Look to older homes' elements to give new home character

Dear Sandi: My husband and I love old houses, but we were not able to find what we had in mind, so we have recently purchased and moved into a new housing area. Although our new house has many features I love, it seems quite sterile and bland to me. Also, after going through a few others that were for sale in the same develpment, it is too much like every other house on the block. I need some inspiration.
Lyndee M. Albany

Dear Lyndee: The sameness of many of the newer housing developments is probably the number one complaint most people have with them. Although their newness has a clean, crisp appeal and they are usually more energy efficient than old houses, they often don’t have that feel of “home” to them. But there are many things you can do to put your own personal stamp on yours and to transform it from “house” to “home”.

Whether you're looking for handmade paper, furniture, fabric or accessories, you will find it at loose ends. If it is unusual, organic and fabulous, then loose ends is the place. Showroom hours are 8 am to 5 pm weekdays and the first Saturday of each month 10 am - 3pm at 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, or visit us online at www.looseends.com Questions? Give us a call at (503) 390-2348.

We have discussed adding bold, interesting color to your walls in an earlier article, so we won’t go into that again, but color is usually my first stopping off place when I want to change the mood of a room or house. Getting rid of all that white will make a big difference in how you feel in your new abode.

Ok, now think about what it is about old houses that you love. Old houses often have a wealth of architectural detailing that may be lacking in newer homes. Fortunately that is a really easy and fun thing to add. A stroll through any home improvement store will turn up all kinds of turnings, trims, cornices, picture molding, and general “goo gahs” that you can add to doors, windows, wall, etc. to give them some character and detailing that may have been lacking.

If you have a bit of an artist’s eye, consider going a bit further afield, and look for interesting “salvage” that can be used to intorduce interest and personality into your new house. A year or so ago, we found some great old tin molding that had come off a commercial building. It is long and narrow and would make a fabulous door “frame”. Look at things with a new eye maybe that fancy old chair leg could be cut in half lengthwise and used as an embellishment?

Sandi Reinke is an author, frequent television guest and lead designer for loose ends (www.loosends.com), a Salem-based interior décor, garden, and casual lifestyle company. To ask Reinke a decorating question, e-mail info@looseends.com or mail her at the showroom address, 2065 Madrona Ave. SE, Salem, OR 97302. Phone: 503-390-2348.

You can also make your own interesting trims by combining different cuts and widths of standard, commercially available lumber and layering them to create your own dimensional detailing. When you paint these combined pieces, you can either meld them together by making the pieces all one color, or “pop” part of the detailing by painting it a different shade. This is also a great way to work with less expensive standard cuts of lumber, then sparingly use some more expensive piece of detailed, scrolled, or carved accent.

One of my favorite things about older houses is their unpredictability. I don’t like knowing what the floor plan layout is going to be before I ever enter the house. Although you may not want to do anything so dramatic, you can change some of that room layout by knocking out non weight bearing walls to perhaps turn two small bedrooms into one large home theater room.

Older homes usually had smaller rooms with less large areas. Many of the newer homes have huge, open floor plans, and while we all seem to love the spaciousness, you can personalize and create a bit more intimacy in these rooms by adding movable screens. This will also give you more design flexibility by offering you the option of using the space as one large open area when desired, and smaller, cozier rooms other times.

Newer houses don’t need to be sterile. Take the things you love about old houses and incorporate these into your new one, and soon you will feel that yes, this is “home”.

April 2, 2004