Well, unless your new house and your old house are the same period, size, aspect etc, surely they’re never going to be all that similar? Also, what do you need it to do — what is your lifestyle like?
Our last house was a 1970s redbrick, with large, square rooms. We painted the whole house F and B Pointing and had plain coir matting floors in most rooms. We had a small child, and not much furniture, as we’d moved from a tiny London flat, and it was an easy, practical house we knew we wouldn’t stay long in. The interest came from art hung on the walls. The house we live in now is from the 1860s, very tall, and with big, high-ceilinged rooms, and lots of original stained glass, picture rails, ceiling mouldings, mantelpieces etc. We’ve had to rewire and replumb throughout, so we’ve just stripped the original floorboards downstairs, and painted it in strong, deep colours. Our child is now older, so can cope with battered antiques picked up in cheapie auctions. The one thing both have in common is kilim and lots of bookshelves.