EP 162 // How To Make A New Build Less ‘New Buildy’ And Add Character To Your Home

Cara Baker (0:00)

A new build can give you so much love. Everything's fresh, practical, and ready to move into. A proper turnkey home where nothing's broken, everything's new, and nothing needs fixing. The downside to a new build though, is that it might be a little bit short on character and individuality. So today, I'm sharing ways to bring in personality, warmth, and detail so your home feels considered rather than copy and paste. And exactly like everybody else is on the street.

Welcome to the Daring Home Decor podcast. Are you tired of playing it safe with your interior design? Are you overwhelmed with choice and just want simple steps to pull off cohesive and unique decor?

I'm your host, Cara Baker, Virtual Interior Designer and Bold Decor Coach. I'll help you get brave, find your style, and create a home with pizzazz. So grab your paintbrush, put on those overalls, and let's get decorating.

Hello, welcome to the show. I hope you're well. Today, I'm talking about how to make a new build, less new-buildy, and add character to your home. I've never lived in a new build myself, but I do get quite a lot of questions from people asking this exact dilemma. Now, new builds have got loads going for them. As I said, they're bang up today, they're fresh, they're practical, they're energy efficient, and obviously, they're much easier to maintain. If you move into a new build, you're much, much, much less likely to be having to replace items, fix things, or redecorate. But what they often lack is the stuff that makes older homes so much more interesting. Things like original fireplaces, deep skirting or baseboard, ceiling roses, alcoves, odd little nooks, beautiful doors, the kind of details you notice without even realizing why a room feels special. And when those features aren't there, a new build can feel a bit stripped back and one-dimensional. So the aim isn't to fake a period property that would just look odd. It's to bring back some of that depth, individuality, and architectural interest in a way that suits the modern home. So the first thing that you can do is add detail to the architecture. Plain walls and standard finishes can make a new build feel one-dimensional, as I mentioned. But if you add in some paneling or some molding or maybe a little bit of ceiling detail, which if you want to know any ideas about what you can add to your ceilings, I've got a few episodes on that. You could add a fire surround, a chimney breast if there isn't one in there, with shelving either side. And even a stronger paint treatment can add depth fast. So these little touches can start giving the character to a new build that you get from more period properties. You need to make sure that you pick details that suit the scale of the house. I mean, if you've only got a small living area, then we don't really want to be cramming in chimney breasts and fireplaces and shelving if that is going to overpower the room. So you must consider the space that you've actually got. You don't want to be copying period features that don't belong there. You want the room to feel considered, not dressed up for fancy dress. Still got to be in with the keeping of the house and home itself. The second thing you can do is bring in the old with the new. One of the quickest ways to stop a new build feeling too new is to add pieces that already have a bit of history about them. Think vintage furniture, old mirrors, artwork, reclaimed wood, and antique style lighting. Now, you don't need loads. One or two pieces with age can stop a room feeling like everything arrived in the same delivery.

But don't go overboard. And this is where the home starts to feel layered instead of showroom perfect. This is the way that you can start making the space feel like your own and a bit more unique rather than a cookie cutter showroom. Having a blank canvas can be a brilliant place to start, but when there's very little architectural detail, to give you that foundation, the blank canvas can suddenly feel like a lot of decisions. What color? What style? Where do you add character without making it look forced? How do you make all those choices work together rather than ending up with a collection of nice things that still somehow don't hit the spot? That's exactly the kind of overwhelm I can take off your plate with a digital decor kit. I'll help you find a strong direction for the room so you can start making decisions with confidence rather than questioning every single one. You can have a look at daringhomedecor.co.uk/digitaldecorkit or there's a link in the show notes. And once you've got that clearer direction, it becomes much easier to start adding the details that give a new build some real character. I love this next one. Number three is to upgrade the bits that scream standard. So all the builder grade items in your new build, you can look at upgrading. These are things, for example, like lighting or handles. If you think internal door handles, you could pick out something that's a little bit more expensive and quality. The same goes for the kitchen handles or knobs too. If they've got them on at all. Nowadays, you may just have handle-less kitchen units, but if not, then you can look at maybe choosing something that's more your style or your color, et cetera. What else? Taps, you might just have a chrome basic bog standard tap. You could switch it up for maybe a brass tap or a black tap. Can I just say, after having, I don't even know the proper word for this is, you know, the kind of tap that you can pull down and then you can rinse the whole sink out. After having that kind of tap, I could never go back to a tap where you've just got no control over where the water is going. So yeah, putting in a little bit more of a quality tap can make all the difference. Also switches, like light switches, you might just get some plain chrome ones that are already in there, or maybe even plain white ones, which are even more basic. So you can also switch those up for something, you know, brass or black maybe. You can also now get light switches where the back plate is clear too. So those are quite nice.