Before you pick up that hammer or start sketching out new floor plans, take a seat and grab some popcorn. Renovating your home isn’t just about blueprints and measurements, it’s about finding inspiration, seeing possibilities, and setting the tone for your space. And what better way to ignite your creative spark than by diving into some of cinema’s most iconic interiors and renovation stories? From Tom Hanks’s hilarious take on the pains of a revamp in Money Pit to Diane Lane's heartfelt telling of an impulsive house restoration in Under the Tuscan Sun, these films offer more than just great storytelling—they can reshape how you think about your own home. Ready to binge-watch your way to a renovation masterpiece? Here are 10 movies that will get your design juices flowing.Beetlejuice (1988)© Warner Brothers /courtesy Everett CollectionDelia Deetz throws a memorable dinner party for her city friends.While the hit sequel dominated the box office last year, thanks in large part to production designer Mark Scruton’s gothic reimagining of the underworld (and Connecticut), it’s Tim Burton’s 1988 original that holds a place in my dark, twisted heart. From decorator Otho’s brutal mauve-and-viridian makeover of the normcore Maitlands’ Victorian pile to Delia Deetz’s collectible design-adjacent sculptures-come-to-life, the movie offers something about interiors that so much of our TikTok culture lacks: a real point of view. —Sean SantiagoBaby Boom (1987)Courtesy of MGM StudiosWatching any Nancy Meyers movie is a great idea before embarking on a renovation. The houses in her films are lustworthy (see Kate Winslet’s charming English cottage or Cameron Diaz’s movie star–level Los Angeles abode in The Holiday). High on the list of Meyers’s films to watch before a renovation should be Baby Boom. When J.C. Wiatt (Diane Keaton) leaves her sophisticated, decorated New York City apartment for a house in Vermont, which she bought without seeing it, there is much to learn. The takeaway: Make sure your budget is big enough for the unexpected. After a series of leaks and plumbing failures, Keaton’s character makes more than enough money to repair her house with a booming baby food business. —Bebe HoworthIn the Mood for Love (2000)©Miramax//EverettThis Wong Kar-wai masterpiece isn’t about a renovation per se, but it does start with a serendipitous moving day in Hong Kong in 1961. Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) are next door neighbors in a bustling apartment building. When they discover their spouses are having an affair, the pair develop a relationship of their own. The forbidden romance is just one facet of this film’s aching beauty. The rooms, though not luxurious, are jewel boxes, thanks to Christopher Doyle’s seductive cinematography and interiors defined by dark red drapes, abstract wallpaper, delicate jadeite dishes, and Su’s body-hugging cheongsams. Chow and Su’s seductive pas de deux, captured in mirrors and through yellow-painted door frames, blossoms in their apartment’s cramped halls and in the dark, narrow streets of ’60s Hong Kong. It’s a movie that’s chock-full of secrets—the alluring sets are just the start. —Anna FixsenInteriors (1978) Entertainment Pictures//AlamyIn Woody Allen’s Interiors, precision and perfection are just a small step from psychosis. The film is no stranger to Allen’s infamously poor treatment of women—basically all the female characters struggle with some sort of mental or emotional infirmity—but the exquisite taste of the lead character, an interior designer named Eve, is another matter. Her home is sumptuously minimal—a lesson in sophisticated restraint and color theory. As she adjusts and readjusts her interiors, we are driven to consider the purpose of endless editing. Is Eve’s need for pleasant proportions the sign of an adept expert or is it an expression of her anxiety amid a crumbling marriage and the neglect of her family? When renovating we usually expect delayed timelines and broken vases to send us over the edge, but what if that very quest for visual perfection is the last straw? —Camille Okhio Mother! (2017)Courtesy of Paramount PicturesThink your renovation plans are stressful? Step into the twisted world of Mother!, where Jennifer Lawrence’s character discovers that renovations are the least of her problems. This psychological nightmare follows a young wife meticulously restoring her poet husband’s Victorian mansion, only to watch her domestic dreams implode as uninvited guests invade her space, and her beloved’s attention drifts. Fair warning: Darren Aronofsky’s fever dream of architectural horror may not offer practical DIY tips, but it will certainly put your own renovation woes into perspective. After all, at least your walls aren't bleeding…yet. —Julia CancillaIt’s Complicated (2009)Courtesy of Universal PicturesPour yourself a glass of wine and settle in for the ultimate pre-renovation comfort watch. It’s Complicated follows Jane (Meryl Streep), a successful bakery owner with an enviable Santa Barbara home who finds herself in a steamy affair with her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) while simultaneously falling for her charming architect, Adam (Steve Martin). Between planning her dream kitchen renovation and navigating romantic entanglements, Jane finds her perfectly ordered life descending into delicious chaos. This film serves up the perfect blend of laughs, love, and interior design porn. —Julia CancillaMr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)Bettmann//Getty ImagesIf you’ve ever looked for real estate, built a house, dealt with contractors, or renovated a house, every joke in this classic comedy will hit home. Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House tells the story of ad executive Jim Blandings (Cary Grant) and his family, who have fled their New York apartment for the Connecticut countryside. The family purchases a dilapidated farmhouse and embarks on a renovation project from their worst nightmares. Not only is this film brimming with a star cast (including Melvyn Douglas and Myrna Loy), it’s replete with many a scene that will have you laughing and nodding your head in relatability. If you can’t get enough of this lovable story, make it a double feature by watching The Money Pit, an adaptation inspired by Mr. Blandings starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. —Rachel Silva The Money Pit (1986)Sunset Boulevard//Getty ImagesHey Zillow zealots, want to buy a mansion for $200,000? Watch The Money Pit first. If the Oscars (or more likely the Golden Globes) had an award for Best Renovation Movie, this one would have cleaned up. The 1986 classic stars Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as a young couple who buy a listing that is too good to be true—after viewing it, suspiciously, by candlelight. Taking Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House as his inspiration, director Richard Benjamin hilariously ups the ante—from the exploding doorbell to the collapse of the main Colonial-style staircase to the clawfoot tub filling up with disgusting sludge. In the effort to rebuild, Hanks and Long’s relationship nearly collapses too—an experience relatable to any couple undergoing a renovation. Caveat emptor. —Ingrid AbramovitchRosemary’s Baby (1968)Silver Screen Collection//Getty ImagesNot that you want the whole story to happen to you, but Rosemary’s Baby is one of my favorite movies to watch and think about when it comes to renovations, new beginnings, and the meaning and emotional promise that starting work on a new house holds. The movie depicts a newlywed couple making a home together; we are taken step by step from the blank, echoing, gloomy interiors of the Dakota to the cheerful announcement by Mia Farrow of additions of wallpaper and white paint, to the result: brightness and young energy as the defining impression in all the rooms. Director Roman Polanski very deliberately sets up the progress on their apartment as a timekeeper of the story and a trick on us, since as it gets more cheerful events grow darker. (Visually, the whole thing reminds me of Elsie de Wolfe, actually, and her effect on design at the beginning of the 20th century.) I’m not talking about this movie showing you which shade of white to pick, I’m talking about the real power behind a renovation: the dreams. It’s all in there. —David Netto Life as a House (2001)©New Line Cinema//EverettWhile it’s likely that your renovation will require many a therapy session afterward, it could also be the therapy. In Irwin Winkler’s Life as a House, jaded architectural model fabricator George Monroe (Kevin Kline) is diagnosed with terminal cancer. With a time limit on his life, he decides to demolish the shack left to him by his father and build his own custom house. He decides to take custody of his misanthropic teenage son, bringing him into the project and slowly reconnecting with him through it. If you need a reason to feel some kind of higher purpose in breaking down walls, this film will deliver that in spades. —Rachel Silva Something’s Gotta Give (2003) Courtesy of Warner Bros PicturesIt’s hard for me to just choose one film. I’m obsessed with anything by Nancy Meyers and Woody Allen! These directors’ films offer a master class in the details that transform a house into a home. Meyers’s signature kitchen porn—from Something’s Gotta Give’s Hamptons heaven to The Parent Trap’s London townhouse—has launched countless Pinterest boards and renovation dreams. Meanwhile, such Allen films as Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters showcase the aspirational yet attainable prewar apartments that define urban sophistication, complete with book-lined walls, original architectural details, and the most beautiful wood floors. These aren’t just sets, they’re blueprints for creating spaces that feel both elevated and effortlessly homey. —William Li Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)©Touchstone Pictures//Everett“Stop the bus!” This is the Diane Lane movie—based on the book of the same name by Frances Mayes—that launched a million escapist fantasies about buying a crumbling villa in Italy. For anyone even slightly susceptible (we are legion), it is hard to unsee the apricot stucco house in its overgrown Mediterranean garden in this 2003 classic and not imagine ourselves in Lane’s sneakers. The story, loosely based on Mayes’s, follows Lane’s writer character as she recovers from a bad divorce and heads to Tuscany on a bus tour. As she passes through the town of Cortona, she notices a sign for a house for sale. This is the Hollywood version of restoring a 400-year-old house, with an adorable contractor and lovable workers who bring a shine to the villa’s terra-cotta floors and frescoed walls. —Ingrid Abramovitch