This New House: Where's the Personality?
With some creativity and an open mind, a new build can be transformed from blah to bold. Here are some ways in which you can transform your new home into a space replete with character and personality, all through the power of design
How to inject unique character and personal style into a new build through interior design.
Forget 'This Old House.' Sure, antique homes look great, but the amount of work you have to put into them isn’t always going to be worth the end result. Rather than deal with the unending headaches of an old home renovation, then, why not start fresh with a new build? Beginning your journey with a “clean slate” means you can let your stylistic preferences run wild, and you’ll ensure that, in the end, your space is uniquely yours.
With some creativity and an open mind, a new build can be transformed from blah to bold, delivering the character of an older home without any of the unexpected surprises. Here are some ways in which you can transform your new home into a space replete with character and personality, all through the power of design.
GATHER INSPIRATION
With an older home, the challenge is in modernizing the look while staying within the restrictive framework of its historic aesthetic. Customizing a new build presents the opposite problem, however, and with a clean slate, you might find yourself with so many options that you become paralyzed—incapable of making a decision about which direction is best.
Instead of getting overwhelmed, however, use that wealth of inspiration and freedom of exploration to set yourself down the proper path. To get your creative juices flowing, start by browsing Pinterest, Instagram, and some good ol’ fashioned design books (check out Beach Books + Blogs for a roundup of our favorites). Forget the rules for this early stage, and just start bookmarking the room shots and décor features that jump out at you.
This bedroom brings in a natural, breezy style with plants, light colors, and the distressed wood look of
CoreLuxe New Point Coastal Pine rigid vinyl plank flooring.
Once you have a robust collection of ideas, take a step back, and look for similarities between what has drawn your eye. Are there certain colors you favor? Shapes? Textures? Materials? Once you have a solid idea of what speaks to you, use that knowledge to plan your ideal space.
EMBRACE THE OPEN FLOOR PLAN
Though homeowners are largely split on whether they prefer open-concept homes (or not), the open floor plan has definitely made its presence felt over the last decade, and for good reason. That open design allows you to maximize your use of available space, and gives you the opportunity to tie everything together with a cohesive look and feel. This makes the open plan a strong choice if you’re trying to make an all-encompassing statement in your new home, but there is a hurdle to surmount: without any separation between rooms, it can make your design feel a bit too uniform, and your once-unique décor elements might get lost within that amorphous expanse.
Thankfully, there’s an easy fix. Create some delineation between your spaces, and watch each take on a distinctive spirit that still meshes with your overarching design scheme. One of the most effective ways to do this is with furniture, as it can act as divider between individual spaces that simultaneously creates cozier sub-areas within your larger space. The key is to install furniture that fits the scale of the room, and place it as if your walls were still there (so you can create clearly-defined boundaries between zones).
This living area is distinguishable by the white sofa and fireplace. But two arm chairs further define this as the living room space.
Featured floor: CoreLuxe Rivers Edge Oak Waterproof Rigid Vinyl Plank Flooring with attached pad.
UNIFY YOUR DÉCOR
You’ll enjoy a great deal of latitude in decorating a new home, but you should take care not to fall into the trap of letting your imagination run too wild. Too many disparate ideas can make your design scheme feel unfocused, so it’ll be important for you to zero in on some commonalities you can use to link your décor choices—like color and texture.
This is an easier task when you have something to ground your design philosophy, so turning to your flooring to establish that overarching statement is almost always a sound decision. LL Flooring’s hybrid resilient floor Duravana, for instance, is a great way to project style and strength in equal measure. With choices ranging from the bright Magnolia Bridge Oak to the deeper and richer Tacoma Oak, this waterproof, scratch-resistant flooring is perfect for tying your new design together—regardless of your personal style and color preferences.
Featured floor: ReNature Copenhagen engineered bamboo flooring, 7.5 in. width.
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