Beneath My Heart

How to Add “Old House” Character & Charm to Your Newer Home {Step 6}

11:36 am

Welcome to the final step in this series!

**Please be sure to take time to read the final thoughts at the end of this post.

Here is a recap of all the posts in this series:

Step 1: Add wood ceilings.

Step 2: Replace your builder’s grade doors with paneled doors.

Step 3: Replace your builder’s grade light fixtures with ones that possess more

character and charm.

Step 4: Add Character to Your Home with New “Old” Hardware.

Step 5: Add Character and Charm to Your Home with Finish Trim Work.

Today’s step is a no-brainer.

Step 6:

Add Wood Flooring!

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There is nothing more characteristic of older homes than wood flooring.

The charm and beauty is hard to match!

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I could spend time in this post talking about all different types of wood flooring, but I’m not.

Everyone has different tastes when it comes to wood flooring. Some like light wood. Some dark.

Some like thin planks. Some like wider.

There is soft wood, hard wood, engineered wood, and laminate wood.

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Whichever type of wood flooring you chose, I can guarantee one thing…

It will add instant warmth and beauty to your home!

My personal favorite is a dark stain on real wood planks. And I prefer the planks to be 5 inches wide or wider.

We used pine wood for our kitchen floors which is a softer wood. It does show wear and tear more than the harder woods. If you do not like to see some wear on your floors, then you would definitely want to go with a harder wood. But keep in mind that the harder the wood, the more expensive it will be.

I don’t mind a little wear on my floors because I think it gives my home that old farmhouse feel that I love.

We are planning on adding the same hard wood flooring in our master bedroom and master bath in our addition.

Here are some beautiful pictures I found of wood flooring in a bathroom.

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We also plan on putting wood on our stairs in our addition.

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My friend, Sarah, from Thrifty Décor Chick removed the carpet from her stairs in her newer home to create beautiful wood steps!

If you have stair rails on your stairs, one thing that you might consider adding for some extra “old house” character is an antique newel post.

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I love the look of the top of the newel post stained to match the steps and the bottom half painted white.

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I am hoping to find a newel post at an architectural salvage place for our new staircase. It will give our stairs instant charm!

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Painted wood floors are beautiful too.

Look how fabulous these red wood floors look!

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Here is an adorable nursery with painted floors…

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Though I love the look of stained wood flooring, if I owned an older home with wood floors that were in really bad shape, and they had stains that couldn’t be sanded out, I would definitely consider painting them.

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Another flooring choice that creates that “old house” feel is hexagonal tile.

I absolutely love this type of tile!

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I am considering hexagonal tile for when we redo the guest bath by our kitchen this year.

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Don’t ya love it?

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Lastly, I also think brick flooring is a great choice for an mudroom or back hallway.

I think brick flooring is going to be showing up more and more in home interiors.

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Here is a picture of brick flooring in the kitchen…

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Well, that’s it!

I hope you have enjoyed this series as much as I have!

I would love to hear your thoughts about this series in the comments!

Final Thoughts on this Series

I just had to end this series with a word of encouragement to you!

I have loved posting these steps about how to create a charming home full of “old house” character.

And I have loved sharing all of these amazing inspiration pictures to help get your creative juices flowing.

But one thing I want to make sure I haven’t done is create discontentment in your heart about what you have.

Maybe your home looks NOTHING like these inspiration pictures.

Maybe your renting.

Maybe you are in a starter home, and it isn’t really the type of home you want.

Wherever you may be living, I pray that you are content.

This series is meant to inspire you to think out of the box when it comes to decorating your home.

It is not meant for you to feel frustrated with all the things you wish you could do to your home.

Remember to be patient. It takes time to get your home looking the way you want it to. Enjoy the process!

Start on a small room in your home, like a bathroom, and following these steps a little at a time to create a space you love.

But in the meantime, while you may not have wood floors, or pretty light fixtures, fancy trim, or whatever else you may want, count your blessings.

Let’s thank God for the roof over our heads.

For warm beds to sleep in at night.

For bellies that are full.

For family and friends to love.

And then….smile.

You are loved by your heavenly Father more than you will ever know!

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How to Add “Old House” Character & Charm to Your Newer Home {Step 5}

12:27 am

Welcome to Step 5 in this series!

Here is a recap of the first 4 steps if you missed them and want to get caught up!

Step 1: Add wood ceilings.

Step 2: Replace your builder’s grade doors with paneled doors.

Step 3: Replace your builder’s grade light fixtures with ones that possess more

character and charm.

Step 4: Add Character to Your Home with New “Old” Hardware.

And now for the next step!

Step 5:

Add Character and Charm

to your Home with

Finish Trim Work

One of the elements that always catches my eye when I walk into an older home is all of the detail in the Finish Trim Work.

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It is beyond gorgeous!

I love the high baseboards, thick crown molding, beautiful door casings, and more!

In almost every home we’ve owned, we have had basic finish trim work. Much like what was in our previous master bedroom.

Just imagine how much more character our bedroom would have had with thick crown molding and high baseboards!

So today, we are going to talk about wood.

Wood. wood. and more wood.

Finish trim work can make a big impact in a room for little money.

Look at the beautiful door casing in this historic home…

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I found this link that shows you how to make this type of trim work.

And look at the trim work on these windows..

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Who needs window treatments with beautiful trim like that?! I am hoping to add some trim to the top of my kitchen window.

Another striking feature of older homes is transom windows above a doorway.

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There are many different types of finish trim work for walls, but there are two that I want to focus on today.

1. Flat Panels (Board and Batten): Indicative of Arts and crafts style

2. Bead board: Classic cottage style

Flat Panels

Board and Batten

Here are a couple examples of Flat Panels or Board and Batten finish work:

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We did a board and batten treatment in our previous laundry room.

You can read the tutorial of how we did it Here.

And I will forever be in love with my friends, Layla and Kevin’s, amazing reading room re-do! They have flat panels on one wall, gymnasium wood floors on the back wall, plank ceilings, and built-ins (which we will take about in a minute)!

Love, love, love this room!

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Bead Board

Next, we have bead board finish work. This is such a classic look for older homes, and is especially indicative of the cottage style.

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I love bead board in a bathroom! It gives a lot of visual lift to a small space.

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Bead board also looks great in a kitchen!

It can be used on cabinet fronts, on the walls, or in the backsplash.

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This may not be considered “trim work”, but I have to share some pictures of the beauty of wood walls.

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Wood planks or paneling on the wall is all the rage right now. (At least I think so.) Smile

It seems like every magazine I pick up has beautiful rooms featured with wood on the walls.

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We are planning on doing wood walls in our master bathroom, and maybe one wall of our master bedroom. This can get a little costly, so we will just do what we can afford.