Preservation, Restoration, Renovation- What's the Difference?

Just wanted to explain the difference between these three terms. 

As someone who lives in a world where all three happen pretty regularly, I wanted to set the record straight on what term means what, so that you can gain a clear understanding about which camp you're in. 

This post will be short and sweet, don't worry. 

Restoration: This is the hardcore group. They want houses to be untouched, left the way it was ORIGINALLY built. Or if it has had updates for modern living, undo all of those changes and RESTORE it back to it's original state. Think, museum level. It will serve as a purpose of education, both for history of a specific area and architecture.  We did things our own way in New Orleans, due to our climate, etc. Having a house type that is in the same style as others (example: the difference between a Queen Anne house from Louisiana and a Queen Anne house in Michigan) would be significant if it was untouched after 100+ years. 

Renovation: This is the one I don't love. This is where you take an old home and do whatever you want to it to fit it to modern life, stripping away most of the historic features, details. Taking out the older chandeliers and double hung windows to replace them with more modern fixtures. There are definitely reasons why, especially in this humid, hot climate we live in. I'm just sayin', I see a lot of new "trendy" stuff being put in houses and I kind of think it makes them lose some of that charm we all love about historic houses... (Is that just me???) 

Preservation: There's always a happy medium, right? This is probably my favorite group, since restoration is not for everyone ($$$$ and practicality of modern living) and neither is renovation. If you fall somewhere in between those two, welcome to the club! These are the guys who want to keep all of that old charm around and know it's going to probably be a pain to maintain, but they agree do it anyway. It's a labor of love, y'all. 

That's kind of it, just thought you'd like to know the difference. Kind of like an internet quiz to figure out what kind of dog best suites you. Except not really at all! 

Happy almost Mardi Gras!