styleitprettyhome

styleitprettyhome Artist. Renovator. Old house romantic. Telling stories through tile, paint, and heart—with a little help from my pups and a lot of love for the process ✨

06/18/2026

I originally scheduled the Whole Home Energy Assessment through thinking it would mostly just help me better understand this old house… but a lot of the recommendations genuinely stayed part of my routine afterward. When you’re constantly renovating and updating a home, it’s easy to focus only on the visual stuff. But learning more about how the house actually uses energy ended up being just as helpful. The assessment itself only took about an hour, and I liked that the recommendations felt specific to the house instead of one-size-fits-all advice. Depending on your home’s needs, eligible homeowners and renters may also receive energy-saving products installed at no cost during the assessment. Also, if you had an assessment done before January 1st, 2025, you can actually schedule another one now. If you’re an Atlantic City Electric customer in New Jersey and want a better understanding of your home’s energy use, this is a really good place to start.

06/14/2026

A lot of you fell in love with the first half of this hallway… and honestly, so did I.

Then the peel-and-stick wallpaper started peeling and sticking to absolutely nothing.

In hindsight, I’m kind of glad I waited to tackle the second half because that would’ve been twice the wallpaper and twice the regret.

So here we are. Round two.

Since then, I’ve installed the wood floors, swapped in original-style 1930s doors, removed the 1970s trim, and started recreating the original millwork. I even found enough base cap trim hiding in a closet to carry it through this side of the hallway, which feels like the old-house equivalent of finding a winning lottery ticket.

The heat has been annoying, but every layer that comes off reveals a little more of what this hallway was always supposed to be.

It’s nowhere near finished yet. I still need to add the picture frame molding, match the other side of the hallway, then head back over there to repair the walls, sand, prime, and try wallpaper again.

Old houses are funny. You spend months undoing someone else’s renovation so you can spend even more months putting it all back together.

But for the first time, I can actually see where this is headed.

06/05/2026

I really wanted one of those beautiful ceiling fans that costs $400+.

My budget, however, had other plans.

The funny thing is, I eventually realized I didn’t actually want the fan to be a statement at all. I just wanted it to blend into the room and stop being the first thing my eye landed on.

Living in New Jersey, removing the fan completely wasn’t an option. Ask me how I know. 😅 I already tried that in another room, regretted every humid second of it, and ended up putting the fan back.

So instead of buying a new one, I decided to work with what I had.

I took the fan apart, cleaned it, primed it, painted two coats, did a few touch-ups, and put everything back together.

A few tips if you’re thinking about painting a ceiling fan:
• Take photos before disassembling
• Clean every piece really well before priming
• Light coats are your friend
• Let everything cure before reassembly

The only thing I didn’t fix is its personality. Every time I turn it on, it does a little dance where it starts one way, changes its mind, goes the other way, and then eventually commits to a direction.

So now I have a ceiling fan that blends into the room perfectly… and occasionally forgets what direction it’s supposed to be going.

Would you have painted it, or saved up for the $400 fan?

Today the light in this room made me stop and take a picture. And then a video. And then another picture.There’s somethi...
05/31/2026

Today the light in this room made me stop and take a picture. And then a video. And then another picture.

There’s something about the way the light comes through these windows and creates shadows and highlights throughout the room. The feeling is almost overwhelming.

Almost four years ago this space looked completely different. It’s gone through renovations, paint colors, and plenty of second guesses since then, but what I wanted from the room has stayed the same.

I wanted it to feel like this.

I know it’s just a photo, but I hope some of that feeling comes through. Swipe to see where it started

How are these the SAME windows?I really thought repainting the trim and adding thicker casings would be enough to make t...
05/24/2026

How are these the SAME windows?

I really thought repainting the trim and adding thicker casings would be enough to make these old wood windows feel softer and more intentional in this 1935 Cape Cod bedroom renovation. But the second I stepped back, I realized the room still felt flat.

So naturally… I spiraled and started adding window grids.

And honestly? That tiny detail changed EVERYTHING.

The windows suddenly felt original to the house again. The room had more depth. More character. More balance. Even the warm wood tones started feeling intentional instead of overwhelming.

Old house renovations are weird because sometimes the biggest transformation isn’t a massive demo project. Sometimes it’s obsessing over tiny details until the room finally clicks.

Still not over the fact these are the same windows.

“The comments were right unfortunately” 😭What started as me maybe replacing carpet somehow turned into:pulling up layers...
05/21/2026

“The comments were right unfortunately” 😭

What started as me maybe replacing carpet somehow turned into:
pulling up layers of rubberized felt, discovering pine subfloors, installing new hardwood flooring, sanding, stain testing for weeks, repainting windows to match the rest of the house, debating wallpaper for an unreasonable amount of time, repainting furniture in my yard, and slowly figuring out what this room actually wanted to be.

And honestly… I think that’s why I love renovating old homes.

One decision changes the next decision.
Then suddenly you’re not just picking floors. You’re thinking about light, color, texture, undertones, contrast, balance, scale, and whether a nightstand is throwing off the entire room.

The wallpaper completely shifted the direction of the space. The green grounded all the blue. The dark floors gave the room weight. Every layer kept refining the vision a little more.

This room still isn’t finished. But for the first time, it finally feels like the room I had in my head all along.

05/21/2026

The second I saw this wallpaper I knew I was going to use it somewhere in this house. It feels a little moody, a little old-world, slightly chaotic, and somehow still cozy which honestly feels very on brand for me.

I used Spoonflower’s PVC-free Type II wallpaper for this space because I wanted something with a paper-like feel that still felt practical for everyday life. Right now the room is still in that awkward layering stage where none of the pieces fully relate to each other yet… but these kinds of rooms usually make the most sense in the end.

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