Making The Most Of Historical Features In Your Home

If you’re lucky enough to live in a period property you may wonder how to make the most of the history behind the home, whilst still keeping the house stylish. We’re currently on the hunt for our new home and have our eyes on a Georgian property, I absolutely love homes from this period as they’re packed with the most beautiful features and make for great family homes. My own parents have a much older home, which they have recently restored in all its glory. In this post I want to share with you a few ways you can make the most of the historical features in your home.

Expose Original Features

Exposing the original features is one of the best ways you can pay tribute to your homes history, some jobs are smaller than others but here are a few ideas to get you started;

Exposing walls

Embrace the natural beauty of brick and stone by paring back your walls to reveal what’s underneath. Feature walls, arches and fireplaces have all been given a new lease of life. Bricks are the building blocks of a dwelling and architectural points of interest are likely to appear around windows and above doorways where the bricks are laid vertically for structural reasons. If you have an interesting shaped window or arched doorway, investigate further and see if you can expose the brick around it to add a highly individual feature.

Rip up the carpet

Lifting up your carpet for further inspection is definitely a must if you live in a period property, you may be lucky enough to reveal hidden gems that can really make all the difference in your home. You may find wooden floorboards, or Victorian tiles either way both have made a come back and can look incredible even if you’re looking for a modern feel. You should be mindful though, it is very unlikely you can rip up a carpet, find a hidden gem and then be good to go. Quite often these floors will need repairing and restoring so make sure you keep this in mind and budget accordingly.

Highlight Features

If you live in a home which has a well (like my parents) or sections of wattle and daub - why not highlight this? There are so many ways you can do this but using glass can really show off these features whilst keeping them protected and you safe! Walk on glass, is perfect to reveal wells and making them a useful feature of the home (opening up new walkways etc). Adding lighting also gives a real wow effect and makes for a great talking point in the home.



Of course it goes without saying that there is a lot that goes into restoring a period property and I’m excited to explore this more and create a few articles on this very topic. I would absolutely love to hear your ideas on how best to make the most of these features in period homes, especially as I embark on my own journey of restoring a property.

K Elizabeth xoxox

*Collaborative Post