• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Menu
  • Home
  • Interiors
      • Stripping-paint-with-heat-gun-7-e1383003893561-700×933.jpgDIY Projects
      • Prairie House HallwayOur houses
      • black-painted-trimHow To
        • 20210127_111407$100 Dining Room Makeover Progress
        • 20210127_112842DIY dog gate for cheap ($3.75)
        • before-dining-room-leftMini Dining Room Makeover Before
  • Living
      • Simplifying
      • Pet Care
      • Making Money From Home
        • how-much-money-can-you-make-on-roverHow much money can you make on Rover?
        • scan0025Last-minute mother’s day gifts for a minimalist
        • make money from home with a hobbyHow to make money from home: start with a hobby
  • About
    • I'm Christina, a full-time web developer with a dog sitting business, home renovations, and a blog on the side.

      This blog is about restoration and decorating of our houses, currently a 50s New England ranch, previously an MCM, and before that our Little Victorian...and the homemaking in between.

      READ MORE

Little Victorian

Modern Homemaking

You are here: Home / Interior Decorating / How to decorate / 6 quick and easy ways to update a dated room

6 quick and easy ways to update a dated room

FacebookTweetPin
How to decorate

On the way home from our big trip, we stayed at an absolutely wonderful hotel in Seattle.  It’s a beautiful historic hotel, but unfortunately, it seems the historical status of the place is keeping them from updating the decor.

Dated room before
As I’ve mentioned before, I can hardly walk into a room without redecorating it in my head.  But this room got me thinking about how many rooms there are out there that aren’t ugly, they’re just dated.  Those rooms could still keep their traditional or Victorian styles and just make some very minor, easy and inexpensive tweaks to make them fresh and current again.

Here are 6 quick projects I recommend to update a dated room (and they don’t require a big budget!):

6 easy ways to update a dated room

1. Update the artwork.

Lucky for this room, scientific botanical prints are very popular right now and maps will always be a great choice.  But what could be updated are the mats.  The dusty rose is dating these.  (And it’s not the color itself–it’s the way the color is used.)  Black is a classic choice that will never be dated.

The frames could be changed out too, but in this room, I wouldn’t.  I think the gold compliments the room and doesn’t stray too far from the style of the Chippendale bed.

2. Update the blanket.

Blankets are pretty inexpensive items that can make a really big change in a bedroom.  Or if you knit, you could consider making a big, chunky one like this, which would also add some great texture and warmth to the room.

The key here is color, bring in a more modern or classic color that goes well with and balances out the other colors in the room.

3. Add throw pillows.

This is always a great way to bring in more modern colors and patterns.  Especially if you have vintage, intricate lines in your furniture, like the bed in this room.  Take that look and find some throw pillows that mimic it, but in an updated, more graphic way (see the “after” photo below).  This is a key way to work with your decor and not against it.  Bringing in a chevron pattern here in an attempt to update would only make your bed look more dated and out of place.

4. Tweak the lighting.

Lighting can be relatively expensive.  Instead of replacing lamps, they can often just be updated.  I recently learned (by trying it) that dated glass lamps can indeed be spray painted.  They look classic and current at the same time, which is the whole goal.  Replacing older shades with drum shades is another quick fix for lamps.

5. Update the curtains.

The Victorian style typically has lots of different small-scaled and detailed patterns going on.  If you have a room like that, try swapping out printed curtains with solid-colored ones (again, in a more updated color).

6. Show off the legs.

There is nothing wrong with skirted furniture.  But if a whole room is suffering from dated decor, a skirted piece can add to the problem.

The chair in this room would look so much better with the skirt taken off.  (And the arm protectors too for that matter–please don’t ever use those.  By the time the fabric on the arms wear down, it’s most likely time for the entire piece to be recovered or replaced anyway.)

Here is the before-and-after of the simple updates mentioned above:

6 easy ways to update a dated room (Pillows from Anthropologie.)

Any other changes you would have made to this room?

subscribe for more

SUCCESS!

FacebookTweetPin

5 Comments

Read more:

◁ ...previously

up next... ▷

Reader Interactions

Comments

Add a comment

  1. onshore

    October 19, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    Really like the changes you’ve made. The black day spread and the change in the paintings look fresh and modern.

    Reply
  2. [email protected]

    January 30, 2014 at 1:49 pm

    Oh my gosh…I do the exact same thing: redecorate rooms in my head! Great changes!

    Reply
    • Christina

      January 31, 2014 at 12:39 pm

      I’ve tried to stop, but I can’t…I even make the Hubs play along now when we stay in hotels.

  3. Anna (My Design Ethos)

    February 3, 2014 at 5:43 pm

    This is brilliant Christina! The simplest changes and they make such a big difference. x

    Reply
    • Christina

      February 6, 2014 at 9:09 am

      Thank you, Anna! That means a lot coming from such a talented designer.

What do you think? Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

Recipe Rating




I have a question
I have a suggestion
I did this!

Primary Sidebar

Seen on:

Little Victorian on HGTV Country Living Brit and Co Apartment Therapy

See more popular  posts:

Meet the Prairie House

Re-painting the kitchen cabinets

How to strip paint with a heat gun

Beautiful brackets

Kitchen open shelving brackets

Instagramming

Finished! (ish) let's just pretend the new mantle Finished! (ish) let's just pretend the new mantle is painted a warm gray. It will be soon. 
It was $94 for the whole thing. 
Swipe for the before. See everything at littlevictorian.com
#100roomchallenge
So we were making great (though last- minute) prog So we were making great (though last- minute) progress. Then we're putting the picture hanger on the DIY art I made for the room when the 80-pound dog comes in and steps STRAIGHT THROUGH THE ARTWORK. 😵 

Hubs is trying to fix it as usual. But seriously...I don't know if any more obstacles could be thrown at us during this challenge. 😂 

3 hours to go. 
#100roomchallenge
Ugly photo time! We're doing the $100 Room Challen Ugly photo time! We're doing the $100 Room Challenge on our dining room (that you guys haven't even seen the "before" of yet). It's a super fun challenge to stay within $100 and makeover a room in a month. We're behind schedule, but there has actually been progress. I'll try to remember to share here, but there's more on the blog! LittleVictorian.com
#100roomchallenge
Update: the MCM is officially sold! We did eventua Update: the MCM is officially sold! We did eventually finish most of our restoration/renovation projects. I'll share the updates in the coming months as we get settled in to our new place. 😁
@little.victorian

Before Footer

Finished! (ish) let's just pretend the new mantle Finished! (ish) let's just pretend the new mantle is painted a warm gray. It will be soon. 
It was $94 for the whole thing. 
Swipe for the before. See everything at littlevictorian.com
#100roomchallenge
So we were making great (though last- minute) prog So we were making great (though last- minute) progress. Then we're putting the picture hanger on the DIY art I made for the room when the 80-pound dog comes in and steps STRAIGHT THROUGH THE ARTWORK. 😵 

Hubs is trying to fix it as usual. But seriously...I don't know if any more obstacles could be thrown at us during this challenge. 😂 

3 hours to go. 
#100roomchallenge
Ugly photo time! We're doing the $100 Room Challen Ugly photo time! We're doing the $100 Room Challenge on our dining room (that you guys haven't even seen the "before" of yet). It's a super fun challenge to stay within $100 and makeover a room in a month. We're behind schedule, but there has actually been progress. I'll try to remember to share here, but there's more on the blog! LittleVictorian.com
#100roomchallenge
Update: the MCM is officially sold! We did eventua Update: the MCM is officially sold! We did eventually finish most of our restoration/renovation projects. I'll share the updates in the coming months as we get settled in to our new place. 😁
House update! The realtor is still confused about House update! The realtor is still confused about why "it's such a popular house." When she arrived yesterday for a showing, there were 8 cars in the driveway. 😃

We had three offers the first day, one of whom hadn't even seen the house in person yet.
Surprise! The house is going on the market today. Surprise! The house is going on the market today. (Long story that I'll fill you in on when I have more than 2 seconds.)
.
But we're once again with a realtor that calls our house "unique" instead of calling it a Mid Century Modern. 🤦‍♀️
.
We can't count how many locals came into this house and mentioned that those windows should be removed and walled up and the beams cut off. And then it would be a "normal" house. 🤯
.
Still can't really identify with people in this area. 🤷‍♀️ SO happy to be going back home to the East coast TOMORROW!
Right? We're getting back into the house restorat Right? 
We're getting back into the house restoration and we'll be working on the powder room in the master bed. 
Guys. It's bad. Swipe to see.
And we're going to try to make it pretty with a super tiny budget of $100 in 4 weeks and we're joining the #100roomchallenge to keep us (me) motivated.
The bedroom design is starting to come together th The bedroom design is starting to come together thanks to Craigslist and Goodwill. 
#OneRoomChallenge
@little.victorian

Footer

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

Privacy Policy & Disclosure · Copyright © 2021 Little Victorian · Website by Meyne