Renovating an Older Home: How to Make It Work for Modern Living
Key Takeaways for Renovating an Older Home Thoughtful renovations can preserve the charm of an older home while improving its function, comfort, and livability. Planning for surprises and having a flexible, experienced team makes all the difference when working with vintage architecture. The goal isn’t to recreate the past, but to design a home that reflects your life today while honoring its original character. What Makes Renovating an Older Home So Worthwhile (and So Complex) You’ve fallen for an older home. Maybe it’s the original wood floors with real patina, the proportions of an arched doorway, or the way light filters through wavy old glass. But more often, it’s something deeper—a sense of story, of possibility. At Spectrum Design Group, we work with clients who want to preserve what makes their home special while aligning it with how they live today. That doesn’t mean historical replication or museum-level preservation. It means thoughtful design that honors the home’s character while making it more functional, comfortable, and personal. House Beautiful recently explored the challenges of updating older homes, particularly how many weren’t built for modern life. We see this all the time in our projects, and it’s why careful planning, realistic expectations, and a strong design process matter so much. Here are five things we always consider when working with older homes: 1. Start with Function, then Layer in Character The homes we work on often have beautiful bones, but awkward layouts. Small, closed-off rooms. Kitchens that don’t connect to living areas. Circulation that doesn’t make sense for how you move through your day. Before we talk about materials, finishes, or aesthetics, we look at how the space needs to function for you. What needs to connect? Where does storage fall short? What layout changes will make your home easier to live in without losing the charm that made you fall in love with it in the first place? Finding that balance, honoring what’s worth keeping while improving what isn’t working, is something we think about in every project. It’s also one of the most rewarding parts of our work. 2. Plan for Surprises. They’re Inevitable. Every renovation comes with unknowns, but older homes? They’re especially good at keeping secrets. We’ve uncovered everything from knob-and-tube wiring to strange plumbing reroutes to floors that have shifted a good inch or more. It happens! The important thing is to plan for this from the start. That includes setting aside a realistic contingency budget and being mentally prepared to make decisions as new information comes to light. Having an experienced team helps both to anticipate what might come up and to respond quickly and calmly when it does. 3. Integrating Modern Comforts into Older Homes Yes, you can have efficient HVAC, proper insulation, smart lighting, and a comfortable layout in a 100-year-old home. You just need to design with intention. We often conceal systems where they won’t interrupt the look and feel of the space. But sometimes, we use contrast to our advantage, letting clean-lined modern elements sit alongside older textures and finishes. The key is knowing when to spotlight original details, when to design around them, and when to simplify so they’re not competing for attention. 4. What to Know About Rules and Codes for Renovating an Older Home There’s a difference between working with a home that’s simply older and one that falls under formal preservation rules. Most of the time, our clients aren’t looking for strict restoration. They want to keep what’s special about the home but don’t want to be limited in every decision. That’s perfectly reasonable! That said, zoning, permitting, and inspections still come into play, and older homes often need more documentation or creative problem-solving to meet code. This is where experience (and relationships with local trades and inspectors) makes all the difference. We’ve navigated it many times and know how to keep things moving forward. 5. Designing a Home that Honors the Past and Fits Your Life Today At SDG, we believe the best design doesn’t just preserve the past, it connects it to the present. Our goal isn’t to recreate a specific year or era. It’s to make your home feel cohesive, grounded, and personal. Sometimes that means honoring original materials. Sometimes it means rethinking a space entirely. What matters is that the end result works for you and the life you’re building inside those walls. Bring New Life to an Older Home Thinking about renovating an older home? We’d love to hear your goals and talk about what’s possible. It starts with a conversation and a design process that respects where your home has been, while focusing on where it’s going.
