New. New technology. New styles. Mainstream society is all about new. In many cases, this is beneficial. With advances in technology, things are becoming faster, easier, and more efficient, but sometimes aesthetic is lost in the process. If you’re the person in your neighborhood who is known for having the gorgeous vintage or otherwise old-fashioned home and you want to add some modern updates, here are some tips on how to accomplish this without losing the historic charm.

Preserve

Go through your home and decide what you want to keep and what you want to update. You might decide it would be a crime to touch the cabinets and hand-carved molding even though everyone is telling you dark wood is out of date and you should paint it a different color. This isn’t about what friends and designers say. This is about you and the unique piece of history you call home. But you do think it’s time to install a new bathroom sink that will give you some counter space.

In addition to design updates, you may want to add some of this new technology you’ve heard about, but don’t sacrifice the features of your home you love in the name of technology. If while performing your home assessment you determined you cannot part with your beautiful antique doorbell, then installing a video doorbell probably isn’t the right thing for you. Instead, you could achieve a similar result by installing an exterior camera that monitors your porch. Some outdoor cameras will even allow for the two-way communication many video doorbells are capable of. If you are interested in getting smart locks but can’t give up your ornate doorknob, you may want to look into a deadbolt smart lock. Unlike lever smart locks, you don’t have to remove the original doorknob to install one.

Keep It Inconspicuous

It you want up-to-date technology but you don’t want it to show and ruin your look, there are things you can do to make it less noticeable. If you’re looking to get door and window sensors, you could look at the option of installing recessed sensors, more inconspicuous than the standard version and just as effective.

Changing out a light fixture would cause a drastic change in the design of your home, but changing the lightbulbs would be a far smaller and less noticeable change. Whether you’re looking to install more energy efficient bulbs or even smart lights, the most important thing to be aware of is the wattage of your light fixture. The wattage of the bulb has to be equal to or less than the maximum wattage of your fixture. Otherwise, you could possibly cause permanent damage to your light fixture, which would ruin your efforts of preserving your home’s historic charm. More urgently, having non-compatible lightbulbs is a fire hazard and should be avoided. If you are unsure how many watts your light fixture is, you will most likely be able to find it printed inside or on the socket of the fixture. If your fixture doesn’t have this or it’s so old that the text has faded and become illegible over time, you may need to manually determine the wattage with a multimeter or find someone who has one and would be willing to do it for you.

Add Style

As you are installing updates, you can incorporate more of your home’s charm by adding your style to the updates. While you’re choosing your dead bolt  smart lock, you can look for one that is close to the color of your doorknob. It you want to go a step further, you could look for ways to make your new tech part of the interior design. If your smart speaker is on a shelf, you could pair it with a candle and your favorite vintage vase to add aesthetic, and you could get a decorative wall plate for your Nest thermostat that matches the style of your home. Those are just a few ideas, but there are as many options available to you as there are possible Google searches.

Once everything is to your liking—you’ve added your updates while keeping your home’s charm—not only will you be known for having the gorgeous house, you’ll be known for having the tech house, too, but at the end of it all, the opinions of others don’t matter. This is your home. What are you going to do with it?