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5 ways to leave your old design behind

5 ways to leave your old design behind

5 ways to leave your old design behind wjfigw4q3

It's a new year, and a good time to take a walk through your house and re-evaluate things. Ask yourself: When was the last time you updated the look of your home? If it's been a while, then consider going through and redesigning aspects of your decor to help make it feel newer, fresher and more vibrant. Bringing a new design into your home could add energy to it as well.

While everyone should feel free to design a home that reflects their own personal tastes, the following tips can help make a lived-in house feel newer and more in tune with the current times. Sometimes it takes just a little touch of the new to revitalize an older space and give it more of a relevant feeling:

  • Clean and sleek means futuristic: Does your house feel cluttered, too busy, and crammed with junk? Try opting for a sparser look. Walls can be plain-colored with strategically-placed art, dark and smooth pieces of furniture and soothing and unobtrusive custom window coverings. Owners don't have to throw their old furniture and belongings away entirely, but they can start arranging them so as not to take up too much space in each room. Slimming the style down will do wonders to the way a room is perceived.

    Sometimes it takes just a little touch of the new to revitalize an older space and give it more of a relevant feeling

  • Simple window panels: Along those same lines, the custom window treatments in your house can be quite stylish while still providing privacy and effective sunlight coverage. In the past, some residences have taken the modern trend too far and gone with windows that don't feature any coverage at all, which could leave the occupants of a room feeling exposed. In a column for CBS Moneywatch, Ilyce Glink recommends an addition that is easy to install but doesn't make the window look "naked" or fill the room with too much distracting light.
  • Reclaim old "modern" styles: The idea of a "modern" home has been around for much longer than you may have thought. During the 1950's and 60's, many houses were designed to look space-age, but these places themselves have since become dated. However, that's not to say that the old ideas can't be used in some novel ways. Consider keeping the same color or furniture arrangements as an older room but adding new touches, such as space for a home entertainment setup or a more polished series of chairs.
  • Use alternatives to sitting: In workplaces today, there has been a gradual shift towards using standing desks as a way to avoid sitting in one place for too long. Think about following a similar trend in your home, removing traditional chairs and adopting different furniture pieces that will allow you to be more comfortable. Some possible ideas include wellness balls, reclining couches or adjustable desks that can be tailored to fit different heights. These can go a long way in improving your health, especially if you already spend much of the day working at a desk in a sitting position.
  • Keep an extra space open for different uses: In a newer home, it can be more valuable to keep some room open for different uses. Writing for the Orange County Register, real estate agent Leslie Sargent Eskildsen lists some of the different possibilities for open space she's seen customers ask about: yoga practice mats, storage for a cat's litter box and space around the electrical outlets for devices to plug into are among the commonly sought-after features in houses she shows.

Along with these ideas, homeowners should look to custom window shades that will fit in with their plans for a newly renovated space and tie together a matching aesthetic that runs throughout the bedrooms, living rooms and other spaces of your house. 

How can you make an old-fashioned room look more modern?How can you make an old-fashioned room look more modern?

Get more inspiration for changing the windows in your home by contacting Metropolitan Window Fashions and arranging for a free, at-home design consultation today!