Perhaps you’ve inherited your grandparents’ house. Or, maybe the best house you could find was a 1950s place that looked like your grandparents’ house.

You may actually be lucky. A house built in the 1950s can be easily and fairly inexpensively remodeled into a home that looks like today. The recent rise in popularity of many of the 1950s aesthetics makes it even easier to make these changes to your home.

“Midcentury modern style is so hot right now,” says Olga Adler, an interior designer who operates Olga Adler Interiors in Westport, Connecticut, and Delray Beach, Florida.

Because midcentury modern style is simple, favoring clean lines and angles, it’s also easy to turn into a neutral space if your taste is more traditional or more modern. But it’s likely, no matter your preferences, that your 1950s house could use some updates after decades of use and tinkering.

[See: 8 Potential Headaches to Be Aware of Before Becoming a Homeowner.]

In many cases, you may be getting rid of less-than-desirable updates made between the 1950s and now, including wallpaper borders, oak cabinets, heavy drapes and wall-to-wall carpeting.

“We’re doing one now,” says Frederick Wilson, partner at Morgante-Wilson Architects in suburban Chicago. “You wouldn’t believe the transformation.” His clients elected to turn their living, dining and family room, plus the kitchen, into one large open space that merges family room, dining room and kitchen, no living room needed. They also replaced 2-foot windows with floor-to-ceiling glass and swapped out the traditional staircase for one with floating steel. Outside the home, they painted both the brick and the siding the same gray, adding black trim.

With any remodeling job, you can only do so much. So bringing your entire home into the modern era means starting with what you have and embracing its strengths. “You can’t fight the home and fight the low ceilings,” Wilson says. “You have to go with what the lines are for that era.”

Most homeowners will want to remodel kitchens and baths, unless they have already been updated. The choice of cabinets, tile, vanities, light fixtures and other materials can make a big difference, even if you want to stick with the midcentury modern style.

In the kitchen, for example, slab doors and quartz countertops can provide a 1950s look that also fits the modern age, Adler says, especially if the cabinets are white. Stainless steel appliances and sinks also fit the style, but granite and marble do not.

For the baths, it’s possible to buy reproduction 1950s-style bath tiles or go with a more modern look that fits, like oversized subway tile (larger than the standard 3-by-6-inch variety), Adler says.

[See: 10 Home Renovations With the Best Return on Investment.]

Here are eight home improvement projects to bring your 1950s house into 2017:

Change the flooring. Many 1950s homes have mixed flooring, with tile in some rooms, linoleum in others and wood in others, sometimes covered with carpet. Today’s style is a unified look, with the same flooring everywhere but the bathrooms. Hardwood is popular in many areas, though some homeowners in warm and humid climates prefer tile. Original hardwood can be refinished (best done before you move in), but you will probably want to replace linoleum, tile or carpet.

Improve the lighting. Many 1950s houses are dark, without ceiling fixtures. Adding recessed lighting is one way to fix that. “If you have any kind of attic space, that’s generally a not very complicated thing and it’s not very expensive,” Adler said. You can also add ceiling fixtures or just bring in more floor lamps and open the curtains.

Take down walls. Houses in the 1950s often had separate kitchens, dining rooms, family rooms and living rooms. Removing some or all of the walls dividing those rooms can create the open floor plan that is popular today. “You actually can expand the feel of the house without going outside the walls,” Wilson says. Plus, removing walls brings in more light. “If you have small windows in the home, any time you can open the space and allow light to travel from room to room, the lighter it will be,” Adler says.

Hang window treatments at the ceilings. Many 1950s homes have lower ceilings, and putting the window treatments higher creates the illusion of more height. “This allows the eye to travel up and give the impression of a higher ceiling,” Adler says.

Remove popcorn ceilings and textured walls. Many popcorn treatments done during the 1950s contained asbestos, so you want to test yours — using either a kit purchased from a hardware store or a test done by a professional — before attacking it as a DIY project and releasing the asbestos where you can breathe it. In lieu of scraping the ceiling or walls, you can skim coat over them, a job that is usually best left to professionals. It’s a messy project, so you’ll probably want it done before you (and your stuff) move in.

Paint dark trim and doors. Doors, molding, baseboards and other wood trim were usually stained in the 1950s, a look that feels dated. Painting all those white can brighten and modernize the house. You can also remove or paint wood paneling or even drywall over it.

[Read: Want to Make Over Your Kitchen? 3 Remodeling Tiers: Budget, Midrange and Splurge.]

Replace doors or enlarge windows. Homes of the 1950s often had small windows or had windows where today we would put French doors. If your budget allows, enlarging window openings and replacing some windows with French doors can add light and modernize the look of the home.

Vault the ceilings. If your home has an attic, you may be able to create a vaulted ceiling instead of the 1950s flat ceiling. That can both add architectural interest and make the room feel larger.

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8 Projects to Bring Your 1950s Home Into the Modern Age originally appeared on usnews.com