7 Guaranteed Ways to Ruin an Art Deco House

Remove the picture rails

Not all art deco house have picture rails, but if your one does, you should keep them. The rooms will look much more elegant with them, it’s easier to wallpaper a room with picture rails and yes, you can hang your pictures from them!

At least this is one feature that is fairly easy to replace if you have to, although they won’t be original.

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Install fitted carpets

I know the original wood flooring needs polishing and nurturing, but if you have covered the original flooring with carpet, then you need to get down on your hands and knees and rip that carpet up right now! The flooring may be cold underfoot but buy yourself some fluffy slippers – perhaps some with bunny rabbit ears.

I’ll let you buy a rug as well if you must.

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Replace the original Crittal windows with UPVC

Yes, we know about the condensation issues but just get up earlier in the mornings and wipe the condensation off. Open those windows, get a Karcher window vac or similar to suck up the damp! Draughts are good for your house – don’t let anyone tell you otherwise! (You’ll still get condensation with UPVC anyway.)

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Brick up the balcony to make an en-suite

Who needs an en-suite? They didn’t need them in the 1930s and you don’t need one now! Get a bit of much needed exercise walking those extra steps to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It’ll clock up at least 12 steps on your Fitbit! So what if you wake the rest of the house up – buy them some earplugs!

Yes, I know you never go out onto the balcony unless you need to clean the windows but, trust me on this – it will ruin the house if you fill it in.

And queuing for the bathroom in the morning is character building!

Replace the wooden garage doors with an automated roller door

True, it may mean you don’t have to get cold and wet unlocking and propping open the wooden doors, but really – are you serious – do you want your house to look like an industrial unit? (Your car probably won’t fit in that 1930s garage anyway.)

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Brick up the fireplaces

Whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat NOT take out all the fireplaces and brick up the chimneys. A 1930s fireplace should take pride of place in your rooms, but, aesthetics aside, you will have never ending problems with damp if you seal up the fireplaces and chimneys. Here’s an explanation.

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Replace the flat roof with a pitched roof

Okay, you have to have the flat roof re-felted now and again and yes, I know, I know, it traps the heat in the summer and lets in the cold in the winter. But you cannot sunbathe on a pitched roof, can you? (Don’t try it, just to prove me wrong!)

If you put a roof on an art deco house, what are you left with?