1930s house - help!

[Writemove]

We've just moved into a 1930s semi with lots of original features. The family we bought from also left a lot of furniture.

We have ideas and paint etc (although wary about the dreaded feature wall)

How do we avoid the house looking like a miseum?

Why are you worried about it looking like a museum? Just curious

I suppose because we love Art Deco features and furniture. We have saved to buy a few pieces that looked stylish in our modern house. But now we're in a 30s house with furniture from the era too it's all looking a bit like a museum or a grandparent's house.

I suppose I'm looking for wall colour inspiration and other pieces that would make it look stylish rather than a time warp.

Thanks

look up transitional home designs.. sometimes they can convert modern with older designs.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transitional_Style

As long as you don't have small sherry glasses in a display cabinet it won't look old lady/museum like.

Do you like the furniture?

What kind of furniture is it?

My sis lives in 1930 semi , it looks ultra modern. She put in a lovely white and black kitchen , wooden floors throughout , gutted bathrooms , ripped out the old built in wardrobes . She painted all doors , skirting and architraves ??? White . She managed a small loo under the stairs and had painted whole house in creams and ivories and coffee colours. The kids rooms are bright pinks and blues. She's talking of a loft conversion.
Have a look on zoopla and look at some 1930 houses for sale (or sold) in some posh roads and see how they are decorated .

As pp have said if you maybe use a modern colour palette for example greys differing shades of white/taupe etc plus, if you mix your deco furniture with more modern pieces, would make a difference to the 'feel' of a room, im not keen on feature walls & tend to use different fabrics/textures & bring in colour & pattern, rather than a solid block of colour or pattern.

Thanks all. That's really helpful.

There are sherry glasses in a display cabinet at the moment - and they won't be staying. (How did you know!)

We'd like to keep quite a bit of the furniture. It's gorgeous, well made and much more solid than anything else we could afford.

I hadn't heard of transitional style. Will do some reading now.

I think a modern colour palette will be key. It's just hard to picture it because it's just like living in a grandparent's house. I think once one room is done it will help too.

I will look at other similar houses - great idea. I've also spent more time than is healthy on houzz and theroomedit!

Thanks again

Choice of fabrics makes a huge difference to a room, as does the flooring and lighting.

I am slowly replacing my ikea furniture with old stuff from a charity warehouse :) it's so much nicer!

We were in a similar position about 5 years ago. Old lady had died and her family had left various items of furniture (things like Stag & Antler bedroom furniture - far better quality than the high street stuff we had). We kept quite alot of it, painted some of it, but as others have said, mixed the traditional style with modern decor. We have done a "feature" type wall in our bedroom with a very contemporary wallpaper, mixed it with grey on the rest of the walls. Roman blinds, white bedlinen, lovely headboard. Kept the picture rails, the 1930s doors, modernised the fitted wardrobes etc. Downstairs we've kept the picture rails, the doors, the chimney breast (built in cupboards either side), fireplace etc, had curtains (rather than blinds) so you can see the lovely stained glass in the bay window but painted in F&B neutrals with a splash of colour here and there, lots of fabrics / textures, mirrors, contemporary chandelier. We have wooden floors throughout too. We have one or 2 nice pieces of furniture / art that don't really match but make it look less "staged".

Its exciting, being able to put your stamp on things!

Following with interest as we have also moved into a 1930s semi and are decorating at the mo. We have already uncovered lovely wooden floors, original doors and glass paned cupboards (hidden under 1970s formica). It's amazing but so much work. We are thinking of using mostly neutral modern colours as there are so many original features that speak for themselves. But we are going to give the dining room quite a vintage look (that has the most original features). If you come across and particular paints that work please let me know. We have had success so far with 'putty' which is a Homebase colour. We are going to do the living room in duck egg blue and are looking for the perfect white to go with it (for cupboards, skirting etc.). We are going to do the dining room in 'Willow Tree' which is a Dulux colour but are still searching for the perfect 'vintage off-white' to complement it!

Thank you - and thank you for the paint suggestions.

Now some of the beds and broken wardrobes have gone I'm feeling less overwhelmed. It's a lot of work but you are right - modern colours, textures and mixing with original features and pieces will be amazing.

Love the sound of duck egg blue. We were thinking that in the bedroom. Maybe with a darker tone for the bay window.

We got some modern deep blue and biscuity stripe curtains for the living room. I think a deep dark blue on the fire place walls could work.

I'm beginning to get more ideas so thank you for all your help.

I love the sounds of all these 1930's houses! So stylish, I love that era. And the proportions of the rooms are usually great too.

Empress have you looked at Farrow and Ball, or Colour trend, or annie soanes paints for good vintage 'off white' colours

If you google 1930s colour panel you will see they were big into pastels.

Look at Pinterest too. Lots of 30s houses on there.

Ooh, we have a 1930s semi, and I am envious of what sounds like lots of original features others have. Ours had most of them missing/damaged beyond repair, and was - I suspect - a fairly "entry level" model when it was first built, so didn't ever seem to have parquet floors or anything particularly fancy.

I think the house can cope with lots of different styles. Although DH did get a bit wary/weary of the number of times we started painting a room one colour and then had to start from scratch with a different one (sorry DH).

Send me any stuff you don't want Our vendors ripped out every single original feature except the picture rails. Original doors replaced with cheap six panel white ones, fireplace now awful 80s bricks, front door now horrible 80s dark wood with faux stained glass. I try not to dwell on it as it makes me upset!!

Watching with interest. I love properties from that period.

I found two lovely "one over three" panelled doors in a house clearance warehouse. £15 the pair! They are currently sitting behind my sofa waiting to be fitted in place of my shite modern ones.

I have the original front door in the garage which I plan to refurbish and put up in place of the shite modern one... I'm a little surprise the previous owners kept it TBH.

I have the five panel doors or dust collectors as I call them. The good point is I have never had such clean interior doors. The tiny marks you spot when dusting are surprising.

Watching with interest-
Love our 30s house. We must be one of the very few who deliberately kept our 30s orange/brown fireplace :D