Content Creator Documenting Home Reno Solely on iPhone for Her Instagram Page
Last December Life Lapse was tagged in a fun stop motion video created by @LittleHaliHome and it led me to the infamous rabbit hole of scrolling through all of the posts on the @LittleHaliHome feed. I have a personal love for home decor, reno’s and everything to do with houses in general, so was immediately drawn to what Jane, the creator of @LittleHaliHome was up to. Okay okay, “personal love” may have been an understatement, it’s more of an obsession. You can catch me on Realtor.ca every single day seeing what new houses pop-up. Am I in the market for a house right now? I wish I was! For now, it’s just window shopping.
Jane has a beautifully curated feed that documents the process of her home renovation of her 100+ year old home in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her style is rustic chic that blends the character of her home with modern day pieces - most of which were purchased second hand on Facebook MarketPlace, Craiglist & Value Village. With my trip back to Halifax for Christmas to visit my Husbands family just a few weeks away, I reached out to Jane to see if she’d be open to be featured on Life Lapse.
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I just remember thinking, ‘How can I show my content different ways?’ I love to think up different creative ways to show my living room, and I can only shoot it so many ways. So apps like Life Lapse are really great, to spice up the kind of content you're putting out.” - Jane
Tell me about your 100+ year old home.
We bought it in September. We had a little bit of extra money to do some work on it, and so since September, we've just kind of been picking away at projects, doing things that we can do on our own. We hired a contractor, and we had some work done upstairs. We've just been making it our life ever since.
Why didn't you go with a new house that was already done versus doing the reno yourself?
We went with a house that's not already done because I wanted character in the house. And so, these old homes are filled with character, which comes with its own set of things you have to be careful about. But yeah, we wanted character, and we wanted something that we could work on. And frankly, it was something that we could afford, before a new build that was already renovated.
What's been your favorite project so far of the house?
Ooh. My favorite project so far. I think it's different. Because some of them I worked on. Like I The favourite thing that I've personally done was maybe build the pantry, because I didn't really know what I was doing, and I just researched it, and then figured it out.
What would you describe your style as?
That's a really good question, one I wish I knew how to answer better. I would describe my style as modern meets naturals meets working with what you've got. Yeah. I wish I knew design terms better.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I get my inspiration largely from Instagram, other people who just have cool houses. A lot of French style, and things that seem effortless but cool, but used and lived in and warm. So, yeah. Instagram. There's a lot of cool places around Halifax, too. I have a lot of really neat friends, who have cool houses. So, yeah. Here, there, and everywhere.
Do you have a favourite? What are your top accounts to follow for inspiration?
@Wabisab_e [They] also live in Nova Scotia, and they're renovating this old, I think it's a farmhouse. They do all the work themselves. I started watching them on YouTube probably like a year ago, and didn't realize they were Nova Scotia-based, and then started following them on Instagram, and realized they were. I just messaged them, and I was like, "This is so cool." So, they kind of gave me the inspiration to maybe start my account, and do things myself. My favorite style instagram account is called @astylistguide.
Why did you decide to document your home reno on Instagram?
I think my line of work, and where I find creativity, is simultaneously in building things with my hands, and then also doing mini storytelling. So, I obviously do a lot of social media in my day job, so I was kind of used to how that runs, and thought, "Now I have this really fun project that I can share." I follow all these other people that do kind of the same thing, and I enjoy their content so much, I thought maybe someone might want to chat about paint colors. And yeah, at first I was just kind of like, "Hello? Is anybody out there? I'm doing these things on my house," and it was just crickets. And now, as I have a couple more people starting to follow me, it's really fun to see what they think, and get their opinion. Yeah, we can kind of chat about different things, so that's fun
Yeah. What's your favorite hashtag?
#apartmenttherapy. Yeah, it’s a good one.
What are you using to document this whole process?
The way I'm documenting my entire home renovation is solely on my iPhone. I did buy a little tripod, which has been a lifesaver in terms of being able to set up on a couch, or up on the side of a lamp, essentially. But yeah, it's all been done through my iPhone. I actually even edit videos on my iPhone.
What do you use to edit?
I use a couple different things to edit my videos. To do more detailed videos with text overlays and stuff, I use an app called Splice. That's been easy enough and good, though I've finally come at a crossroads where you can't overlay two videos, and I find that infuriating, so I might start moving to my desktop. Then I also use an app called Life Lapse. It's a really great app. I found that one on Instagram.
How did you find our stop motion app, Life Lapse?
I came across Life Lapse on my Instagram feed. I think I just saw a video ad, essentially, of I'm not sure what the product was. But I just remember thinking, "How can I show my content different ways?" I love to think up different creative ways to show my living room, and I can only shoot it so many ways. So apps like Life Lapse are really great, to spice up the kind of content you're putting out.
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Why do you like stop motion?
I like stop motion because it's more interactive, and it kind of shows you the process, rather than just the final result. One of the ones I did was I had my... We had just renovated the room, and we were moving all the furniture back in, so I showed all the furniture moving back into the room. Which was kind of a fun way to show, like, "All right. Here we go. We're starting again," rather than just being like, "Here's the living room from scratch."
Had you shot any stop motion before?
Before using Life Lapse, I had shot stop motion very amateurly. I'm sure in like grade school we did like Claymation. Do you remember Claymation? But if there's anything I remembered from it, it was a pain in the butt. It's really hard to do on your own if you're just using like a camera, from my perspective, because I'm not a professional photographer. So when I found Life Lapse, I was like, "Holy... This is a really easy way to kind of get a stop motion done." Because it guides you along the way.
What do you love about Life Lapse?
One thing I love about Life Lapse, when I found it, is how easy it is to use. I set it up, and I made a stop motion within like 20 minutes, max. I specifically love the feature... I'm not sure what it's actually called, but I keep calling it to people the ghost feature, where you take a photo, and it kind of gives you a 50% or 20% opacity ghost shot of what you just shot, and then you can move your object in frame, and you can see how far it's moved. I think that's so helpful, and what makes stop motion so hard when you're doing it on your own.
Who would you recommend to be integrating stop motion into their social feeds?
I'd recommend anyone who is working with products or working to demonstrate a space to use Life Lapse. It's just a really cool way to change up how you're showing your content, and the dynamics of it. So, maybe you have a three dimensional object. You could show it all ways around, without having to swipe two different photos.
What are you favourite photo editing apps?
Lightroom for organization, editing, presets, etc. And Canva for min collages.
Do you use the Instagram Bookmarking feature and if so, how?
I use the bookmarking feature on Instagram constantly. I pretty much treat it as my Pinterest board now, which I am curious to know how Pinterest is handling, because it's kind of the same thing for me. So, now I have different boards. I save for the house, I save things that are goals, things that are content ideas. That's one of the things with Life Lapse, how I initially kind of downloaded it was I saw a stop motion. I was like, "That's super neat. What a cool way to show content." Saved it to my content folder bookmark, and then I go back and I see, "Okay. That person did this thing really cool," or, "So and so did that. How can I work that for my own content?
Okay, back to this home reno...Would you recommend the home renovation process for anyone who doesn't know what they're doing?
Yes. I think anyone can do it. You just have to make sure you're being safe, and taking the right steps. I think if you do enough research, and you're not in a rush, anyone can figure anything out. And if you can't, hire a professional. That's my advice.
What's your tip for people who are doing this sort of stuff on a budget?
Don't buy anything in a rush. If there's something you want, look for it, see how much it costs, and then wait for a deal. Or, if there's a deal, don't just buy it because it's cheap, because you might want to replace it a little while down the line. So, find something you really want, wait for a sale, or look on Facebook Marketplace or any sort of secondhand place, and then go from there.
Is that where you find all your gems, on Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is big. I got this lovely mirror... I'm not sure if it's in a frame... from Facebook Marketplace. Pretty much all the furniture, except for this chair I'm sitting on [ is second hand ]. This chair is new, and not purchased by us. It was a gift. Pretty much everything in this room was not purchased new. We have a couch over here that was secondhand. These tables were Greg's sister's. Everything you see. So, yeah. We didn't buy any new furniture when we came in.
What have been some resources that you're using to learn all this stuff?
Google, YouTube. I think watching a bunch of different, or researching a bunch of different opinions on a subject is really important, because then you might realize a certain point of view works for someone, but it might not work for somebody else. So, it could work in a new build, but if you have an old house, there's other considerations you have to take into account.
What's been the most challenging part so far?
The most challenging part is probably during bigger renovations, your life is a little bit disrupted. So, when they were blowing the hole out through the wall, or when they were re-drywalling our room, we were displaced for a couple weeks. And there's dust everywhere, and it seems like complete chaos, and you have moments of doubt, but in the end it's all worth it.
Follow Jane and her home renovation at @LittleHaliHome on Instagram.
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