The Geffrye museum will rename itself as the Museum of the Home when it reopens after an £18m redevelopment, which will double its public space.

The popular museum of historic interiors, which occupies Grade I-listed 18th-century almshouses in east London, closed to the public in January 2018 to allow major building work.

On Wednesday, it announced it would open in the summer with a new name, vision and exhibition spaces putting “diverse, thought-provoking and personal stories” at its heart.

The museum was named after Robert Geffrye, the wealthy merchant and ironmonger and former lord mayor of London who paid for the almshouses to be built. It became a museum for the furniture trade a century ago and in the 1930s shifted its focus and organised the collection into period rooms.

Sonia Solicari, the museum’s director, said the Geffrye differed from the Horniman and Sir John Soane’s museum, which are based on the remarkable collections built up by their founders.

“Because Robert Geffrye didn’t create the museum, it was an easier decision,” Solicari said. “It’s not his collection, [and] he may or may not have liked the idea of a museum in his almshouses.”

The new name will make it easier for people to grasp what the museum is about, Solicari said, insisting “Geffrye” was not being dropped, as the almshouses would still bear his name.

“On balance it felt that we could achieve a lot more and engage a lot more people by changing the name.”

Sonia Solicari, the museum’s director, in one of the new exhibition areas under construction. Photograph: Em Fitzgerald Photography

The redevelopment, designed by Wright & Wright architects, will create new exhibition spaces in the lower ground floors of the almshouses, previously used as stores. An estimated 500 previously unseen objects will go on display.

There will be a greater focus on contemporary living, which could include a display of everyday objects that have transformed how we live today, whether that is a television, a thermostat, Alexa or a Billy bookcase from Ikea.

There will also be a “room of now”, created annually by different artists and curators.

“We are taking a much more thematic approach to the story of home; it is much more focused on personal stories,” said Solicari. “We are mixing contemporary and historical objects and looking more at the emotional side of what home means.”

For example: “How does your view of housework change how you feel about home? When we do have a couple of Hoovers on display, it’s not just the history of the Hoover; it’s about who is using that Hoover, and how does that make you feel? Is it relaxing? Not relaxing? We are interested in the lived experience of the objects.”

The redevelopment will also give the museum an entrance directly opposite Hoxton station, a bigger cafe, a learning pavilion, a collections library and an events space.

Before its closure, the museum had about 120,000 visitors annually. It estimates that will go up to 170,000 when it reopens.

Solicari said the new museum would be able to tell more stories. “I think we will be much more dynamic in our content,” she said. “One of the biggest criticisms we used to get was that the rooms, much as visitors loved them, were too static. There will be many more reasons for people to come back.”