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Article ID: 5587
Title: House Renovation Ideas I Considering Orginal Architecture
By: Carina MacDonald

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House Renovation Ideas I Considering Orginal Architecture

Home Improvement-10

When considering home renovation ideas, staying faithful to the architectural style is important. Not only is it more attractive, it can affect your home's resale value. Does this mean you should keep the dark paneling in your 1970s home or the small closed-off kitchen in your Victorian Painted Lady? Not necessarily. The key is compromising with style.

Know Your Home's Architectural Style

While many homes built today are a mix of architectural styles, older homes reflect the popular architecture of that era. The first step in maintaining the authenticity of your home’s architectural details is to research the era in which your home was built. This knowledge will go a long way toward maintaining the true integrity and value of your home.

In previous generations, families tended to stay in their homes for decades. Today the average American family moves every five to seven years, making it more important to keep resale value in mind. Home-buyers want both modern convenience and a tasteful home. If the home is older, especially if it is an architectural gem, poorly executed updates will detract from both the functionality and attractiveness of the house.

Replacing the multipaned wood and leaded glass windows on a classic Colonial-style home with plain vinyl windows, or attaching a vinyl-sided sunroom to the back of a brick Victorian home are huge remodeling mistakes. It can be prohibitively expensive to replicate 100-year-old building materials and styles, but updating in the spirit of the original architecture can be done for a reasonable cost.

Instead of plain vinyl windows, the Colonial home could have multipaned vinyl windows installed. The sunroom addition to the brick Victorian could have a lower skirting of brick below the windows with just a little extra work.