3 min readAt first glance, a well-designed new build can look like a convincing replica of a historic home. But look a little closer, and you'll often find it's missing the delightful quirks that give old homes their personality and soul.
We talked to three designers who specialize in historic homes and asked them to share their favorite qualities that give away an old home's age. Here's an ode to those original features and details that the modern world simply can't imitate.
Wood Doors That Creak
If your home has original stained wood doors, those features have escaped the threat of paint despite decades of trend cycles favoring it. Perhaps it was just luck, or maybe the home and its details spoke to homeowner after homeowner.
Micaela Quinton, director of design at Copper Sky Design + Remodel, will always opt to restore original wood doors rather than replace them. "Nothing gives a home an old soul quite like original stained wood doors, especially if they have been well preserved," she says. "The patina, wood grain, old hardware, and unique proportions are nearly impossible to replicate with something new."
Attention-Grabbing Trim and Millwork
Catherine Balding, co-owner of Balding Design Build, can often tell a home's age just by looking at its trim and millwork. Generally speaking, the more custom and ornate, the older the home.
"Many historic homes have elaborate casings with more intricate profiles when compared to some of the relatively simple casing styles popular today," she says. "You can tell a lot about the house by the trim and millwork. Historic homes can sometimes have unique details like a built-in telephone stand from more than 100 years ago."
Quirky Lines
Old homes often have the most interesting rooflines, and you'll often see that mirrored in their second-floor ceiling lines.
"Nothing says 'old house' quite like a room full of eaves—and this is my favorite sign that a house has an old soul," says designer Amal Kapen. "The second floor of some old homes can present special challenges. You have to think differently about where to place the bed and how to treat windows, but these spaces are also wonderful opportunities for creativity."
She loves highlighting slopes and angles with statement colors or wallpaper to embrace the home’s architecture rather than fighting it.
Original Windows
Blame it on energy efficiency or a lack of preservation education, but leaded and stained glass windows are becoming a rarer sight in historic homes. That's why, if your home still has its original wood-sash windows, Quinton says it's got one old soul.
"Older homes often have windows you simply wouldn’t see used today in new construction," she says. "I love to see original stained-glass windows, wavy textured glass, or unusual divided-lite patterns, like in a home with 25-over-1 windows. Unique old windows immediately reflect a home's age. Preserving and replicating these window features is so important in historic home remodeling."
Imperfectly Perfect Flooring
Another sign a house has an old soul is found in the flooring. Even if the floors have been recently and meticulously refinished, the small imperfections will always give away the age. We're talking details like sloped indents on stair treads from decades of footsteps, floorboards that creak a little, and kitchen tile with a patina that only time creates.
Old growth wood flooring is another telltale sign of an old home. Balding works on homes primarily in coastal North Carolina, where wide-plank, longleaf heart pine is typically only found in historic homes.
"It’s beautiful and hard to replicate today," she says. "Most of the true heart pine available today is reclaimed because old-growth longleaf was harvested so extensively around the turn of the 20th century."
Fireplaces in Unexpected Places
Most newer homes feature just one fireplace (if even that), and you'll almost always find it in the living room. But that's certainly not the case for an old grand Colonial or Victorian.
"Old homes have fireplaces in rooms that we would never think to put one in today," Kapen says. "A fireplace in a bedroom or dressing room tells you that these homes were built before homes had heating systems. Although these fireplaces are no longer the primary heat source, they offer an instant focal point and sense of intimacy."
