How to make a new build feel more 'period'

[Luna20]

We bought our house 10 years ago at a steal of a price, it's got more than enough bedrooms for us and a home office etc but is a town house so feels bit narrow and an awkward space. It was our first home and I never really considered if it would be our forever home stupidly. Anyway, it turns out I desperately love Edwardian and Victorian homes and I would love to much but we just cannot afford to. So I want to try and love our house. Does anyone have any good hints and tips on how to make a new build style home feel a bit more this way? Something I'd love to do so replace all the cheap doors to pine or oak but again, budget doesn't allow. I'm thinking of sanding all the white gloss from the bannisters. The more budget friendly the better! I'd prefer to avoid paneling as well really if I can.

Go In Instagram, there are lot of people who have made their homes look more period like despite being new builds. Another good resource is Houzz (if you search London Victorian) you will get a lot of ideas.

I think it’s better in a new build to embrace what is good about the period you are in. What is it you love about an Edwardian house ? Have a think about specific details, eg is it the decorative structural aspects, details on ceilings and bannisters, flooring ? Is it the use of coloured glass in doors and windows ? Is it the more superficial decoration, such as wallpaper and textiles or furniture ?
Then incorporate the things you love in your own house in a more contemporary way that suits the building, eg fabulous wallpaper, more colour, dramatic curtains. A beautiful antique light fitting in a sitting room, plenty of wooden bookshelves, a coloured carpet.
That way you get the ‘feel’ of a period property without the oddness of a Victorian feature added to a new building.

The first and most noticeable thing is coving, I think.

What are the bannister's made of? In a new build they may be MDF so sanding them would not be a good idea.

You could have a Minton tiled flooring fitted in the entrance hall, or a Minton effect vinyl
and use period paint colours.

Solid, reclaimed wood doors would make a difference.

as a previous poster said, you can trust that underneath the painted bannisters there will be wood. so i wouldn’t sand

starting with a room at a time, ypu couod slowly work through every room.

with the hall could you paint the bannister an edwardian colour you like instead? could you get a lino with an edwardian tile pattern or do paint effects on the wall to look like wood panelling? coving or picture rails?

Don’t try to make your house look period, it doesn’t work. However upgrading some of the cheaper fixtures, be it stairs, doors etc can make it look more solid, and give a higher quality finish. You can also change paint, artwork, soft furnishings, etc

Embrace what you have and plan to move in time

By Alice grace on Instagram has done exactly this and it looks great

https://www.ukhomeinteriors.co.uk/product-category/coving/page/16/?campaign=22082991543&content&keyword&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22083005172&gbraid=0AAAAAD_bAE2LG8B8zIdKUy15li1r8M2a0&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhNas2YHkkgMV_qVQBh27XBOREAAYASAAEgJruvD_BwE

That’s not what she’s done though, she lives just outside bath in a new build that’s clad in bath stone so it looks old, she’s made it look like a traditional house in keeping with the area inside, and and focuses on timeless and traditional, adding dimension into the property, her home is gorgeous, but she’s not trying to make it look Edwardian or Victorian by any stretch of the imagination,

Take a photo and put into chat gpt with a prompt describing what you would like it to look like. Be really specific including room orientation etc. it will give you some good ideas with a mock up photo if you ask it. I often ask it to do a mood board with different options as you only get limited images for free.

also be specific in budget and it will come up with ideas you can actually afford to do.

Agree. I think making a new building look period is impossible. As pp suggested, upgrade some of the fittings like doors to solid wood and choose 'heritage' colours to add some grace.

Tear out the wall insulation and burst some plumbing pipes in the wall. Now you have a cosy damp period.

You don’t have to do everything in one go…you can replace a couple of doors at a time and keep an eye on FB marketplace and eBay for doors reclaimed from older properties as that “not brand new and perfect” feel is what will bring the right vibes.

Other things:

Coving around the ceiling. You can do this quite cheaply.

Ceiling rose for light fittings. Again, not expensive.

Its worth investing in choosing the right colours for paint and having been previously cynical I really think Farrow & Ball is worth it, the paint just has a finish and depth of colour that colour matching doesn’t replicate.

I mix up a lot of period / antique / vintage pieces with more modern things which works really well in a new build.

Pick up period but quite cheap items like curtain pull backs (brass ones), sconces, light fittings, etc.

Change things like door and cupboard handles for really well made weighty ones made of proper metal (brass, iron, etc).

I agree with this. Work with what you've got. If it were a period house, you would be spending a fortune trying to make it warmer, trust me, and on general upkeep of an older property. Spend that money to improve your modern house.

The key thing is don’t just start randomly sanding your stairs, it’s unlikely to come out like you wish and certainly won’t make your house look period.

and don’t try to make it Edwardian or Victorian, if it looks like a typical new build town house on the outside and it will be jarring and you won’t fool yourself.

but do make it a long term project. Start saving up, start researching, looking at idea of what you like, think of putting personality and character in, to make it comfy snd welcoming.

so think of paint colours, soft furnishings, sofas, tables, window treatments, art work etc, how do you put depth into rooms that maybe boxy, that doesn’t mean add fake coving, ,

the interior designer linked above who went for clsssic and timeless is great inspiration, she is in a new build but she’s in one made to look like a period property from the outside, and says its indistinguishable from the actual period properties, so her interior she’s sought to match the outside as her rooms were boxy and lacked any character;

the colours she uses, the furnishings etc are all fabulous and you can take inspiration from it, as she’s jist went timeless, and classic, rather than a specific period, but if you see something she likes then google other things like that, and start to create what you love. Then go room by room, one room at a time, and over time it will evolve.

Came to recommend her account! I absolutely love how she’s styled her house

It will probably just look like a really old person lives in it if you do this.

Figure out what it is you like and then figure out how to recreate that. You don't have to do it all at once. My sister lives in a beautiful Edwardian house, her bannisters, spindles and the panelling on the under stairs wall is all painted black and it is stunning. They also have put panelling up the stairs as it didn't have any.

I wouldn't strip the bannister unless you know it is wood and even then are you staining it? I would lightly sand it to give it a key, prime it, paint it. Choose a colour. I think white bannister and skirting says new build and I bought one a long time ago and still live in it.

Do one area at a time, where do you spend the most time? Start there. Decorate and furnish how you want your house to be. Even on By Alice Grace's account she eve says no matter what you do someone will hate it.

Once you found what you like, shop around for it, use google image search to find you the best price, look at upcycling, lots of videos on Youtube for that from furniture to spraying light fittings with antique gold paint etc.

Someone I know used reclaimed skirting boards and doors in her new build. It made a huge difference - mainly because of the weight and quality of reclaimed fittings. Do same with light switches and door handles. I wouldn’t be a total slave to one period. Another think to consider is replacing windows - but cutting them out to the exact Georgian proportions.

Have a look at ‘Back to Front’ - it’s a company that renovates the outside of modern houses to a more traditional look.

https://www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com/before-after/

Ahh thank you so much for all the useful feed back!
I realise I've probably not explained myself properly, I'm not trying to make my house look like a period property, but rather bring in elements that give it that type of feel, I want it to feel cosy and lived in and not new or modern. I recently changed the door handles downstairs from modern chrome to a heritage style brass and it's made such a difference! My husband would say he doesn't understand why it was worth the money 😂 but to me it really has been. So just little things like that I guess, that I can slowly do over time. Thanks to this thread I think my next plan of action will be coving around the ceilings!
And to the person who said it would look like an old person lived there... that's probably kind of what I want in a way, not in a net curtains and doilies sense but my grandma used to live in a new build but she managed to make it feel so lived and kind of mixed kind of period type elements with a cosy cottage vibe and it really was so homey. Maybe I'm just nostalgic and trying to re-make my happy place in my own home.

I hear what you're saying @Luna20 and it sounds like you're heading in the right direction with the handles! But I'd think carefully before adding coving/ceiling roses etc as, imo, these can conjure up the 1980s/90s if not original to the property.

For example, we bought a Georgian cottage in 2024. The previous owner had lived there since 1970 and it was last renovated in 1965. So, sadly both internally and (to a lesser extent) externally, it felt like a much newer house that had been lived in by someone extremely elderly...which, of course, it had. All original doors, architraves, skirting, fireplaces and staircase were no more. The only fireplace was a crazy paved monstrosity!

Every bit of lovely uneven lath and plaster had gone too - replaced by flat grey gypsum. The ceilings - fortunately only artexed in a few rooms - had coving in the main living areas and it's one of the things we're removing as it's just wrong for a low-ceilinged cottage, being more suited to the high-ceilinged Victorian houses we've owned previously. Perhaps it will look better in your house🤞

So, generally speaking, it's been a bit like your situation, in that we're having to add character where none exists. We're doing that in the form of - period doors with brass/black door furniture, high skirting and reeded architraves. Paint-wise we're using deep, saturated, period-appropriate colours (which we love anyway) rather than the 'apple white' etc that was already here. On the (reclaimed) painted kitchen units we found on eBay, we've added solid unlacquered brass knobs/handles which have a lovely characterful look/tactile feel.

We don't like fitted carpets anyway so have loads of antique, vintage (and one crazy blue contemporary shagpile!) rugs, which always bring character to a room, imo. In the kitchen we're fortunate to have original Georgian floorboards which we're waxing, but elsewhere they're narrow 1960s. We're mostly painting those in LG Lamp Black, which we've also used to improve the plain, boring stairs.

Otherwise, loads of interesting art, textiles, plants and stuff you love that gives the place personality will all help draw the eye away from the boxiness of the building itself 😁