The Trick To Giving Your Home An Older, Lived-In Feel Instead Of Cookie-Cutter Modern

While some homeowners love the feel of a newer build home, as well as the feeling of a fresh start and modern amenities, many bemoan the lack of character and charm in these newer homes. They can be a strong contrast to older houses that have seen many centuries or even decades of love and use. While there are many ways to make a newer home feel older by adding architectural details like moldings and other features, even the objects you occupy your home with can go a long way toward making a new home feel older and full of charming character. Furnishing your home with pieces from a wide variety of eras can make your home feel like a well-curated collection of objects and much less like a furniture showroom.

Homes that have a cozy lived-in feel eschew the model home aesthetic, which is usually filled with newer furniture, often purchased in sets or from the same home retailer that can seem too matchy-matchy and put together. Older homes can take decades to curate and choose furniture for, often boasting a delightful combination of newer furnishings, transitional pieces, antiques, thrifted pieces, and heirlooms at any given moment. The result is a richer mix that looks like your home is an ever-evolving collection of things you love.

When procuring furnishings for your home, look for pieces that already have a sense of age and character in the form of antiques and vintage pieces that have been around a while. Not only do these pieces often have more beauty, richer materials, and durability than newer pieces, they already have a lived-in feel evidenced by wearing, fading, and patina. You can start by adding these antiques amongst items that are simpler and less tied to a specific era, or by choosing a statement piece, like a Victorian-era sofa or mid-century modern coffee table, and designing the room around it.

When decorating with wood tones, you can also achieve a varied and lived-in look by mixing materials. One wood finish in a room can make it look like all the furniture is from one trip to the home store, but blending lighter and darker finishes creates a more eclectic and collected feel. If you don't know where to start, begin by choosing a dominant wood tone (either on a surface like floors or cabinets or in the form of larger furniture pieces or woodwork.) Use that wood as a benchmark to beautifully mix wood stains that compliment the dominant one in their tone and other details like veining, hardware, and lines.

While a collection of furniture in differing aesthetics, eras, and finishes might make you fear a chaotic or haphazard feel, you can create a sense of unity by repeating certain elements throughout your space or entire home to create a more cohesive look. This can mean repetition in wood finishes, materials like metal and stone, colors, patterns, eras, or certain silhouettes.

Different design styles and eras often have characteristics that make them mix well with similar styles or can create interesting juxtapositions due to those differences. The simple geometric lines of Art Deco, mid-century modern, and contemporary design often look stunning together, as do the laid-back and distressed feel of boho and farmhouse furniture and décor. Aesthetics that would normally seem to be at odds with each other, like Victorian and industrial, can complement each other greatly in materials and finishes, like a rich velvet Chesterfield-style sofa behind a streamlined metal and wood coffee table. Look for ways to introduce the unexpected, like following the wrong lamp theory, to create texture and interest in unexpected ways.