Are you thinking of decorating your new build with period features? What’s great about buying a new-build home is the blank canvas you have to work with. But at the same time there is a distinct lack of period style décor to give your home more character.
If adding some period features to your new build is something you hope to achieve, read on for our style and design tips to help you get the balance between modern and period just right.
Less is more
First and foremost, it’s important to not go overboard with adding period features. The reason for this is that a new build home is quite different in style to an older property. The rooms tend to be smaller, and the ceilings much lower. With this in mind, decoration should be more considered, without being too large or too dark. Too much and you risk congestion and making you rooms look even smaller. And if you’re adding pieces of furniture, the odd vintage or antique piece here or there will be better than a room full of curiosities. But we will explain how to get the balance right as we share our period design tips.
Colour for contrast
A really quick and easy way to add a touch of period style to a room is to experiment with colour via a lick of paint. Consider painting a ceiling, a feature wall or your skirting boards for some colour contrast. Even wallpaper on the ceiling or a feature wall can lift a room. But be careful with how dark you go when choosing colours. With smaller rooms and lower ceilings, you don’t want anything too dark. Think about colour accenting too which you can pick up again in some furnishings added to the room.
Coving and cornices
Period features are all about detail and there’s nothing easier or more effective to bring detail to a room than wall and ceiling coving or cornices. And even modern new build homes can benefit from these decorative mouldings. You don’t want anything too ornate though. Keep the designs elegant and simple, with a ‘less is more’ approach.
Wall panelling
If you’re concerned your new build house has too many blank walls, and you’d like a means to add interest to them, then wall consider wall panelling. Not only do wall panels bring a touch of period style to your home, but they are a huge trend in home interiors right now, even in new build homes. Where wall panels are popular include the hallway or the bedroom, where the panels double up as a headboard. And these panels are ideal for painting to bring some colour contrast.
If you are finishing your wall panelling with some extra moulding such as a dado or picture rail, a popular interior trend is to hide LEDs for a touch of atmospheric lighting. There are mouldings available which are designed to hide LED lights.
Natural flooring
If you are buying a new build home which has carpets and flooring included, then you’ll likely end up with grey carpets in the lounge and bedroom areas, and LVT everywhere else. The reason why grey carpet is provided is because it is neutral in colour and appeals to all tastes. But if you want the period look in your home, then grey carpets aren’t the best.
While you might not be able to make any changes to your flooring immediately, when the time allows, a natural sisal carpet or even an engineered wood floor will give you that more authentic, ‘lived in’ look. All natural sisal carpets are perfect for bedrooms or lounges. They look fantastic when layered with rugs, which adds to that period style effect.
And with wood floors, there’s a wealth of choice in distressed, antique wood styles for that touch of period elegance. Remember to choose a floor that’s more mid to light in colour, so that you don’t compromise on the sense of size and space in the room.
Brass lighting
A huge interior trend this year, and the perfect, simple accessory for adding period features to your new build, is to choose brass light fittings. The warm metallic tones of brass tick the antique look boxes and will bring an immediate sense of elegance and style to your room. The best places to add your brass lighting features include the bedroom, lounge, or even your open plan kitchen space. And if you have had wall panelling finished, brass lighting above it or within it, will top it off. Brass light fittings are also a great choice for rooms with wood floors, creating that extra sense of warmth.
Drape your windows
While there’s a preference for lots of glass and large bi-folding doors in modern homes, an easy way to decorate your new build with a touch of period style is to drape your windows. Whether it’s a landing window, lounge window, or your bedroom window, fabrics through curtains or roman blinds can make a big difference. Fortunately, you won’t need to worry about draught proofing as people living in older, period properties do, so thinner fabrics will suffice. Think about patterns and colour, and even the length of your curtain. Again, you don’t want to swamp the room and make it look or feel smaller.
Failing that, period style plantation shutters are incredibly popular in home interiors, and they look just as good in new modern homes as they do period ones.
Plus, while choosing shutters or drapes to add period style and elegance to your space, you’ll also bring an extra level of security to your home, making it harder for unwanted visitors to see inside.
Before you can start decorating your new build home with period features, you need to find your perfect new home. And we’re here to help make your search even easier. Use our comprehensive search tool to find new build homes from a range of housebuilders, large and small, across the country. Start your search here.
