My husband and I just bought a brick Victorian that is over a hundred years old. It has been slightly butchered, as the former owners painted the brick on the outside white, made the once functional fireplace "decorative" and painted the original woodwork and built-ins white. We are going to fix all of that. But when I look at houses on our street, which is in a historic district, a lot of the people decorate their homes with things that look like or come from the period these homes were built it (wallpaper, antique chests, old photographs). While I want to restore the house itself to what is must have originally looked like (pull up carpet off the hardwoods and all of the other repairs I listed), my preferred style of decorating has always been that I like painting rooms brilliant, beautiful colors. I don’t like a lot of color, our furniture is fairly simple, but it obviously more modern looking. And a lot of our artwork is stained glass or bright oils. My husband and I have very similar taste and we have always gotten compliments on the apartments we live in and how they are decorated. So the question is, do you think in buying an older home you have to decorate with older antiques and that is the correct way to do it, or can our furniture and art be more modern and more like what we favor, including paint colors on the walls, even if we bring back the original hardwoods and fireplace and woodwork?
FIY, there are no covenants from the historical association that says we have to do anything to our home or can’t do anything. This is all a matter of choice on our part.
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I feel people should appoint their homes in the way that brings them the most pleasure, functionality and comfort and that most represents their own personalities. I often feel that homes that are "decorated" precisely in a specific historical or "trend" style lack character and feel stagnant and sterile. I like the quote from the famed British designer, WIlliam Morris: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." A house should be a home, not a museum. So, I would encourage you to paint whatever colors you like and include in the rooms anything that suits your taste.
Personally, I think clean-lined modern furnishings and vivid colors look terrific in older homes with elaborate trim work and high ceilings. Houses built in the past were meant to last for decades, if not centuries. People’s taste and the needs of their lives change and the houses typically evolve with that. That has always been the case, throughout history. Live with what you love and you will be happy!
You do not have to follow the rules to make the home look like it did 100 years ago.
Make it yours but include some traditional work.