If you think we’d make a good team, contact us today!
Ready to transform your space with us?
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