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Home » Design Ideas & Inspirations » 6 Key Differences Between Traditional Homes and Modern Homes

Traditional and Modern Architecture Style

Traditional and modern architectural styles tend to be confusing terms to, any individuals. Some mistake traditional houses for old and unkempt homes while modern are mistaken for new and polished houses. However, that is further from the truth. A new house can still incorporate traditional styles and there are modern homes that are almost a century old.

Read also – Traditional Architecture vs Modern Architecture

What is Traditional Architecture?

Traditional architecture can be plainly described as a historical type of house structure with various kinds of traits and cultures incorporated into the structures to give them a distinct appearance and style. They are inspired by traditions.

Some of the historical/traditional styles include Victorian, Colonial, Craftsman, and Neoclassical. Although the styles differ in origin, and building materials the houses possess similar qualities in interior design.

Traditional architecture has been practiced over time in a bid to preserve the connection with the past. That makes the style unique with minimal need for change in maintaining the vintage feel. The striking aspect is that traditional style is still relevant in the current era and architects are utilizing some aspects in designing houses that suit their client’s preferences.

Traditional housing has its root in the 20th century and is a blend of the colonial, farmhouse, and neoclassical styles (around the 17 & 18th centuries). Although the homes have no standardized floor plan, the traditional homes are known as simple, elegant, and inviting.

Their understated floor plan blends seamlessly. Their exteriors are mainly warm and inviting and their unique mix of historic styles makes them serene, and classical. Its rooflines are unobtrusive and almost always feature at least one front-facing gable.

Read also – 25 Types of Rooms in A House

what is traditional architecture

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What is Modern Architecture?

Modern homes are minimalistic. The style’s austerity began in the 1920s but it dominated during the Great Depression in the 1930s. It extends from form follow functions whereby most of its features are practical and they fulfill the functions of a design.

The combination of industrial materials and minimalism is highly scalable and it serves the needs of the late industrial age. Modern design embraces industrial materials like steel, concrete and architectural glass. The style averts every form of decorations with an underlying reason that the modern design will lose its value as decorations vary with time.

As the modern style is against ornamental aspects, it’s also against color mixes. It favors white only unless the variant color has a specific purpose. White is also a reflective color that draws in light creating a more natural look.

The design factors on exposing the nature of the materials. Concrete and steel are left bare enhancing a natural appeal. It also uses the brutalism concept that exposes concrete and steel. Modern houses follow a pragmatic and minimal approach that repeats itself in every room.

Read also – 15 Best Home Addition Ideas To Expand Your Square Footage

what is modern architecture

Image Credit: mydomaine.com

An example of repetition is found in the window patterns. The modern architecture also follows a rectilinear form and is complex to justify with other shapes under the form follows function principle. Other forms of architecture align with culture, arts, and traditions while the modern form is aligned with technology and science.

The style is practical and reuses existing structures and materials like old factories and shipping containers. The structural elements are relatively small and barely noticeable. Highly strong architectural glass adds to the effect by allowing light to illuminate drawing a natural look. The open space’s concept is strengthened by using high-strength columns of steel which eliminate load-bearing walls.

Modern architecture can be described as a form of housing structures that have distinct styles and features borrowed from the current trends. Modern architectural design incorporates clean, built-in, and clear designs on concept spaces. The design styles could be in form of open floors, frames, roofs, and ornamentation.

Contemporary architecture has become increasingly rigid and orthodoxical with a reputation for formality which stifles our creativity. Competing architectural movements like postmodernism embrace bold impractical forms, ornament, and cultural expressions that are a reaction to the strict minimalism of modern architecture.

Read also – 9 Best Contemporary Interior Design Ideas

Features of Traditional House Style

The exterior has varying design elements influenced by historic architecture. They also have simple, clean rooflines with modestly overhanging eaves. They also have one front-facing gable with symmetrically spaced windows.

Its interiors are practical layouts with a foyer or entryway. They have defined living and dining spaces. The houses tend to have separate laundry rooms. Another common feature is the presence of a basement.

  • The traditional interior design ideas work toward building a home that is warm, rich, and inviting.
  • Since it spans two centuries, you have a lot to play around with to create a home that is unique and resonates with your personality.
  • With familiarity being the undertone of this design style, it finds an appeal to people of almost all ages.
  • Unlike the popular belief of traditional being boring, most traditional homes have extraordinary pries of art discovered by homeowners with an adventurous tale behind them.
  • The core themes of a traditional style are symmetry and vibrancy.
  • The traditional decorating style uses textiles that are rich. The interior designer uses them to add classic colors and patterns to the living room.
  • Talking about ornamentation and accessories, the traditional design includes some mesmerizing vignettes of goods of the best quality and design.
  • Window treatments and their coverings in a traditional home offer a grown-up appeal and elegance. Imagine neutral-colored draperies that extend from the ceiling to the floor and beautiful velvet curtains to bejewel them. Windows in a traditional style home are never bare.
  • A traditional dining room usually radiates sophistication and polish. A little old school in approach, these are a major feature in a traditional home.
  • Most traditional homes have clean and straight lines with practical and timeless furnishings. Some traditional design elements used by most people are a China cabinet, inlaid wood, a handsome buffet, fixtures and decorative pieces made of crystal, polished silver, etc. These elements come together to create a traditional living room that does allow the eyes to stop roving.
  • In a traditional home, fabrics are chosen carefully too. They cannot be too textured or shiny. Some commonly used ones are plain colors, mild striped, geometrics, florals, and small all-over patterns, etc.

Read also – 15 Best Home Staging Tips To Sell Your House Fast

Features of Modern House Style

  • It’s easy to identify a modern style home by looking at well-defined lines, a natural color palette, and simple use of decor.
  • Modern design styling is more about practicality and logic. Hence, the sculptures and prints used for decorating the house are expressive with unexpected forms.
  • Some modern home interiors can seem abstract. This is because the focus of the interior designer is on function instead of form. Also, the designer uses opposing vertical and horizontal lines of furniture, steps, and columns.
  • Modern designers adopt minimalism while balancing occupied and empty spaces. The philosophy followed is ‘less is more’.
  • Another striking feature of a modern home is big window panes with minimalist dressing. The idea is to allow as much natural light inside the living room as possible.
  • All visible areas like walls, mantels, tabletop, etc. are de-cluttered.
  • Decor designs and furniture have strong lines – both horizontal and vertical. Some houses might have cylindrical columns. However, they form clear vertical lines and highlight the use of reinforced concrete.
  • Open floor plans are important for modern homes. A modern kitchen and open spaces in the dining room remove the need for unnecessary walls. This allows for a free flow of air in the house.
  • In a nutshell, modern interior design style is all about being simple without flashy adornments, color tones that are earthy and natural materials.

Read also – How To Choose The Exterior Paint Colors for A House?

Differences Between Modern and Traditional Houses

Traditional home features include features similar as large, open galleries with overhanging shafts and rafters, dormers, and altitudinous pointed roofs with one or further gables. Traditional houses are made from locally available accouterments and ways that permit acceptable strength.

Ultramodern houses are constructed using concrete, sword, and glass. Its features include a flat or low-graded roof, straight lines, and a clean surface with little too new textures. The structures can be bungalows or storeyed.

Traditional houses tend to calculate on figures and mathematics for design purposes while ultramodern houses tend to follow a further organic design process that takes account of the mortal factor as well as functional outfit.

Traditional houses are designed by plans that don’t consider the planning regulations as they’re anticipated to last for longer durations or ephemerality still, ultramodern houses are constructed according to plans that take into account safety regulations and stylish regulations for better habitation.

Read also – 21 Most Popular Types of Interior Design Styles

1. Floor Plan in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

Traditional House Floor Plan

Traditional homes have larger vestiges than ultramodern homes. The spaces are divided into several small, single-purpose apartments rather than many, large bones To maintain minimalist strength, ultramodern bottom plans are optimized to make the utmost of the space with multi-purpose apartments, and flawless and open conception spaces.

Numerous builders adopt the open- conception designs including numerous that look traditional on the outside. Traditional bottom plans tend to favor room separation. Some traditional features include a foyer or a hall. It’s also characterized by a definite laundry room and defined dining room spaces.

The dining spaces are stretched with clean and straight lines with practical dateless furnishing. Some of the rudiments incorporated into the design include neutral-colored curtains that are stretched from the ceiling to the bottom. The sheers are rounded by velvet curtains that give the room a sophisticated royal sense.

Read also – How To Draw A Floor Plan?

traditional house floor plan

Image Credit: thehouseplancompany.com

Modern House Floor Plan

They’re famed in the open bottom planning. The open bottom plans emphasize the sprawling space with minimum application of walls that enclose the shells of the house. The living room, the chesterfield, and the kitchen may have slight transitions that don’t cover them to bring a separation.

The slight transitions may be different flooring heights or lighting that define each space. It features striking accoutrements similar as glass, sword, and concrete over common bricks and wood. Natural lighting is encouraged by exercising large bottom- to ceiling windows. It draws out an artificial look with minimalist undertones. 

The houses are designed with a progressive intelligence similar that it features precisely allowed out living spaces and environmentally friendly features that limit energy consumption and global footmark. Its out-of-door spaces are connected and integrated into inner spaces.

The inner spaces open up to the out-of-door spaces making them feel like a part of the house. It, therefore, draws out a commodious sense adding to the natural look. Utmost roofing has slight pitches encouraging better draining but with the ultramodern house, it’s slightly different. The roofing is flat with a low-pitched look. It in turn draws out a satiny, aesthetic appeal to the homeowner.

Read also – 8 Key Elements to Read Floor Plans

modern house floor plan

Image Credit: prohomedecorz.com

2. Windows and Lighting in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

Ultramodern houses are characterized by large windows in different shapes. They’re also characterized by skylights with a cornucopia of natural light. Their features make them fairly modest and airy and make their space open.

Traditional homes make up for what they warrant in natural light with applaudable rates like stained glass and hand-sculpted woodcarving and antique interior designing. Common features in traditional homes include more, lower window panes. They also tend to have further lighting institutions in form of chandeliers and patterns.

Read also – 15 Best Celebrity Homes for Design Inspiration

windows and lighting in traditional homes

Image Credit: decoist.com

Among the favorite features of the ultramodern design is the addition of large, unornamented windows. Working in tandem with the simplicity of the structure design, installing large windows of colorful sizes and shapes removes the limelight from artwork or busy wallpaper and sets the focus of a room on the natural surroundings. The natural sun fills the house with gleam and warmth, leaving the family happier and further agitated.

Read also – 18 Top Home Design Trends To Decor Your Home

windows and lighting in modern homes

Image Credit: tomlencustomhomes.com

3. Furniture in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

The traditional cabinetwork description involves a festivity of substance. Traditional cabinetwork process neutral wall colors, which can illuminate the accentuation colors of the cabinetwork; also, chairpersons and settees, are repleted in warm jewel-toned upholstery.

The emblems associated with traditional cabinetwork include sculpted, dark wood cabinetwork. Scallops or shell designs are also used as totems of decoration. Bun bases, or ball and claw bottom legs, and armrests with arched tails are also other features. The style is also concentrated on high decoration with luxe upholstery.

Read also – 20 Best Furniture Brands To Upgrade Your Home Interiors

furniture in traditional house

Image Credit: impressiveinteriordesign.com

Ultramodern houses are each about decluttering the innards. Ultramodern houses only include cabinetwork that enhances the residers’ life, therefore, leaving further legroom open and allowing the home to appear more commodious than it is.

Ultramodern house designs continue to push the boundaries to seek new approaches to style and functionality. It includes eco-friendly features like green roofs, inner auditoriums, solar panels, etc. The style has minimal home decor, modern furniture, modern materials and a variety of natural materials.

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furniture in modern house

Image Credit: architecturaldigest.com

4. Windows in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

The window styles aren’t limited and can be of any style but are substantially symmetrically placed. Some traditional houses may have a large covered veranda supported by columns and utmost constantly the design doesn’t incorporate a frontal functional veranda. Its surface is substantially made from gravestone, stucco, and bricks.

Image Credit: realhomes.com

As a design element, accompanying large point windows with lower windows throughout the façade of the home can produce a sense of purposeful asymmetry, matching numerous of the structural rudiments that one may enjoy in this style of construction.

For renovations, the large windows may be wrapped in an accentuation trim or flashing for a dramatic effect, further spotlighting just how open the home design is, but will infrequently be burdened with hangouts or curtains.

Read also – 8 Best Window Treatment Ideas

windows in modern house

Image Credit: marvin.com

5. Accoutrements in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

Aged traditional homes or traditional buildings are substantially constructed from bricks while new bones use bricks for surface, framing, and erecting the house with contemporary structure accoutrements. The homeowners and engineers, thus, are free to use any siding they may want in any color they decide.

Beyond the use of natural accoutrements, the color palette is also simple and uses textures and natural tones to draw focus to unique architectural rudiments in ultramodern houses. By using the natural, undressed colors of concrete or gravestone along with muted makeup tones like slate or white, contemporary homes can come off as rather calming or serene.

The idyllic ultramodern house does not capture the passersby’s attention with color, but rather, the design houses make a humble statement using unique architectural rudiments similar as angles, large windows, or a mix of accoutrements.

When it comes to ultramodern, contemporary design, the world is your oyster, but the key is to a flashback that lower is always further. Simplicity, natural accoutrements, textures, and colors all combine to produce a unique style immaculately suited to a moment’s life.

Read also – 20 Ways To Add Color To Your Home Without Painting

6. Kitchen in Traditional Houses and Modern Houses

In a traditional kitchen, the closets feature swish glass fronts or traces of ornate molding, the pendant lights are architectural statements, and the countertop is drafted of the most luxurious gravestone or dark-stained wood. Together, these details produce a warm, cozy mecca of the home that also happens to be sophisticated and streamlined.

kitchen in traditional house

Image Credit: wedgewoodcabinetry.com

Though it’s frequently dubbed stark and cold, ultramodern design is each about creating clean, open, functional, and calming spaces, with a plenitude of room for character and particular style. And that also happens in the form of a perfect kitchen. Stainlesssword is an ultramodern kitchen chief.

An edgy, high-shine look of imaged islets is also another point in ultramodern kitchens. A splash of the gold imaged face brings some glamour to the sportful rudiments, like the single pendant light, swirls of pink marble, and cobalt blue garret rail.

Read also – 10 Best Kitchen Remodeling Ideas

kitchen in modern house

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Finishes

The home homestretches include flooring, cabinetry, countertop accoutrements, sinks, trims, and indeed doors. A full home redoing design would target. A full home redoing for an ultramodern home will bear bolder neutrals like white, black, and slate with painted, laminate concrete flooring, and more minimum trims.

Still, a traditional home would be characterized by wood-grain doors and cabinetry.

Contemporary design leans toward natural accoutrements to make a statement that frequently reflects the surface features of a handicraftsman-style home. The mix of ultramodern lines and shapes with accoutrements like wood, gravestone, or exposed concrete makes a bold statement.

It roots the house in the medieval period but bounding toward the future. Engineers and interior contrivers are intrigued when designing houses that incorporate a variety of accoutrements blended for a unique, but unified aesthetic.

Read also – 9 Best Home Interior Design Tips To Improve Your Home Value

Conclusion

Smart home and healthy home features can be incorporated into any home design; they’re generally specific to ultramodern design, showcasing what is new and trendy in the ultramodern period.

Smart home technology provides security, comfort, convenience, and energy effectiveness by allowing possessors to control their smart bias through an app or indeed set bias to control them. Homeowners can cover and control heat and air exertion units, turn lights on or out, start the appliances, visually cover their home and notify authorities, if demanded

When in doubt about choosing your home style, we suggest you turn to the user-friendly Foyr Neo software that is designed to help homeowners and interior designers alike. You can select or create your preferred floor plans, choose house styles, the paint colors for the walls, pick your furniture, and basically design your home in a traditional style and modern style on a 3D model. It will give you an accurate rendering of what your contemporary home is going to look like after the makeover.

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