Niki Marie Taylor was scrolling mindlessly on Zillow when she stumbled upon her dream house.
Built in the 1920s, the historic house had everything she didn’t know she wanted for her forever home — except for some modern interior additions that felt out of place.
Taylor and her husband decided to buy the house and “unflip” it, bringing back its historic charm.
Niki Marie Taylor didn’t mean to fall in love with a 1920s home.
Taylor, 31, is a destination wedding photographer who lives in Detroit with her husband and two dogs.
In the fall of 2023, Taylor and her family were living in a condo that they loved. They knew they would buy a bigger property someday, but they weren’t in a rush. Then the algorithmic fates stepped in when Taylor spotted a historic home on Zillow that was a little over 3,500 square feet and built in the 1920s.
“It wasn’t too far from where we were in Detroit,” she told Business Insider of the house. “It’s in a historic neighborhood in the city.”
Since the four-bedroom house was nearby, Taylor and her husband decided to take a look, driving by it before setting up an actual tour. For Taylor, it was love at first sight.
“The moment we drove up, I just had a good gut feeling about it,” she said. She fell even more in love when they saw the interior layout.
Taylor and her husband put in an offer, and soon, the house was theirs.
Although she loved the house, Taylor didn’t like how it had been modernized.
Even though the house dates back to the 1920s, previous owners had modernized it, so it didn’t have the historic look you might expect of a 100-year-old home.
Taylor, who said she’s drawn to timeless architectural elements, and her husband decided to renovate the house room by room, bringing it back to its former glory.
“We wanted to make sure it was appropriate to the style of the home so it would feel more authentic instead of it feeling forced,” Taylor said. “Our goal was to make it old but new in a sense.”
Because they were making some substantial changes to the property, Taylor and her husband had to hire some help for the renovation, but they DIYed as much of the work as they could with the help of family.
“My dad and my husband did a lot of work in the house, and my aunt is a well-known artist in the Chicago area,” she said. “She came over, and we commissioned her to do some work in our home too.”
Taylor wanted to make big changes to the foyer.
The home’s entryway was one of the areas that bothered Taylor the most.
Both the fireplace and the foyer had been covered in a faux marble tile that Taylor felt didn’t suit the house.
“It would look fine on a more modern house or maybe modern new build, but not for a historic 1920s colonial,” she said. The marble particularly bothered her in the entryway, because it contrasted with the grand staircase in the foyer.
“The staircase was basically one of the main things that sold me on the house,” she said, and she wanted to ensure the rest of the space made the stairs shine.
Replacing the floor made the space look completely different.
Taylor replaced the faux marble with a black-and-white checkered marble-and-granite floor, giving it a more timeless feel.
It was one of the more expensive changes Taylor made to the home, but she said it was worth it.
“We also had the stairs restored to the best that we could,” she said.
New lighting and furniture completed the transformation. Taylor gravitated toward ornate chandeliers, leaning into the luxurious ’20s look.
The living room also had a modern look because of the fireplace.
Taylor thought the marble on the fireplace definitely needed to go, especially because it didn’t have a mantle when they bought the house.
She initially wanted to splurge on a marble mantle, but the options she could find were too expensive. She decided to take the mantle from her condo to the house, giving it new life.
The condo’s mantle was a perfect fit in the new house.
Taylor also installed new sconces next to the fireplace and a statement chandelier — a gift from her grandmother — on the ceiling.
She made the room feel brighter and more luxurious by adding molding, and her aunt handpainted scrollwork on the ceiling.
“I think it added a lot of depth and dimension and just more architectural interest to the room,” Taylor said of the molding. “I work from home when we’re not photographing and traveling, so having a bright space for me was important.”
The dining room was plain when Taylor bought it.
The dining room was full of natural light thanks to its ample windows, but they made it somewhat difficult to decorate.
“There are a lot of windows in the dining room, so we’re kind of limited with how much we can put in there,” Taylor said.
Taylor also wasn’t a fan of the black, modern light fixture.
Molding and lighting elevated the space.
Molding on the ceiling added a retro feel, as did a crystal light fixture.
Taylor also filled the space with a mix of modern and vintage furniture pieces, from a round table to a green hutch. She told Business Insider that she takes her time sourcing furniture, shopping everywhere from high-end stores to Facebook Marketplace.
“I do some research on things I’m drawn toward and then put them up in a mood board on Canva to see if it works in the space,” she said, adding that she finds art in a similar way. “My husband and I just started collecting artwork wherever we travel, through Facebook Marketplace, or at estate sales. It’s a fun hobby now.”
The kitchen needed some pretty major changes.
Taylor said the kitchen was the first renovation project she took on after they moved into the house, as it wasn’t functional for them.
The kitchen had white cabinetry with black hardware and butcher-block countertops, which didn’t fit Taylor’s vision.
“I think in the right house, butcher-block counters can be really beautiful,” Taylor said. “But I think with how formal the house is, it made sense to swap the countertops out.”
She selected a white, textured counter instead to elevate the space.
New hardware and upper cabinets transformed the kitchen.
The new countertops changed the kitchen’s tone, as did the changes Taylor selected for the cabinets. All new cabinets weren’t in their budget, but they were able to buy new upper cabinets and replace the hardware on the lower ones.
“I really wanted the cabinets to go to the ceiling,” she said. “That was something that I was pretty adamant on.”
Taylor also installed statement lighting fixtures, from a clear piece to sconces that brought in 1920s flair. A new archway leading out of the kitchen added some dimension to the room.
A room with a tile floor excited Taylor.
The room had simple white walls and a gray door, but the tile floors made it pop.
“It’s a really cool element that we really love,” Taylor said. “Since it’s one of the few original features of the house we have left, we like to hold on to it.”
Thanks to the floor and the cozy space, Taylor saw the room’s potential immediately.
“The very first time we walked in the house, we went into that room, and I think I turned to my dad and said, ‘Can you build me bookshelves here?'” she said.
The blank slate became a colorful library.
Taylor’s husband and father built bookshelves that covered an entire wall, instantly turning the room into a bright library. They painted them a sage green to match the walls and ceiling in the space.
“We picked paint colors and everything based on the colors of the floor,” Taylor said. “And then my aunt came in and did a ceiling mural for us.”
The floral mural had shades of pink and blue, and they hung a statement chandelier from the ceiling to light the antique furniture in the space.
The back entrance to the home didn’t have much character.
The house has a back entrance off the kitchen, and when Taylor bought the home, it was plain.
It had white walls and a white door. Taylor wanted to use it as a mini mudroom, but it needed more personality.
She made it pop with floral wallpaper.
Taylor selected a black-and-white floral wallpaper for the nook, accenting it with a gold mirror and a gold shoe rack to highlight the flowers’ stems.
“I am a big fan of wallpaper, and there’s something about black wallpaper,” Taylor said of the bold choice.
Taylor also liked that the floral wallpaper could play up the other black-and-white details in the home, like the checkered floor, the granite detailing in the living room, and the grand piano.
Taylor said focusing on the details helped bring the charm back to her home.
The one-of-a-kind furniture and bold design choices, including the checkered flooring, were key to Taylor’s vision, but she said the small, detailed elements, such as the crown molding and light fixtures, were equally important.
“Little details are sometimes the ones that really make something feel thoughtful,” Taylor said. “Within two months of us moving in, I swapped out all of our light-switch plates. I found some on House of Antique Hardware that fit the time period.”
Focusing on making the house look more authentic to its architectural style made it feel like home.
Before they bought their home, Taylor said she had fallen into “the modern, colorless trend” in home decor, gravitating toward neutrals and clean lines.
However, as she made the 1920s house into their forever home, adding back the original character brought the lived-in, cozy feeling she wanted for her family.
Taylor’s advice for anyone looking to take on a similar project is not to rush the design process.
“Give yourself the time and the space to live in your house and to see how you live in it and to see what you’re drawn to,” she said, adding that what’s “authentic to the house is important.”
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