How To Ensure Your Renovation Doesn't Lack Character, According To HGTV's Home Town
The odds of finding a home perfectly tailored to your wants and needs are slim to none. As such, many people purchase homes to renovate to their unique preferences while keeping resale value in mind. Some homeowners, however, focus too heavily on the bottom line.
When remodeling your home, you obviously want to keep future buyers in mind, but it should hardly be the only thing you focus on. Unfortunately, this attitude can result in characterless, boring builds — something the hosts of HGTV's "Home Town" take issue with. Erin and Ben Napier have been going seven seasons strong as the hosts of the popular renovation show and have a lot of advice to give beginner and experienced renovators alike. The duo tends to avoid neutral, gray color palettes and instead likes to impart lots of personality and character into the spaces they design, proving you don't need to live in a bland environment to preserve resale value.
Play with brighter colors
One major problem that arises from the current home renovation craze is that once charming homes become gutted and transformed to look like any other house. "When a house gets flipped, it's like they go out of their way to disguise any tiny variation that would make it have character of any kind," says Erin Napier (via Realtor). This is on display in one of the show's newest episodes when the Napiers are faced with renovating a 1955 build that had been previously renovated to be devoid of any of its former personality.
The house in question featured a drab, black-and-white exterior that the Napiers updated with light yellow paneling, dark gold brick, and a powder blue front door. While white theoretically has more resale value as an exterior shade, it can be an impersonal selection for many. Plus, as remodeling specialist Cristina Miguelez noted to Reader's Digest, your house's exterior color should suit its overall design. "This means first taking a look at the architectural style of the home. Every home has a color palette that will work best on that style," Miguelez says.
Embrace vintage elements
Restoring or incorporating vintage and original elements can also help make a home feel more personalized. For example, in the renovation mentioned above, Erin Napier exposes the original pine ceiling paneling in the dining room. Although she paints it white, the effect embraces the mid-century texture in the room's overall design. Ben Napier then uses ceiling joists original to the home to create shelving in the living room.
This is hardly the first time the pair have renovated and modernized vintage homes in keeping with the building's antique charm. In fact, in the previous season, the Napiers renovated a 1926 farmhouse into a commercial space with the explicit intent of avoiding making it feel commercial, as reported by Southern Living. They still installed modern appliances and new features, like tile and cabinetry, but ensured it was in keeping with the building's history and natural aesthetic. For instance, the new tile in the bathroom was designed to complement the farmhouse's gorgeous exterior brick.