Get the Most Out Of Natural Features in Your House

Home trends are always changing and it can be hard to keep up. What works for one home won’t work for another, so a lot of home design and renovation will depend on your house and its features. Whether you live in an older property that is over 100 years old, or if you live in a brand new house that’s just been built, there are always ways you can make the most of the natural features in your home and use them to keep on top of upcoming trends.

Sometimes, forcing modern trends into an old house or older trends into a new house just won’t work, and that can leave your home looking disjointed. For this reason alone, taking advantage of and renovating the original features in your house can instantly make it look better and more cohesive, and that will help you keep up to date with trends without having to change the look of your home entirely.

Here are some ways you can make the most of the natural features in your house.

1. Flooring

A hidden gem in many houses is the flooring. Underneath the carpet or laminate flooring is often much better looking, authentic flooring that will complement your house far better than anything else you put on top of it.

Older properties often have original tiled flooring in the entrance hall, whereas newer properties likely have impeccable floorboards underneath the carpet. With the right attention to detail and restoration technique, almost any original floor can be brought back to life. In the case of floorboards, you can varnish them in a tone that complements your décor style. It’s important to note that you will need to assess the state of the original flooring before you incorporate it into your home’s interior design. With tiles, you’ll need to wary of cracks and breaks, and with floorboards you’ll need to look out for woodworm and wood rot.

Provided your floor is in a good state, it shouldn’t take too much money to get things looking fresh and up to date in a way that complements your house.

2. Alcove

This is something that typically can be found in older properties. Alcoves used to be seen as unfashionable, but today, original alcove is considered a design asset and looks beautiful in older homes. This is because older homes typically have more headspace, so alcove adds a point of interest that separates the walls from the ceiling. Alcove doesn’t usually look as great in standard new build homes because the ceilings are typically lower, so an alcove can make the room look smaller than it actually is.

Rather than forcing alcove into new homes, you can try adding some DIY paneling on the wall. This will add some depth and dimension to the wall without making the ceiling appear lower than it is.

3. Natural Light

Not every home has stunningly large windows that let masses of natural light cascade in. If your home does, take advantage of the big windows. Try not to block them or hide them behind heavy curtains. If you have enough space, you can even install a window seat or a reading nook to take advantage of all the natural light.

For those without a lot of natural light, instead of interfering with the structural build of your home, try adding lots of mirrors. Mirrors go with almost every home décor trend and will allow you to use dark colors and furnishings in your home if they’re in trend, even if you have a lack of natural light.

These are just some of the ways you can take advantage of and enhance the natural features of your home to keep up to date with modern trends and make the most of what you have. Will you be trying any?