In the 1920s, Nora Shaughnessy boarded a ship in Ireland and set sail for a new life in America. After arriving in New York City, she found a job cleaning airplanes, got married, had nine children and was fortunate enough to purchase a home for each of them. Widowed, she lived in one of those homes with one of her daughters — my paternal grandmother. Built in the 1920s and purchased in the 70s, it became the matriarch’s house, and is a core memory of the childhood of generations — including my own. Now, in 2025, I’m renovating a portion of the home my Nana left behind, breathing new life into its walls while preserving the spirit of the woman who built our family’s foundation.
Three years ago I moved back to the home, this time to live downstairs in my Aunt Theresa’s’s apartment with my two daughters. Renovating an old house that’s been in your family for generations is a journey. Every layer of old flooring, every uneven doorway carries the weight of history. When I began the process of renovating, I knew I didn’t want to erase any of that. My aunt’s half of the house will be left to me, and I will then leave it for my daughters. I wanted to try my best to honor the home’s original character while also making it functional for our lives today.
Flooring
The downstairs of the two-family home was the apartment rented out to tenants before my aunt got married and moved in as an adult. Over the years she had made some improvements, but it was in pretty bad shape. Many moons ago, my grandfather had laid down tile leftover from a construction job — the kind used in public schools — in the bedrooms. Seeing the hardwood floors that hid underneath those black tiles since I was a kid was like opening a portal to the past. What memories did those floors hold? As much as I would have loved to restore them, I chose a European white oak engineered wood flooring for the bedrooms. The wider planks give the rooms a more modern feel but still look as though they’ve always been here.
While I would have loved to continue the wood flooring into the living room, my aunt was adamant about keeping it carpeted. The current carpet had outlived the nine lives of several cats and I was happy to see it rolled up and thrown away.
Once the carpet was up, instantly another memory was unlocked by the sight of the white and blue tile that an old tenant had put over the hardwood floors. Suddenly I remembered the gold couch that sat atop those tiles, the walls where someone had removed old wallpaper — but never got around to painting.
I went with a light beige carpet that flows nicely with both the new wood floors and the brown and beige tones of the kitchen tiles, which are staying the same for now.
The bathroom
I’ve seen two versions of the bathroom in my lifetime. When I was a very young child, it was pink: Pink tiles in the shower, a pink tub, and a pink vanity. Even back then the tilework was hanging on for dear life — evidenced by grout that had been smeared sloppily over the tile as a temporary fix. At some point, the bathroom was renovated to a gray tile with marble accents. But it hadn’t been maintained and it needed a total gut job.
When designing the bathroom, I decided to go with a shower vs. a tub because I knew that my aunt would be getting older and it would be easier for her. I went with a sage green tile inspired by a neighbor’s fig tree that is right outside the bathroom window. For the shower floor, I chose a pebble tile to give more of a spa-like feel.
From there, I went with antique gold for the shower and sink hardware, and a vintage-inspired tulip light as an ode to the era when Nana bought the home. I chose a matte white subway tile for the rest of the bathroom to replace the ones that were there and a wood tile for the flooring that flowed nicely with the rest of the house.
For the vanity, I knew I wanted one with drawers rather than a cabinet so that my aunt and daughters can easily access their daily essentials without cluttering the sink. Finally, a simple antique style mirror replaced the medicine cabinet that was filled to the brim with old products and expired medications.
Paint & walls
My aunt’s bedroom needed insulation, so she got new drywall on the walls and ceiling and I put new crown molding and a ceiling fan to keep her room cooler in the summer months. I added overhead lighting to my room as well, choosing a small chandelier for the Parisian vibe I love.
Before, the living room had a front area that was sometimes used as a dining room. We created a third bedroom by closing off the partial wall and will be adding a barn door. I wanted to create the third bedroom for my children, but also allow it to function as a dining room again someday.
The walls in my home are plaster, so we used a skim coat technique to even out the texture. Now, they look like brand new drywall. For paint, I went with Benjamin Moore: Snow on the Mountain in my bedroom, Swiss Coffee in the living room and my daughters’ room, Natural Element in the bathroom, and Spring Iris in my aunt’s bedroom.
Clearing space while keeping memories
The new rooms are only part of a renovation project. What goes back into those rooms is also part of the update. I chose to be very intentional with this, so I’m going item by item, box by box, deciding what stays, what gets stored away and what goes.
I bought a new TV stand to house my aunt’s dozens of photo albums, so that they are easily accessible when family comes over and we want to reminisce. I sorted through boxes and bins of paperwork of my late grandparents and other family members, keeping a few things as tokens and reminders of the past — a letter to my grandfather from his union about a strike, a clipping about one of our family reunions in the newspaper. While it has normally been a challenge for my aunt to part with any reminders of her parents and others who have passed, I notice that this refresh has also made her embrace the calm that comes with organized, clutter-free rooms.
Building legacy
As millennials, many of us have watched our parents’ generation — the boomers — downsize, sell off family homes or move to warmer states for retirement. The homes our grandparents built are being listed on Zillow instead of passed down through the family tree. So being able to step back into a home that already holds my family’s story is a blessing that I’m not taking for granted.
Renovating a space with history isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about honoring the people who came before you while leaving your own imprint for the next generation. It’s about retelling the stories and remembering the good times, while keeping in mind that there are still new memories to be made for the generations who are now living in their future past.
Somewhere along the way during this process, I realized I had taken on a role I didn’t even know was waiting for me. To be honest, I never imagined myself being anywhere near the stature in the family of my Nana, being just one great-grandchild out of many. There’s no official moment when it happens — no family meeting or signed document. One day you look around and realize you’re the one making the decisions, choosing the paint colors, reimagining the rooms, deciding what stays and what goes. And in doing so, I realized that I’m being trusted with something sacred: the chance to carry my great-grandmother’s legacy forward, not by preserving it exactly as it was, but by helping it evolve.
Tips:
- Before starting a home renovation project or even a smaller scale refresh, create a Pinterest board for each room for inspiration.
- Grab samples of tile and flooring to see how they look against other textiles that you want to use. I bought all of the bathroom tile and flooring from Floor & Decor, so I went in person to choose what I wanted, then had the contractor pick it up from his nearby location.
- Consider your family’s daily routine when designing rooms and organizing. I personally get ready in my bedroom, so I keep all of my products in the top drawer of my dresser. So I gave my aunt and daughters the two drawers in the bathroom vanity.
- Test paint samples and see how the colors look in all lighting. Two of our bedrooms are in the back of the house, so they only get sunlight for the first part of the day.
- Living in New York City can bring space challenges, so sometimes you have to get creative. Build a wall to create a separate room or put up bookshelves for a more affordable barrier.
- Purging and organizing can be challenging in a home that holds so many mementos. Carve out time to go through items with family. It can be a great opportunity to bond.
The budget:
I decided on a contractor who charged me for labor while I purchased all of the materials. This gave me the opportunity to give myself a budget for each room. In total I spent $40,000 on the following:
- New bathroom with tile shower
- Bedroom 1: new drywall with insulation, new flooring, ceiling fan added, paint and crown molding
- Bedroom 2: Skim coat on the walls, new drywall on ceiling, paint, new flooring and chandelier added
- Living room: Skim coat on walls, fresh paint and carpeting installed
- Second bedroom: New flooring, skim coat on walls, new paint and wall built out with barn door installation
- Additional: Laminate flooring installed in entryway, side door fixed