If you have a period property in need of some love and attention, then you might be thinking about New Year Renovations rather than New Year Resolutions. That is the task facing many property owners as the calendar clicks over from 2021 to 2022 and we start to put our plans into action.
The traditional Christmas and New Year period can be expensive and requires a lot of planning, so it is not unusual for homeowners to apply some patience and put their home improvement plans on hold until the New Year. So now is the time to kick-start those plans and make preparations for your period property to get the makeover it deserves and to add some freshness and vitality to your home.
Renovating a period property can be a challenging project, mainly because the features of your home are more likely to be unique in terms of design, shape and material, and therefore specialist skills and materials could be required. Regardless of which period your property was built in, design features can be harder to restore or replicate because they were more delicately produced originally or their condition may have deteriorated. This means great care and preparation needs to go into any period renovation project because it is not the same as carrying out DIY home improvements on a more modern property.
How to renovate a period property
Common renovation projects include restoring a feature fireplace, replacing skirting boards, replacing door or window architrave, restoring ceiling coving, replacing internal doors, restoring a wooden floor, or restoring, removing or replacing a picture rail. Period Mouldings can help you with the sourcing of some of these materials, so that you can replace features like-for-like, but there is still plenty to consider when renovating a period property.
- Planning – It is important to ensure you have the right materials and the right expertise to carry out the renovation work, and to create the revitalised look you are wanting in your home. Period features require careful handling and specialist craftsmanship otherwise you can cause permanent damage or spoil a feature in a way that is hard to disguise. So think about who is doing the work, research their credentials, and think about things like what finish you want on the feature? Are you going to paint, stain or lacquer it? This will dictate which material you are using.
- Preparation – Like any home improvement job, much of the work in renovating a period property is in the preparation. Depending on what feature you are restoring, this could be sanding wood surfaces down with the right grade of paper, or sealing and priming wood for a top layer coating. It can also mean masking other features to avoid wayward brush strokes. Whatever the preparation required, it is always worth investing the time necessary to do it right, even if it feels like you are getting nowhere nearer the end result you are so excited about. Trust us it will be worth it, because the right preparation is so important.
- Colour match – Whether you are going for period features to match your walls and ceilings, contrasting colours or more subtle colour blending, make sure the colours work first and foremost and make sure the period features you are replacing or restoring can take the type of paint you are wanting to apply. Using different woods is not always as straightforward as you think.
- Period match – When looking to replace features such as skirting, architrave, rails or doors, make sure you are sourcing and fitting the right period design. Popular design periods include Georgian, Edwardian and Victorian, and while the profiles of each may look similar, there are subtle but very definite differences, which may look odd when you fit them and have a clash of period styles in one room, or leading from a room into a corridor. So make sure the design flows correctly and you have some consistency within a room by choosing the right period mouldings.
If you need any advice on home improvements and renovating a period property, you can talk to our design experts at Period Mouldings today, and we can help you choose from our extensive range of period and contemporary interior design features to help make your property renovation dreams come true.