by Carie McMichael
There is no shortage of content online featuring users’ horrified reactions to controversial home renovations that demolish and remove traditional architecture. An elegant winding staircase in the foyer of a traditional colonial-style home is labeled as an eyesore by the house flipper and ripped out while the internet gawks with disbelief. Stained glass feature windows are removed and sold off. An antique light fixture ends up in a landfill.
While a home’s original architectural features enrich its character, high-value trends such as smart technology integration and multifunctional spaces are beginning to take center stage—just two of many trends sometimes impeded by traditional architecture. So how can homeowners and designers alike hope to bring their spaces into the future without erasing classic craftsmanship?
According to interior designers like Catherine Marrano of Catherine Marrano Interiors, layering is crucial to blending the old with the new. Like an architectural trifle, setting a design foundation through major items like tile or flooring before introducing modern conveniences helps tell the story of a home’s architectural evolution.
“Once the foundation is set,” Marrano says, “we infuse the client’s personal aesthetic to ensure the space feels uniquely theirs. If their taste leans modern, I often recommend incorporating a few vintage or traditional elements to maintain a connection to the home’s history. Ultimately, it’s about honoring what’s already there while making room for how people live today.”
Maryellen Hodapp, principal creative designer of Sassy Green Interiors, LLC, also takes this approach, explaining that every layer adds a new level of depth to the space. “We pay close attention to the architectural details and make it a priority to work with and not against the details. Updating historic elements can be done without compromising the original architectural intentions of the home.”
Hodapp and her team recently had the chance to execute this strategy while renovating a 1896 Victorian home which saw former lives as a rooming house and a bed and breakfast. The quarter-turn staircase which echoed footfalls of former tenants and vacationers needed an update. “The stairway had an undesirable heaviness to it that the home owner did not like. We painted it and gave it a fresh new life!”
After modern updates have been made with deference to traditional architecture, designers like Sallie Lord of GreyHunt Interiors understand the importance of filling in the cracks with this blend of layers and details to create harmony in the space. “My goal is to find just the right balance to bridge the traditional with modern pieces that offer the look, comfort, and function needed for the family today. They need to balance and complement each other, not visually compete,” says Lord. Ugly-but-permanent wires can be strategically tucked away or built in; a cover or strategic placement of smart home controls can feel less like an ipad permanently affixed to the wall and more like a cohesive piece of the home.
Working with the architecture of a home, a fully integrated smart home can still benefit from the light of transom windows and unique built-in storage. That negative space beneath an old staircase becomes a command center, or homework nook. With some careful spatial planning, a cozy breakfast area yields a kitchen and dining space for the price of one. All it takes is the right eye for detail.
“Each home is different in how I approach this transition,” says Lord. “It could be through a color palette, wallpaper, or adding modern pieces with antiques that give the space a unique story.”
Integrating traditional architecture with modern conveniences creates a timeless appeal for a home without compromising the building blocks which carried its occupants through the decades. These building blocks are not eyesores, but instead fruitful horizons of possibility.
