WHAT LIVING IN A HAUNTED HOUSE TAUGHT ME ABOUT HOME DESIGN
(DON’T) RIP IT ALL OUT
For those of you who knew you were signing up for a major reno when you purchased your property, you know the feeling of being overwhelmed. Even you house flippers out there know the feeling.
That’s when the voice in your head says, “RIP IT ALL OUT!” so you can start with a clean slate. And, in many cases, that’s the way to go.
But, I challenge you to ask yourself a few questions before brandishing your sledgehammer. Here’s why.
HOMES HAVE SOULS
Let me start by saying I believe every home has a soul. And, I’m willing to bet that you have experienced this too. When you enter a home for the first time, you get a feeling, sense an energy, just like we do when meeting people for the first time.
Now, I believe not every home has a good soul or positive energy, but there’s a possibility your home is more special than you think. Behind the dated materials and fixtures there may be elements worth preserving.
MEET FRED
I grew up in a haunted house. When my childhood home in Connecticut was deconstructed in its original location the builder discovered a room in the foundation which was connected to the Underground Railroad. The materials from the original home were used to rebuild the house in a new location, where we ultimately lived for 10 years.
The story goes - a man hung himself from one of the beams that ended up in the top floor of our home, where my sisters and I shared a giant room. The four of us would go to bed at night listening to the footsteps of a man in boots angrily stomping up and down the stairs. It happened so frequently that it didn’t scare or bother us much. We named him Fred.
A number of other odd things happened that can’t be explained, even by my Dad who refused to believe in Fred. The house was alive.
When we moved out of the house, we kept waiting for ghosts to show up in our new home, which was of an even older vintage than our haunted house. And, since it was the home of the town doctor until the 70s, many people had died and been born in our “new” house. There were no ghosts, but the house did have a soul. Every room told the story of the decades of town folk who had come up the stone steps through the old front door and the mother of the home who made her sons play in the attic (which she had painted to the look like the inside of a ship). It had character and tales to tell.
TAKE IN THE STORY OF YOUR HOME
I learned as a child to look beyond the “old and dated” and see the qualities of a home that tell its story. There is a lot to absorb about the character and history of a home, not just from unsettled souls who remain, but also from its design and feel. And, in my view, it’s often the quirky imperfections and evidence of its history that make a house unique and even beautiful.
I’m not advocating for keeping the dingy avocado colored linoleum or anything that is in disrepair that can’t be restored (or just isn’t worth restoring). I’m simply making the point that often we can end up with a much more interesting and special result if we keep design elements that are original to the home. From there, once we’ve identified the features that call out to be preserved, we can work around them, factor them into our design plan or even call attention to them!
APPLYING CREATIVITY TO YOUR INTERIOR DESIGN = CASH
Let’s be honest, for most of us cost is a factor. And, by using a restrained approach to remodeling, there is money to be saved. Listen carefully to the house and observe what works or makes the house unique and see if you can save money by keeping those elements or enhancing them. AND, by the way, this approach is more sustainable for the environment.
The trick is to tap into your creativity, or that of a good designer, to figure out how to incorporate unique elements of the home into your design plan. I advise researching architecture from the era in which your house was built. If you can find homes you love from the era that have similar features to yours, you might be able to more easily tap into the soul of the home and find features that are worth keeping and restoring.
And, developers and flippers, this advice is for you too. Buyers like homes that are unique. If you aren’t sure how to keep the original features when remodeling a project, work with a designer. You might just increase your bottom line, by reducing your costs AND by increasing the selling price.
