10 tips to modernize a small city home
March 31, 2009
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Tara Dalla-Nora
SPECIAL TO YOURHOME.CA
One thing that I do appreciate about a city home is the obvious benefit of its location, near public transit with amenities only a short commute away. This usually means that people pay top dollar for smaller square footages. When I am looking at a home for a possible renovation, I see the potential of turning a small space into something more livable and open. Here are some common traits in city homes and easy tips to making a narrow city home more spacious and modern:
1. Most homes will come with an oversized brick fireplace in the living room that takes up too much wall space and is visually overbearing. Replace it with a smaller or drywall mantel that protrudes into the room at the minimum distance to accommodate the fireplace insert.
2. Take down the plate rails that normally surround the walls of the dining room and possibly the living room. These are decorative pieces of wood that act as shelves and surround the perimeter of the room. Visually, they cut up the walls and make the ceilings appear lower than they are.
3. Consider cutting an opening from the kitchen to the dining room. This will allow more natural light to filter through and create the perfect place for a breakfast bar.
4. The dining room and living room are usually separated by a wall with a doorway. Think about removing this wall, which will give you more space to properly fit your furniture, creating one large entertainment area.
5. Heavy wooden staircases running up the side of the house can appear dark and give the house a narrower feel. Try to lighten it up by painting the railing and pickets a lighter colour and use a light carpet runner down the center of the stairs to break up the look of the wood.
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BEFORE: Removing the wallpaper and cutting a space for a breakfast bar helped modernize this space.
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6. Trim and baseboards tend to be very thick, dark wood. These baseboards usually look better in a larger space with higher ceilings. Remove the baseboards and put in thinner trim that is proportionate to your ceiling height.
7. Remove all old wallpaper and paint the walls a light, fresh colour that will reflect natural light.
8. Finish the basement. It is a usable space. While you may only have 800-1000 sq/ft per floor, a finished basement is the perfect retreat for a recreation room or child’s playroom.
9. Update the kitchen cupboards and countertops. Replace dark heavy woods with natural, lighter woods. Old laminate countertops can be replaced with a corian or granite countertop. If you are on a budget, a solid colored laminate with a smaller pattern will appear less busy and give the space a more modern feel.
10. Update the bathroom. Replace the built-in vanity with a freestanding cabinet of your choice, which will give the allusion of space. Update the sink and faucet and refresh the room with a vibrant paint colour.
Hopefully these tips will help you to evaluate your space as a whole in order to truly achieve the modern and updated look you desire.
Tara Dalla-Nora has a B.A. in interior design and is the owner and principal designer of Inner Luxe in Toronto’s Bloor West Village.
Read Tara's tips for small kitchen design, playroom decor and refreshing your home for spring. Check out more renovation before and afters from Home Heist's Colin and Justin.