Historic Home Renovations

Renovating a historic home is all about focusing on restoration and preservation. What’s the point of even buying a historic home if you’re going to completely change it? People are drawn to historic homes because they bring with them a uniqueness that you can’t get with a new cookie-cutter or prefabricated home designed solely to be built as quickly as possible. When your historic home was built, there was care put into it, and you’ll feel rewarded when you put your own care into it as well. 

Check Restrictions

Before you undertake any large renovations for your historic home, you’re going to want to check if there are any restrictions on your home. Many older homes are said to be of architectural significance by the National Register of Historic Places. This can sometimes limit what you are allowed to do to the home in terms of renovations. Typically, you’ll run into trouble if you try to add square footage, replace windows and shutters, replace the roof with newer materials, or change the color of the house.

Prioritize Projects

Overall, it’s important to prioritize your projects because you won’t be able to, nor should you want to, change everything about your historic home. Problem areas affected by water damage and dry rot should come first. Older homes that have stood the test of time are subject to foundation issues that will be much more important to deal with than updating a bathroom. When you’re ready to renovate, don’t skimp on the materials. It’s far better to renovate less with the best materials than it is to renovate more with lesser materials. The outcome may not be as high quality as you’d like and will probably need another update in a shorter time frame.

As mentioned above, you didn’t buy this home to make it look like all the other ones on the street. Don’t try to change everything about your home. Embrace the parts of your historic house that make it unique and start your renovations there. Preserve those pieces by restoring them to their former glory. If they drew you to the house as is, imagine how others will feel once you’ve updated them to look like new. Those are the parts of your house that make it special enough to be your home.

Looking to Modernize?

All of this is not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t make any updates at all. There are plenty of modern updates that you can make to aspects of historic homes, such as kitchen appliances, showers, lighting, and window dressings. Changing out some of these pieces for more modern options will give your house the fresh feel you want while preserving the uniqueness that makes it so valuable.

To Refinish or Invest?

Wood floors may be a great place to start your historic home’s renovations. Instead of tearing up those old floors, you can sand and refinish them. Most older homes have beautiful, wide pine floors that are hard to duplicate today. The cost of refreshing those floors is almost always cheaper than replacing them with something new. But sometimes, historic floors can be beyond repair and need replacing. If that’s the case in your home, the experts at your local Flooring America are always here to find replacement floors that will match the historic design of your home.

With everything from hand-scraped hickory to distressed white oak and rich-grain quarter sawn hardwood, Flooring America has the ideal updates for your floors that will provide a seamless blend between vintage and contemporary. Let our flooring experts guide you through our extensive array of hardwood flooring products and our experienced installers carefully handle the flooring restoration of your historic home. Some contractors don’t have any experience working with historic homes, and you may not want them figuring things out for the first time on yours.

Visualize Your Flooring Dreams

Want a preview of how new floors will look in your home? Try our room visualizer, My Floor Style. Upload a photo of your room, select your style preferences, and get a virtual look at each different flooring style. With My Floor Style, there are no surprises. Only beautiful new floors.